INSIDE FORT: Just about everyone who was once a child and had access to a) couch pillows and b) a blanket once constructed a pillow fort. It might have involved the dining room table or just a few well-placed cushions, but the ultimate result was a cozy little nest that doubled as your own personal kingdom. (And having your own personal kingdom at age six was very important, of course.) But a tent-style situation, at least inside? Harder to find once you graduated to being a grown-up. Sure, you can do some true camping, and some very posh camping, with lined and heated tents. But we're talking about indoor canopies. They're simply something adults no longer make for themselves, so it is a good and nice thing that The Hotel at the Los Angeles Athletic Club is making 'em for us.
HOTEL CAMPING: The swank stay-over spot kicked off its Urban Camping Package on Friday, March 1. One of the hotel's nine suites has been transformed into an indoor-outdoor setting. Meaning? Well, the bed is tented, which is well cool, and saddles and animal art dot the room. (We do love a saddle in our hotel room, or practically anywhere else, for that matter.) There's also an electric fondue pot in the room; s'more makings are provided. Plus? LA hiking maps and local bird guides and scary DVDs to watch. (Why do the teenagers always go to the haunted cabin by the lake? Why???) This tenty, s'moresian situation all happens downtown, we should add, meaning that you'll be living the faux outdoorsy life in the thumping heart of one of the world's busiest metropolises, inside a posh hotel.
AND THOSE PRICES: The Urban Camping Package kicks off at $429, plus tax, and is available through summer 2013. No need to arrive in your spurs; as mentioned, the Los Angeles Athletic Club is pretty dang polished. But, you know, you could always start the next buzzed-about trend, too. Spurs for everyone!
