Fern River Resort Resort - Page 1

My wife and I stayed in # 8. The view was awesome. The cabin was all knotty pine. Even though we were only 1 hour away from San Jose, it felt like we were lost in the mountains.

The office clerk was very helpful. Private access to the spa rocked and it was all with no noise from the kids upstairs. What a totally awesome place. We will be returning several times a year.

We stayed here for a weekend getaway, but were not really impressed with the accommodations.

The riverside setting is very nice with just a quick stroll down to the water's edge, but the rooms were very outdated and rather uncomfortable. It was more of a RV park sort of feel, as opposed to a "resort". I imagine it was a nice "resort" back in the 60's, but it's a little worse for the wear nowadays.

We arrived early, at around 12. Check-in was at 3, but the room was ready so they gave us the key which was a nice surprise. The complex was very pretty, with several redwoods growing in the area. We walked in and were immediately impressed the wood paneling was beautiful, the view of the river and the redwoods out the back window was amazing, and the kitchen had everything, stove, oven, full sized refrigerator, coffee maker, microwave, and toaster.

Within the first 30 minutes we were disappointed. We tried to make coffee (with the coffee we brought since we were warned by earlier reviews that they didn’t provide coffee), when I got up to check on it I noticed there was water and coffee grounds all over the counter, under the microwave, in the drawers, flowing onto the floor, etc the coffee makers carafe wasn’t made for the coffee maker and the water wasn’t going into the carafe!! What a mess. We went to throw out the coffee grounds and noticed that while there was a garbage can there wasn’t a trash bag in it, only a bit of newspaper in the bottom. Talk about cheap!

After a 30 minute clean up, it was time to relax. That is when we discovered the furniture was right out of the Flintstones. The couch was a lovely piece, carefully handcrafted from solid granite and padded with a polyester cover that crinkled when you sat on it. This thing was so hard that you could break a bowling ball on it. A quick scan of the remaining chairs revealed that our options were very limited. The only piece of furniture with any padding at all was an orange chair that caused immediate lower back pain due to the strange angle it placed on your spine. Off to the bedroom in hopes of a place to find some comfort. It too was as hard as stone, and just as comfortable. A bead of sweat formed on my forehead as I contemplated two nights trying to relax while standing. Perhaps sleeping in the car was an option, but the 28 degree night temperatures made that option a rather chilling thought.

If you want a nice, spacious cabin in the Redwoods, with a decent kitchen, just pack up your air beds, a few garbage bags, folding chairs and this will be the place for you. And don’t forget to bring the earplugs, because the walls are so thin that you can carry on a conversation with you neighbors (ours played guitar and sang late into the night). For us, the romantic weekend ended a day early when we politely handed the key back and said we were leaving early. This was quickly followed by the inn keeper frantically searching for the words to say 'No Refunds, No Negotiations'. What a terrible disappointment. It’s a great concept, but extremely poor execution.

The parts we forgot to mention above that were equally annoying or insulting:

1.) The towels and blankets had "FERN RIVER RESORT" spray painted on them! They were scratchy and tacky, nice.

2.) The towels were larger versions of the cheap terry rags that you buy 50 for $20 at Costco.

3.) The pillows were so flat that even doubled over you couldn't tell they were there.

I went there as a romantic getaway with my fiancée'. The management staff was very nice and accommodating. The rates are very good for a private one bedroom cabin, with full kitchen and living room and a nice deck to that over looks the river. In the kitchen is a fridge stove, well all the normal kitchen stuff along with plates, silverware and cups and even serving bowls you can have full dinners and cook for yourself! The have pans onsite as well for a $20 deposit, they just want them back clean. I opted for letting them keep my $20 so I didn’t have to do dishes!

There is this lovely private Jacuzzi that sits in an all-wood gazebo with skylights and tinted windows so you can see out but others cannot see in! They let you enjoy it privately, so you get it completely to yourself for a full 1/2 hour, clothes are optional! It’s so annoying when you try to go relax in a hot tub and there are children climbing all over you and peeing everywhere, but that’s not the case here. The hot tub is very clean it is cleaned between each guest’s personal use.

The grounds are beautiful, there are ping pong tables and a volleyball/ badminton court, and there is a little book and toy house for your children to play with. There is a river to play in and a private beach to lunge at. Across the river is a gorgeous state park.

I want to spread the word about this little gem!