As we drove down a country road lined with coppices, Indian blankets and black-eyed Susan’s dense swathes, we came across a white geodome. Cameron Ranch Glamping A strange but welcome sight.
Garrett Brown’s 11-acre property near Livingston Lake and Sam Houston National Forest marks a young entrepreneur dabbled in music production and real estate launching a getaway for city dwellers. Other than that, it’s not much different than the rest of San Jacinto County. Relax away from the hustle and bustle of the city.
With his mother, Teresa Brown, as co-owner, he’s diving into glamping, the buzzy vacation style of the hospitality market.
More about Diane Cowen: Historic Grand Hotel Suites on Mackinac Island Renewed to Honor Longtime Designer
It’s like camping, but with luxuries like bathrooms, electricity, air conditioning, and hot tubs. There is also a fire pit for those who want the full outdoor experience. They will provide you with a s’mores kit, or you can bring your own marshmallows, chocolate and graham crackers.
Brown has a BA from the University of Houston’s Hilton College of Hospitality and has been eyeing camping/hospitality options for some time. He has tried off-grid camping and geodesic dome stays in Arizona, and other vacation camping options in Tennessee and Georgia.
This is a carousel. Navigate using the Next and Previous buttons
Garrett Brown poses for a portrait in the 426-square-foot geodesic dome at the new Cameron Ranch Glamping Campground.
Brett Coomer/Staff Photographer
He was fascinated by geodesic domes and purchased a kit from an Oregon-based manufacturer. Pacific Dome. He and his colleagues assembled a steel-and-canvas structure, lined the floor with vinyl slabs, and installed a bathroom that looks better than most campers expect. The 426-square-foot dome features a kitchenette with microwave and compact refrigerator.
A small path leads to a covered deck with a large hot tub, pizza maker and grill.
“My mom and I wanted to do something different. We created a place where people could work on their mental health and reconnect. , we have the facilities we need,” Brown said.
The site’s name, Cameron Ranch Glamping, is a tribute to Brown’s older brother Cameron, who had bipolar disorder and committed suicide 14 years ago at the age of 21.
The last few years have benefited from every camping and nostalgic family vacation. As everyone has gone home to work due to the coronavirus pandemic, many have found that they can continue their studies and work while riding in RVs and touring the countryside. If you can work from your home office, you can do the same at an outdoor picnic table with a much more beautiful view of the lake, mountains, etc. than your backyard.
Campgrounds of America reports that 9.1 million people will be camping for the first time in 2021, with one-third of them saying the pandemic prompted them to try camping. About 46% of these were working remotely while traveling.
Looking at the early days of the pandemic, camping grew 36% from 2019 to 2021, with 57 million households taking at least one camping trip in 2020, according to the KOA report.
If RV and camping options sound like what suburban seniors do after retirement, think again. The most enthusiastic campers are urban dwellers, and 54% of new campers are people of color.
Young people are also skewed, with Generation Z and millennials making up 53 percent of all camp participants, KOA said. In fact, 70% of new campers are under the age of 40.
“Camping” includes staying in an RV with the comforts of home. At the other end of the spectrum, sleeping in a tent on the ground and cooking food over a fire without electricity, running water or sewage connections is considered off-grid camping.
Owning an RV may be more expensive than investing in camping gear, but the RV Industry Association reports that people aged 18 to 34 now make up 22 percent of the RV market. He has 11.2 million RV-owning households, demographically split about evenly between his 55+ and her under 55s.
But even in the camp world there are vandals: Brown’s geodesic domes in Cold Spring, treehouses in the woods, yurts in the mountains, hollowed-out shipping containers. It would be a place such as a hotel consisting of “suites”. Or a nostalgic Airstream trailer.
El Cosmiko On Marfa and its Airstream Trailer Frohous Hotel There are two examples of Round Top shipping containers.Or you can go to Starstruck Glamping Tarlingua offers panoramic views of the Chihuahuan Desert and Chisos Mountains of West Texas.
Many glamping sites are listed on AirBnb.com and VRBO.com, but the growing popularity of camping has spawned websites such as: hipcamp.com, thedyrt.com and sekr.combilled as the Vanlife app, but useful for all campers.
KOA reports that glamping is relatively new, with 36% of campers planning their first glamping trip in 2021 and hoping for more in 2022. .
Brown, 32, is in the middle of the millennial generation and has a fascination with glamping. You don’t need a garage full of RVs and camping gear. In his geodesic dome, he provides everything but food, drink and bug spray.
He expects the prefabricated OOD Miller House to arrive in August, which will also be available for rent once electricity, water and sewage are all hooked up. He plans to install it in a park behind his property, away from the geodesic dome.
Dome rentals range from $299-325 per night on weekends and $229-299 per night on weekdays. An on-site 4-bedroom, 3 1/2-bathroom home (with an Astros-themed bedroom and a Whattaburger-themed bedroom) will soon be available for $249 per night on weekdays and $325 per night on weekends. It will be rented. The Miller House will likely be similarly priced, Brown said.
Diane.cowen@houstonchronicle.com
