April 18, 2008

US & Canada | US | Seattle

A Suncadia State of Mind

By Amanda Baltazar

Where to find your Walden moment in the west — with a touch of luxe.

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You might be forgiven for having never heard of Suncadia. Since its birth in 2004, life at this all-season retreat, 80 miles east of Seattle, has been centered around the understated luxury of an 18-room country inn. But this month, Suncadia steps up its mission to become a “resort community” with the opening of a 254-room lodge. Yes, we too shuddered at the prospect of a happy-smiley utopian vacation compound in the Washington woods — until we got a sneak peek.

Set by the Cle Elum River on the slopes of the Cascades, Suncadia aspires to be a modern interpretation of a National Park mountain lodge, and shares its 6,400-acre grounds with both the inn and a clutch of condominium projects. Outdoors, you’ve got 50 miles of biking, horseback riding and fly-fishing — in addition to kayaking and whitewater rafting. Its two golf courses are nothing to sniff at either: both are ranked by Golf Digest among the best new links in the US.

If you prefer to ease up the pace, you can join chef Andrew Wilson and forage for mushrooms — no, not those types of mushrooms but the ones that figure in Suncadia’s organic northwest cuisine (note: skip the main dining room and book a table at the more upscale and intimate Gas Lamp Grille next to the inn). But if that’s also too much work, you can kick back in your private cedar hot-tub or the lobby lounge, where a 20-by-12 foot stone fireplace occupies one end, and fishbowl views of the mountains dominate the other. The quiet life never felt so plush.