Good Neighbor Podcast: Auburn and Opelika
With her genuinely good heart and a wealth of experience behind her, Susannah works to connect local business and non-profit leaders to their neighbors. In a community like ours in which so many have invested their lives, there are fantastic stories all around us that motivate and inspire, often right next door. She hopes to share some of those here, on the Good Neighbor Podcast. Book an interview today at GNPAuburn.com
Good Neighbor Podcast: Auburn and Opelika
Ep.#92: Inside Auburn Glamping: A Family-Built Dome Retreat With Modern Comforts
A couple turned a COVID detour into Auburn Glamping, a 36-foot geodesic dome on 22 wooded acres near Lake Martin with real comforts and real quiet. We unpack the two-year build, the myths of glamping, and why guests come to disconnect and reconnect.
• dome features and layout with hot tub, full kitchen, spa-level bath, and insulated climate control
• origin story from canceled trip to first dome stay in Asheville
• land search, restrictions, and collaborating with dome-savvy architects
• raising the dome’s lower section for a usable loft and better flow
• hands-on build over two years with family and friends pitching in
• clarifying what glamping means versus tents and treehouses
• guest use cases from Auburn games to honeymoons to lake days
• booking paths via Airbnb, Vrbo, Instagram, and direct website
• lessons on time, budget, and trust while building as a couple
• why deep rest on-site often beats packing daily itineraries
www.auburnglamping.com
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Suzanne Hodges.
SPEAKER_01:Welcome. And with me today is Laura and Andrew Riley. They have a very cool business. It's called Auburn Glamping. And tell us a little bit about what that means? What is it? Now, I personally have seen it, so I'm not going to give it away. You tell us what Auburn Glamping is all about.
SPEAKER_02:So I love that you refer to it as a cool business because that's how we look at it too. We have a lot of fun with this. So Auburn Glamping is a 36-foot glamping geodesic dome. It is on 22 acres of just beautiful wooded land really close to Lake Martin. And it is full of luxuries such as a hot tub, an outdoor shower, a full kitchen, a master suite. It has all the comforts of home, but you are in the middle of the woods. You are very connected to nature. You're very disconnected from neighbors and news and all that stuff. You get a chance to kind of take a break and step into a really peaceful space, but still enjoy the luxuries of home.
SPEAKER_01:Right. And I've been in it, I've seen it before. And until you've actually seen it, it's kind of hard to envision. It's not a tent. And I like the way you say it's a dome because that is that is what it is. It's a dome. And uh, but it's got the feel of camping without being in a tent on the ground, right?
unknown:Exactly.
SPEAKER_01:So tell us a little bit about how you got into doing this. What what was the trigger that made you say we want to build a dome in the woods? And then a little bit about the process of that.
SPEAKER_03:That is a great question. So our 10-year anniversary was during COVID, and we always wanted to go to Greece, but the world was shut down. And so we're like, what are we going to go do to go get away during all of this madness? And so we ended we ended up going up to Asheville and we went glamping. So that was our first time to be in a dome and experience that. But the primary focus was just for our family. So when we thought about locations, we were thinking about like Mentone and of course Auburn and Lake Marden. And we don't have a connection to Mintone, but it would have been really gorgeous and pretty to do something in Tennessee that's a bit farther. But we both went to Auburn. We love the Auburn area and the Lake Martin area. And so we're primarily focused at looking at land between us where we are in Birmingham and Auburn. So we can get down there relatively quickly. And I looked at a lot of land.
SPEAKER_02:Lots and lots of properties. There are a lot of restrictions when you want to build something creative.
SPEAKER_03:Um, so that kind of so you know we wanted we wanted space, obviously, like no HOAs, kind of unincorporated. I really wanted the property to not be like clear-cut. I want a lot of hardwoods, I want to feel like you were just going back into nature. And so we started the planning process, you know, getting our licenses, working with an architect. We worked with two architects that were also in the phase of designing and building their own dome. And so that was great because they already kind of had the same vision. They're based out of California, like Lake Tahoe area. And so they helped us a lot. We spent months with them kind of going back and forth designing the space. And even though the structure, you know, you buy the outer like exoskeleton and the cover, all of the interior and all of the civil design and engineering design, architectural design. You you need to work with somebody to do that. It's quite complex. So we started the build phase and thought it would take, you know, maybe six months. And a year in, I thought it would take just a couple more months, and then it ended up taking two years.
SPEAKER_01:So we're two years to build it, yeah. Two years.
SPEAKER_03:We were hoping to be in it around August of 2023, and it ended up being 2024.
SPEAKER_02:Which was probably great for us. We um we have three kids, and we had our third child right when we started this project, and so having that extra time for him to get a little bit older and us to be able to a little was really helpful.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. And I bet the kids enjoyed the construction process.
SPEAKER_02:They loved it.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, they loved it. I've got a tractor down there, and um, my middle son A Vit loved going down there and riding the tractor and moving rocks. And so I played like the general contractor and subbed out, you know, a portion of the work, but then did a lot of the work. I even had friends come help me put up the dome, and my dad helped me do the floors, and my brother-in-law helped me do electrical and plumbing and a lot of things. And basically every weekend I put like I don't know, 40,000 miles on my car and driving. Yeah. Every vacation day was spent down there. I missed like kids' stuff for you know a year and a half. So it was definitely hard going through that whole build phase, but it was very rewarding being done with it.
SPEAKER_01:Well, what are some of the myths or misconceptions that people have about clamping that you've come across?
SPEAKER_02:So there's such a wide variety when it comes to glamping. So everyone has a different framework when they hear when they hear that word. Some people think, oh, safari tent, some people think dome, some people think tree house, and all of that is has its own unique, wonderful aspects to it. Um, so a lot of times it's it's me just kind of explaining it's a dome, it's an actual like enclosed structure. We do have running water, we do have a full kitchen. I mean, it is basically like a house inside of a dome. And um, the way that we designed it was uh very much focused on being able to have our entire family of five there. And so having a loft area where the kids can be, and some lofts and domes are you know, you're kind of crawling up there to sleep, but you can't really stand up. So Andrew worked really closely with the architects um to make it as functional as possible. They actually added four feet to the bottom uh section of the dome. So most domes are like a half sphere, is that right?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Um, and so they actually added it's like more than half of a sphere in order to get that extra height for like block area and other things.
SPEAKER_01:Upstairs, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:So it's um it's it's hard to really put into words, and even it's hard for me to capture on film, even when I'm posting on social media or things, just how big the space actually is.
SPEAKER_01:It's very beautiful and it's uh interesting if you've never seen one. It is fully enclosed, and you have like a real front door to walk in. And and so I think that's a you know, to get that idea across that it's it's not wood, but it is it's uh what is it plastic? What is the the dome made out of?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, it's like a a PVC cover, and then there's an insulation liner on the inside, and the structure is like metal, right?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:It's a metal steel frame and then a PVC cover over it. And yeah, as Laura was explaining, it's just so big and nice inside. We actually have three mini splits of five tons of heating and cooling, so temperature regulation is great. The temperature or the kitchen is nicer than our kitchen. The master bath, you know, I wanted like spa jets. I've never had spa jets in my own shower. So spa jets in the wall.
SPEAKER_02:Andrew and I like nice things, and so this project was really fun for me to get to pick appliances that I wanted to pick and green cabinets and get to have fun with it. That was one of the things that lit me up when he brought up the idea of a glamping dome. It was like, oh, we could like make it however we want, we can be as creative as we want, and that actually makes it better. You know, we're not looking at keeping everything white and beige for resale value. It's like you get to have as much fun with the decor as you want.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, and with the kids, a lot of the vacations and trips we've taken, we took aspects of that and brought it there. So our kids, there's a restaurant we eat at nearby, and they have a the little ring game where you throw that metal ring and try to lean down the hook. They love that. So we're like, okay, we're putting that there. We went on a trip to the beach and there's a Pac-Man arcade game, or like, okay, we're getting in a Pac-Man arcade game for the Dom. There's tons of board games, there's some really fun things to do. Yeah, so many fun things for the kids.
SPEAKER_01:So tell me a little bit about how the business works. So, do y'all put this on Airbnb or do you just do people rent directly from you? And what what are usually what are people looking for when they come across glamping? What makes them want to do this?
SPEAKER_02:So most of our guests find us on Airbnb. Um, we're also on BRBO, and then um I have social media where we're able to kind of reach out to people. We do have uh our own website, aubergndlamping.com, that you can book through directly. Um, and we've gotten more and more of that as we've been growing. Um and so a lot of people I find are looking for somewhere to go and stay. We started with the premise of like being close to Auburn. We started in football season, and that helped us a lot to get started. So people would come and stay with us for the weekend, go to the Auburn game and have kind of this unique experience to come back to. And then I find as we move along, people are wanting to actually go glamping. So they're finding us because they want to come and stay at the dome more than necessarily they're coming to come see a certain area. Um, I mean, over the summer it was great to be near Lake Martin. We had people come with boats or kayaks and be able to go to the lake and enjoy that. And we still have people that come uh to visit their college students at Auburn. Um, and it's great to be close to so many good restaurants and towns and things to explore. Um, but a lot of people are coming just for that disconnect from all the noise, come be in a really peaceful environment. Um, we've had several honeymoons lately, which has been so sweet. I just love that uh that's where people want to spend their first few nights um as a married couple together. It's just a really great place to kind of connect with the person that you're with and be where you are, and being in nature is so peaceful and just provides so much presence. And I think that's what people are looking for.
SPEAKER_01:Well, let's talk about you guys for a minute here. What do you do for fun when you're not uh working at Auburn Clamping?
SPEAKER_03:So we've got three kids that keep us very busy. Um, right now they're big into soccer and gymnastics. I coach my middle son in soccer, and we've got you know soccer games this weekend. Um, I still play soccer as well. You know, whenever we can get a break or our mother-in-law to come, Laura and I love to go eat good food and Birmingham.
SPEAKER_02:We are foodies and Birmingham has great food. And Auburn has grown so much on the food front. We love to explore that when we can when we're there. Um, we love good coffee, so you know, when our guests come, I'm like, you've got to try this place.
SPEAKER_03:Oh yeah. I mean, every every morning I make us espresso, so we're very, very big into good coffee.
SPEAKER_02:We enjoy good food, coffee and food. Okay, we live an experience too. Our family is very adventurous, and so we love to travel. Um, we just went to Costa Rica this past summer with all our kids and it was definitely not a relaxing trip. It was definitely an adventure trip. Yes, but it was so fun, and our kids are always just kind of along, like they're just down for whatever it is that we're doing. They can really just have a good time anywhere that we are.
SPEAKER_01:So I love it. Very fun. So, part of the reason I do this podcast is to encourage others to go into business for themselves, to do something like this. And always when you're going into a venture for yourself, there's some hardships that that you either go through personally or through the business, the business hardships that made you a better person and the business a better business. What are some of the things that you, some of those challenges that you uh encountered when you were getting this started, maybe in the construction of it? What are some of those challenges?
SPEAKER_02:So, I mean, we started this project. I was literally eight months pregnant, so um, with our third kid. So I had two other little kids at home. And um, I just we we kind of just trust each other. And so when we both felt like this was a yes, we went for it, even though logically it may not have made the most sense for the stage of life we were in. Um so intertraveling so often to build the project was definitely hard. Um, but we were both on the same page about how we wanted to deal with that, and I think um it'd be very easy for us to, especially running a business together, building it together, it would have been very easy for us to kind of turn on each other and blame each other. And I think instead we both chose chose very early on to like support each other, trust each other, even now that we um run the business. It's really cool to see, like I've always trusted Andrew, he's a great problem solver, and I got to watch that in action during the whole build, and I get to watch it still, and it's been really cool for me to see him like trusting me with different things. I do a lot of our what I kind of say like marketing and um customer service, if you will, and I love that. And he just kind of fully trusts me to interact with our guests and to take care of um just different aspects of the business. And so I think for us it's been, you know, we've had the opportunity to let it cause stress and um be damaging, and we've decided to flip that and let it bring us closer and let it really grow each of us individually and also as a couple.
SPEAKER_01:Absolutely, because there is going to be stress when you start a business. Absolutely. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, and I I think we thought building a dome would be easy, but in all honesty, I think it's harder than building a house. So anyone who has gone through working with a contractor to design and build a house, trying to build a dome at this at the like level we built it is very difficult. It was like very stressful every step of the way, working with contractors and working through issues, even installing the dome. We had a lot of issues that was very stressful.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, they act like you can just put up the frame in a weekend, and so interesting for it to take, you know, a weekend with a few friends and like three months later it's yeah, you're still trying to get it up.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, everything takes longer, costs more, you know, than you think it will. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Especially with something unique, you know, you're just you can't do the standard measurements. Uh, we were so blessed along the way to come across different people that could help us, and um, even somebody that Andrew just knows from soccer who could help us with the kitchen cabinets, like something that really should be simple, and it just wasn't. And he was just like God just kept putting people in our path to help us with this project and to keep it moving. Um yeah, well, it's round to see that to get to see people show up for you.
SPEAKER_01:It's a round structure that can't be you, yeah. I mean, you can't just go and say, I need the standard size of things, right?
SPEAKER_02:There are very few flat walls, like yeah, very different.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I mean, the you know, the encouraging piece of it, and I say this like anyone else who's listening to your podcast, like we wouldn't go back and change anything. No, like it was really hard going through that, but like there's a light at the end of the tunnel.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, and I do it again.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, and I we may do it again sometime.
SPEAKER_02:We got 22 acres out there.
SPEAKER_01:So now that you kind of know what you're doing, you'd probably go a lot quicker.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, we do have some plans. Maybe we'll have to do another podcast as we get so won't tell you too much about that right now.
SPEAKER_02:We're really just enjoying what we have right now and the way that it's set up and being just over a year in and seeing how the response has been just very encouraging. So we're kind of just soaking that in right now.
SPEAKER_01:Well, as we close out our conversation here, what is one thing you wish people knew about Auburn clamping that they may not realize?
SPEAKER_03:I can go first, but I don't think people realize how much you can disconnect and enjoy the experience. I mean, the feedback afterwards is always I expect it to be like good or great, and it was that much better. Just the white oaks on the property, the creek, the proximity to the lake, the structure, all the amenities. You can just really disconnect way more than you can going to the beach or going to Disney or going it, you can just really relax. It is just so enjoyable, and you're not that far from amenities. I mean, you're 25 minutes from Auburn and there's local good like food and coffee. It's just so fun to light a fire, hang out in the hot tub, walk around the property. And you know, a lot of people are so busy in life and so stressed in life, and don't take that break. And it's just such a great place to go relax.
SPEAKER_02:I think on that note, too, a lot of times I have people ask me for recommendations of things to do nearby, and I have all that information, and yet my response oftentimes is like when we go down there as a family, we could go by the grocery store and then not leave the property for three nights. Like we're very entertained to just be on the property and cook there and have a fire and enjoy all the things that it has to offer.
SPEAKER_01:I think we need that. We need to get away into nature. We sometimes forget how you know God intended us to enjoy nature, and we've uh kind of gotten away from that. So this is a great way to do that. Well, how can someone find out more about you or get in contact with you? What's the best way?
SPEAKER_02:So, one of the best ways to communicate with me is through um social media. So Instagram, I'm always responsive responding on there to things, and then also we have our website, auburn glamping.com. And if you're looking to book, you can communicate with us through those platforms as well. Um yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, okay. Instagram's a great way to contact her.
SPEAKER_02:Yes, yes. Well, I have a great relationship with Instagram. Uh I'm on there more than I'd like to be, but I do love the way that it has connected me to a lot of different people.
SPEAKER_01:So yes. Well, I appreciate you guys spending some time with me. I've really enjoyed uh learning more about Auburn clamping and have enjoyed learning more about you.
SPEAKER_02:Thank you for having us, Susanna.
SPEAKER_03:Yes, thank you so much.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast Auburn. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnpauburn.com. That's gnpauburn.com or call 334-429-740.