For the ultimate in social distancing, climb into a treehouse

Looking for a pandemic getaway with built-in social distancing?

Mike Ouellette has just the place for you.

Three weeks ago Ouellette, the owner of Frog Creek Lodge Retreat Center on the Key Peninsula, opened up a two-story suite in a treehouse. The bedroom in the sky is built primarily around hemlock trees, with the staircase leading up to the house wrapped around a cedar tree.

“If you have a choice between staying in a little cabin or up in the trees, what would you want? I thought it was a great idea,” Ouellette said.

This treehouse includes a spiral staircase leading up to the main deck with outdoor seating. Although the treehouse is deep in the woods, the interior boasts an electronic fireplace and a fully working bathroom.

“It is an awesome treehouse,” Ouellette said. “I’ve seen a lot of treehouses, and a lot are too rustic to me. They either have no bathroom, or you need to go outside to use the bathroom. This has everything, it’s a treehouse suite.”

There is also a kitchen that includes a refrigerator, countertop space, cabinets, microwave, coffee maker, and many other amenities.

House on legs

The treehouse sits high on four, 25-feet long posts sunk ten feet into the ground and encased in concrete/ The winding staircase has engineered brackets that allows it to flex with the cedar tree it surrounds.

Nearby are a walking trail, pond and a labyrinth.

Frog Creek Lodge Retreat Center occupies 10 wooded acres on 64th Street Northwest, roughly halfway between Vaughn and Lakebay on the Key Peninsula. It specializes in gatherings like religious retreats, alumni reunions, corporate retreats and the like.

The main building is a three-story, 5,000-square-foot rustic lodge with nine bedrooms.

The tree house was built with all the appropriate permits from Pierce County, Ouellette says.

Ouellette said this vision has taken him years to accomplish, but he is extremely happy with the results. He said this was a massive learning experience for everybody involved in the project.

Engineering a challenge

“It was difficult to get an engineer to engineer it because no one has done it like this before,” Ouellette said. “The reviewer for the planning department, he had never done a treehouse like this before. When I got the contractor to build it for me, and I went through a lot of contractors, and they had never done it either.”

Ouellette says he spent many hours on the architectural design.

“I worked more than any contractor on that treehouse. I have spent so much time on this,” Ouellette said. “I like things to be a certain way, so I keep working at it until it’s a way I think it should be.”

There are actually a bunch of treehouse accommodations in the state — Seattle Treehouse and Homestead is right in the middle of that city, Sir Cedric’s Cedar Treehouse is high up a cedar tree in Ferndale, and the two-room Doe Bay Resort Treehouse is on Orcas Island. Peaceful Treehouse in Redmond is reached by a swaying rope bridge.

Other notable tree houses around the world include the balloon-shaped Yellow Treehouse Restaurant near Aukland, New Zealand, and the Treehotel in Harads, Sweden, which has six unconventional treehouses, include one that looks like a UFO.

In Costa Rica there is a whole community of rainforest treehouses called Finca Bellavista, and you can zipline among them.

A glowing review

The first guests in the Frog Creek treehouse were mother and her two children. Her Facebook review was glowing.

“My boys and I spent two nights here and it was perfect in every way!” a section of the response read. “Mike greets you and shows you everything you need to know about the property and made us feel right at home. We had everything we needed and we loved going on the trail walk around the property and finding all the frogs sitting around. It is so quiet, refreshing and relaxing here.”

A stay in the treehouse costs about $280 per night, plus tax, for single or double occupancy.

Ouellette said if this treehouse is a success, he is open to building a second one.

“We have the capacity to do it,” he said.

For more information, visit https://frogcreeklodge.com/rates/