Published September 4, 2026 03:46AM<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Ever come across an incredible hotel that stops you mid-scroll and makes you think: <\/i>Wow, wouldn\u2019t it be something to stay there? We do, too\u2014all the time. Welcome to <\/i>Friday Fantasy<\/i>, where we highlight amazing hotels, lodges, cabins, tents, campsites, and other places perched in perfect outdoor settings. Read on for the intel you need to book an upcoming adventure here. Or at least dream about it.<\/i><\/p>\n
I\u2019m soaking in the wood-burning hot tub with my family, gazing up, watching for shooting stars, as a log lightly crackles over the fire, when I reach for my phone to take a selfie and realize it\u2019s not there. I can\u2019t remember the last time I lost my phone. I\u2019m usually within a six-inch range of it, ready to answer any message at a Slack\u2019s ping.<\/p>\n
It takes me a minute of hunting around in the dark to find it: out of battery, tossed aside under a blanket inside the dome tent I\u2019m spending the night in with my husband, four-year-old son, and one-year-old daughter. I glance up through the clear, massive window in front of the bed, and can just make out the outlines of my family chatting under the string of outdoor lights. As my daughter splashes and my son laughs, I smile and set my phone back down, eager to get back outside. Sweetbriar Ridge<\/a>, tucked away on the edge of a forest in Pine City, Minnesota, has achieved the impossible, I realize: it\u2019s made me unplug.<\/p>\n Bri and Dave Rodgers founded Sweetbriar Ridge, which opened in May 2024, in an effort to make the outdoors more accessible to everyone. What better way, after all, than to add a touch of luxury to camping? Bri had worked as a naturalist for 12 years, and Dave was a paramedic with training in wilderness medicine. The Rodgers view their glamping site, located an hour north of the Twin Cities, as a way to share their personal love for nature with guests.<\/p>\n \u201cSweetbriar was born as a place to escape the stress of life and unplug in luxury surrounded by nature,\u201d the Rodgers told me over email. \u201cThe domes were built to pamper while allowing the surrounding nature to help heal the mind.\u201d<\/p>\n The property features three domes, which feel remote on 56 acres of fields and pine trees. \u201cOne of our passion projects at Sweetbriar is restoring the prairie. The prairie is one of the fastest diminishing ecosystems in North America, with roughly 80 percent of the original grasslands lost to development,\u201d said the Rodgers. \u201cAt Sweetbriar, we are doing our best to restore the prairie as it once was. We\u2019ve spent thousands of dollars on native seed, and are in the works with several organizations to continue to restore the prairie as it once was.\u201d<\/p>\n Each dome\u2014named the Chengwatana, Solidago, and Basalt\u2014comes with its own features and decor. I stayed in Basalt, one of the two domes with a wood-burning hot tub. (Chengwatana being the other.) Basalt is billed as the \u201cmoody, romantic, private\u201d dome with a prairie view on the company\u2019s website. It was painted with olive green walls and navy and pine accents, with one king-sized bed downstairs and another queen in the loft above it. An extra-wide window looked out onto the prairie from downstairs, and a pentagon skylight sat directly over the upstairs bed. (My husband told me he saw a shooting star as he put down our son that night.) The indoor bathroom was dark with bronze accents, including an oversized rain shower, flushing toilet, and towel warmer.<\/p>\n Each dome comes with firewood, a private firepit, and a complimentary s\u2019mores spread. A selection of books sprinkled the shelves, and a full stack of board games and puzzles kept my kids busy for hours. There was also a yoga mat, a full kitchen, and plenty of coffee and tea.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re in the process of building a mirrored all-glass treetop sauna for our Solidago dome. We\u2019re currently working on design and logistics, and if all goes according to plan, we\u2019ll start building this fall,\u201d said the Rodgers.<\/p>\n Prices start at $250 per night midweek and in low season and can get up to $650 during peak.<\/em><\/p>\n There\u2019s plenty to keep you occupied at the dome itself if you\u2019re interested in a slower pace, and it can be tempting to stay put. Guests also receive access to inflatable SUPs and life vests to take out on Snake River in the summer and snowshoes to tour Sweetbriar Ridge\u2019s grounds in the winter. But there are hidden gems to explore in and around Pine City, too.<\/p>\n Pick your own apples, raspberries, flowers, and pumpkins at this family-owned orchard. Luke and Whitney Moulton now run the 22-acre property<\/a> after taking it over from Luke\u2019s aunt and uncle. What began as primarily wine grapes is now 2,200 trees, rows of raspberry bushes, pumpkins, and flowers, a corn maze, and a storefront that carries apples, jams, local honey, and more. Because of its northern location, Moulton\u2019s Orchard opens in late August, but my family and I were lucky enough to get a tour and pick some raspberries when we visited mid-month. Apple varieties offered include: First Kiss, SweeTango, Honeycrisp, Triumph, Sweet 16, Ambrosia, Zestar, Haralson, Blondee, SnowSweet, Fireside, Chestnut.<\/p>\n Booking a stay at Sweetbriar Ridge gets you access to dozens of acres of private meadows and woods. There\u2019s an already established trail system near the domes, and there are plenty of hiking trails near Cross Lake and the 100-mile-long Snake River.<\/p>\n Chengwatana State Forest <\/a>and St. Croix State Park<\/a>, 4 and 26 miles from the glamping site, respectively, both feature mountain bike trails that wind through rolling hills of forest and meadows.<\/p>\n St. Croix, the largest state park in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, stretches across 34,000 acres and the Saint Croix and Kettle Rivers. A 100-foot-tall observation tower is also in the park, which visitors can climb to catch views of the trees. Visit during late September for epic leaf-peeping from the top.<\/p>\n One of the biggest draws to a place this remote\u2014Pine City\u2019s population is under 4,000\u2014is the lack of light pollution and perfect stargazing conditions. While I didn\u2019t catch any shooting stars on this trip myself, I\u2019d definitely book one of these glamping domes ahead of a big meteor shower. Sweetbriar Ridge\u2019s location closer to the auroral zone also makes it an ideal spot for northern lights hunting.<\/p>\n As a vegetable farmer and herbalist where we live in northern New Mexico, my husband\u2019s favorite stop of the trip was the Hinckley Community Amish Farm Market<\/a>. Open Monday through Saturday, this little indoor store sells local produce and homemade baked goods, canned foods, and soaps from nearby farms. We walked out with watermelon, cherry tomatoes, frosted molasses cookies, a jar of pickles, and some fresh honey.<\/p>\n In town, stop by the local sports bar, the Garage, for burgers and beer, or grab a craft brew from Three Twenty Brewing Company<\/a>. My kids especially enjoyed the playroom tucked into the back of the brewery. There\u2019s also Cabina Coffee for fresh roasts and pastries, and mouth-watering Thai food at Lotus Thai Cuisine.<\/p>\n Sweetbriar Ridge is open year-round, with AC in the summer and heat (plus, heated floors!) in the winter. Having grown up outside of the Twin Cities, though, I\u2019d personally prefer to venture north during warmer months or in late September or early October as the leaves peak.<\/p>\nLodging<\/h2>\n
![\"High-end](\"https:\/\/cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/dome-interior.jpg?width=3840&auto=webp&quality=75&fit=cover\"\/)
![\"Left:](\"https:\/\/cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/tub.jpg?width=3840&auto=webp&quality=75&fit=cover\"\/)
Adventure Intel<\/h2>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/raspberries.jpg?width=3840&auto=webp&quality=75&fit=cover\"\/)
Moulton\u2019s Orchard<\/h3>\n
Hike and Bike<\/h3>\n
Stargazing<\/h3>\n
Eat and Drink<\/h2>\n
When to Visit<\/h2>\n