46 PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM {due west} It’s the kind of landscape that inspires poetry. Driving along the Big Sur coastline, I can’t help but start spinning metaphors. These soaring cliffs are giant green waves plunging into the sea. No, they’re the fingers of some emerald-hued giant, stretching out to the water. This mountainside, now cloaked in sunshine, would look equally splendid shrouded in a shawl of fog. I’m on my way to Post Ranch Inn, a luxury retreat where those stunning natural views spread across its 98-acre property. It’s no surprise that all 40 of its luxury cabins and treehouses— whether built into the bluffs or roosted among the redwoods—are exuberant with windows. The same goes for the onsite restaurant Sierra Mar, which toes the edge of those jaw-dropping cliffs. Lofty not only in elevation (1,200 feet above the Pacific, if you were wondering), but also in reputation, Post Ranch Inn earned three-key status from the Michelin Guide. With a plenitude of activities on the grounds and several on-property trails, the inn also boasts lavish accommodations and Architectural Digestworthy building design, meaning you’ll be surrounded by beauty even when indoors. Settling Inn Needless to say, Post Ranch Inn’s contemporary cabins aren’t your typical Lincoln Log structures. Frank Lloyd Wright-esque in design, these organic architectural wonders of wood, metal and glass with their intriguing lack of 90-degree angles were built by Mickey Muennig, with later additions by Vladimir Frank. “Treehouse” rooms on stilts seem to tiptoe through the forest, while other lodgings cling to the cliffs. ABOVE (top): Stunning cliffside views from Post Ranch Inn’s Sierra Mar restaurant.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTcxMjMwNg==