World's Tallest Treehouse

I loved to read as a kid. It's a hazard of growing up with an English teacher mother. Everyone knew I loved to read--still do. I still think books are the best present I can get, short of a vacation in the mountains. My aunt Elly kept me stockpiled with all the Arthur books. This was back when Arthur actually looked like an aardvark, before the TV series.

Arthur then:                                                                And now: 

                          

Not too easy to tell what animal he is now.

But now my kids love the books and the TV show. And the TV show is getting a lot of impressive guest stars, from musicians Joshua Redman and Yo-Yo Ma, to author Neil Gaiman. The other day my kids were watching an episode with architect Frank Gehry helping the kids design the perfect treehouse. In the Arthur universe, Arthur's treehouse is a sanctuary where the kids could escape from parents, school, and pesky little sisters. They met there for sleepovers and Bionic Bunny fanclub meetings. But then the treehouse was destroyed. Everyone wanted their own special features in the new design and ended up fighting over it, so they eventually decided to stick with their simple one-room treehouse because it could be all things at the same time: a lab, art studio, and a wrestling ring.

 (Frank Gehry animated as an ambiguous animal.)

My own once-upon-a-time treehouse wasn't even built in a tree. It was built on 4x4 stilts 8 feet in the air, and was fully supported and up to code. Maybe. I had envisioned putting a zipline from that treehouse to the backdoor of the real house, but my parents wouldn't go for me slamming into a sliding glass door.

But then this popped up online in a few blogs: the world's tallest treehouse in Tennesee, called the Minister House. It's close to 100 feet tall and is supported by 6 oak trees. Here are a few pictures floating around out there (Eat your hearts out, Arthur and Buster!!):

I would be the coolest dad ever...

A bit of info and more links and pictures can be found here.