Yurt on the Coast

We stayed in a yurt one of the nights of our road trip. For both of us, it was the very first one we had seen the inside of. After getting lost the night before trying to find it in the dark, the place was a delight to walk in to.

Apparently, yurts are very popular. I had no idea until I tried to reserve a night in one.

Yurts are common in state parks in Oregon, and there are two kinds: basic yurts and deluxe yurts. The basic ones are pretty much a sturdy tent, with canvas stretched over a wooden frame, and some cots or beds like the ones you see here in the video. And that’s it. The deluxe yurts have a kitchen but more importantly, a bathroom! We were prepared to suffer with a pathetic shower, but our yurt had the hottest water with the best, blasting, water pressure of any place we stayed on the trip.

I went on to ReserveAmerica.com for Oregon Parks and methodically searched up and down the coast till I found one available during our planned coast trip. There was only ONE available, for only one night. But I got it! Whew. Luckier still, it was right next to the sand dunes, which was perfect, since you know that is where we were planning to go anyway.

For all yurts in the Oregon park system, you must bring your own bedding, pillows, soap, food, towels for the shower, etc. No cooking is allowed inside the yurt, but you can see there is a barbeque on the front porch that we can use. We knew this ahead of time and ate dinner at a restaurant before we came in, and brought our cooler with a cold breakfast for the next morning.

There are many private yurts available on Airbnb, and I found one that seems truly a gem. It’s furnished and is right next to the beach, with ocean views, and has a hot tub. Oh yes! But…it’s quite popular and already reserved into the future. I’ll plan ahead and get this one someday. Maybe for Pedro’s birthday in 2023.

While staying at the Itty Bitty Inn the night before, we had purchased two bottles of Zinfandel, and only finished one, so once we made up the bed and got into warm comfortable clothes (it was a little chilly in there, though it did have electric heat), we poured the wine into our coffee travel mugs (we forgot to bring any kind of cup), sat at the cute little table and had a cozy evening. There was a DVD player and TV screen in there, but we did not bring any movies. Instead, we chatted through the evening.

While exploring the place, and testing out the odd mattresses for comfort, we laid back on the lower bunk of the bed and discovered a whole new entertainment: reading the messages from kids who had stayed here before us, written onto the underside of the top bunk. It honestly was entertaining, and we tried to read every single message.

Since we are also kids, naturally Pedro and I signed our names too, once I dug in my purse and found a pen.

I love these little chicken scratchings all over the underside of the top bunk. It makes me love kids so much. All these silly little messages that they know some other kid someday is going to read. There were messages to follow on Instagram. Messages of love and peace. Messages about who loved who. I did not see anything offensive or wicked, which means all the kids who came to stay in this yurt were feeling good on their vacation in the woods on the Oregon coast. That makes me really happy.