The following article by Dave Marlow with photos by Neal Preston was published on August 18, 1991. 1 RM., ARBOR VIEW Looking for a romantic getaway? Don’t mind a few buggy neighbors? Take your rock-a-by baby into the tree tops at Hawaii’s Waipi'o Valley's Tree House. Even among the quirkier hotels of the world, the Waipi’o Tree House on the Big Island of Hawaii stands out. For starters, there cannot be too many other hotels that sit 30 feet off of the ground in a giant Monkeypod tree. Also, the Tree House has only one guest room, thereby assuring it of at least a tie in the world’s-smallest-ho- tel competition. “It’s a place for peo- ple who are not afraid to be alone,” says proprietor Linda Beech. “And not afraid of a few bugs. The Tree House is rustic to the max.” True, all true. The comfort facilities, for instance, consist of a compost toilet and running water, clear and cold, piped in from a nearby water- fall, courtesy of gravity. If you want a hot shower, that’s a two-minute walk to a bathhouse shared by the owner who lives in another house a few more minutes away. In lieu of TV, the management has every me-Tarzan, you-Jane book that Edgar Rice Burroughs ever wrote. The most economical way to get to Waipi’o Valley is to walk, but that can amount to a two-to-three hour trek along muddy roads and across rushing streams. Better to go by four-wheel drive ($25) or by mule-drawn carriage. ($35) On- site, you climb 40 steps to a 20- by-12-foot “suite” ($150 per day with two-day minimum). Management provides cooking utensils, a solar-powered fridge, an electric hot plate and lamps that draw their electricity from a a fairly reliable water-powered generator. The nearest phone is at the owner’s house. So what does the Waipi’o Tree House have to offer? To begin, the screened windows and the acrylic skylights give guests a clear view of what Beech calls the Show: the Papala Waterfall cascading 1,000 feet down the mountainside. Fauna abounds, and the flora is rain-forest lush, ablaze with wild orchids, impa- tiens and morning glories. Rain- bows appear almost daily, and since only one party is booked at a time, privacy is guaranteed. Just you and me in a Monkeypod tree: Honeymooners Kathleen and Todd Risjord of Shawnee, Kans., enjoyed the Tree House’s neat, spare lodgings. Waipi’o’s part- and full- time staff (owner Linda Beech, front, and clock- wise, Kirk Nelson, Mar- lin Zea, Mark Singleton, Star Decker) out-num- bers the guests by at least 2 to 1. Entertainment? You can swim and hike, or fish for freshwater prawns and grill them for supper. Although guests are expected to bring their own provisions, they may, for a nominal fee, order up a picnic basket dispatched by the owner. Beech didn’t plan on becoming a hotelier. Raised in Honolulu, a graduate of the U of Hawaii, she worked as a U.S. government labor analyst in Japan. There she married an American jour- nalist and raised two sons. After they divorced in 1970, she returned to Hawaii and bought three acres in the Waipi’o Valley. “I camped out in a leaking tent trying to figure out what to do with this strange piece of land,” she recalls, “When I woke up, it just registered: Tree House. It had always been my dream.” Constructed with the help of two boat builders, the hideaway hotel opened to paying guests about a year ago. With little more than word-of-mouth advertising, it has attracted a very steady clientele, including repeats. “I built this as a place for lovers,” says Beech, who remembers a couple from Italy who spoke no English, but kept on saying, “Molti romantica! Molti romantica!” True, all true again. “The best high rise in all Hawaii,” says a tribute in the hotel’s guest book. “May the peace of this val- ley,” says another, “spread to the whole world.”