Almost Heaven

We spent four nights at Pipestem Resort in southern West Virginia. A quiet and peaceful change from the noise and bustle of Beale Street in Memphis. We stayed in the Mountain Creek Lodge. It's at the bottom of the mountain - accessible to the public only by aerial tram.

Going down - in the rain

Going up

We arrived late Saturday evening - only 15 minutes before the restaurant was due to close. Having our priorities straight, we headed straight for the restaurant and left our luggage stored on the cart just inside the entrance to the restaurant. It was a good choice, our room was as far away from the restaurant and tram entrance as you could possibly get. Even though we arrived 15 minutes before their scheduled closing, we were treated to a leisurely meal. No one rushed us - we were actually encouraged to take our time. I really can't say enough about how good this restaurant is. The park encourages guests at the main lodge to plan to eat there one night during their stay. Personally, I think a guest would do well to eat there every night - we did. (They only do dinner. They are not open for breakfast or lunch.) The food quality and presentation are exceptional and the service standards are quite high. Since we had breakfast and lunch at some of the other eateries within the complex, I feel qualified to say that the food and service at Mountain Creek Lodge is absolutely the best.

View from the dining room

The room was fairly standard - somewhat rustic (after all, it is a lodge) with two double beds (one to use as a storage area and one for sleeping). We had a flat screen TV that we never turned on, a desk, a closet, and a double wide dresser. We had a fridge and a microwave that we never used. We also had a balcony equipped with a table and two chairs - just perfect for that rainy day where we didn't do anything other than read and watch the wildlife. The Bluestone River is just outside! I was a bit concerned after the first night when we went to sleep to the sound of whining children and were awakened at dawn by the sound of cartoons. (Do they have to have them on loud enough for everyone in the lodge to hear??) Then there was the smell of cigarette smoke wafting up from the balcony below. But lucky for us, those people checked out that day and we had peace and quiet for the rest of our stay. The only drawback was that we never got the wifi in the room to work, which made it a bit challenging to stay in touch with the office but we were able to take the laptop and the ipad up to the top of the mountain and keep up with the necessities.

The view from our balcony

Our evening visitor

There were also two golf courses - a championship course and an executive, or short course. We'd intended to play both of them but since we were rained out one day, we only played the championship course. It wasn't the most meticulously manicured course I've ever been on, but well worth the $78 we paid for both of us to play. There were plenty of deer and squirrels and stunning views of the surrounding area. (And we didn't play too badly considering it was unfamiliar to us.) If we'd had a bit more time, we'd have checked out the paddle boats and some of the nature hikes.

I took a look at the other cars in the parking lot. Having come from Texas, we'd driven the farthest - but there were cars from Maryland, South Carolina, Ohio, Georgia and of course, West Virginia. I don't think there's an airport that's particularly close, but if you're out for a drive you should consider stopping by.