Pipestem Falls
We've covered a lot of miles in various states and different countries since I retired back in April 2016. There have been planes, trains, ships and rental cars involved in all of these journeys. What there hasn't been is a true "road trip" where we've driven our own car as the primary mode of transportation.
Until a few weeks ago our car, which we still lovingly referred to as the "new car" was a 2005 Honda Accord with over 245,000 miles on it. That's a few thousand miles more than the distance from the earth to the moon! We were pleasantly surprised when it got us and all our belongings from Texas to Florida after retirement. Since then it has gotten us to where we have wanted to go, but we haven't pushed it much beyond the one hundred mile range.
Before hitting the road we hit the dealership and purchased a new to us, but used Honda CR-V. We're not big car people. We want something comfortable, safe, dependable and long lasting. We drive them until the wheels practically fall off and have even been known to sell a car or two on the side of the road after it died. We're hoping to get as many miles out of the CR-V as we have on the Accord. We'll be putting it to the test over the next few months.
We left Florida early (1:30 AM) yesterday morning on a road trip. We hope to cover a few destinations over the next couple of months and possibly beyond. We're planning on spending around five weeks in Pennsylvania, close to where our son Ben lives. We hope to fly back to Florida for a few days for a very special 92nd birthday. After that we'll head back to Pennsylvania, pick up the car and move to the upper peninsula of Michigan to enjoy the change of seasons from along the shores of Lake Superior.
First up on this adventure is two nights at Pipestem Resort State Park in Pipestem, West Virginia. The 4,050 acre park sits in the Bluestone River gorge. It is conveniently located about 20 minutes off of Interstate 77 and is about three hours north of Charlotte, NC and two hours west of Roanoke, VA. It's right on the way to Ben's neck of the woods in Pennsylvania. The name of the area (Pipestem) came from early settlers who observed the Native American Shawnee Indians using the stem of a local shrub to make pipes for smoking.
Over the course of our US travels we've visited most of the fifty states but this is actually our first time in West Virginia. From what we've seen so far, we're in agreement with John Denver's assessment of West Virginia as "almost heaven". We had also heard great things about the West Virginia State Park's and if Pipestem is any indication, they too have earned their excellent reputation.
https://wvstateparks.com/park/pipestem-resort-state-park/
Pipestem offers camping, 26 cottages, and two lodges, the Mountain Creek Lodge (open May-October) which sits in the gorge alongside the Bluestone River and the McKeever Lodge which is located at top of the canyon rim. A unique feature of the Mountain Creek Lodge is that it is only accessible by a tram that runs from the parks Canyon Rim Center. Day visitors or guests in the campground, cottages and McKeever Lodge can ride the tram for a small fee (currently $7, unless you're old like me, then it's $6). If you do visit the park I would encourage you to take the tram down. We took it down shortly after we arrived while we were waiting for our room to be cleaned. The views looking up from the bottom of the gorge were great. Also, there is a nice flat trail along the river that was very enjoyable. This trail was a great way to get the blood flowing again after the twelve hour drive from Florida.
McKeever Lodge on the rim of the gorge
A chair in the shade by a mountain river........it doesn't get much better!
The park also has a beautiful 18 hole golf course, a par 3 golf course, miniature golf course, tennis courts, basketball court, fitness center, numerous hiking trails, a lake for fishing that also has a variety of inflatable water features, a "splash pad", an indoor and outdoor pool, several restaurants and a whole lot more. The word "Resort" in the parks name is well deserved!
It's a really tough course
We finished off our first day at Pipestem sitting on the balcony of our lodge room enjoying a spectacular sunset, while below us a four deer and seven racoons begged for food from us and the other amused guests. Additionally, a small but somewhat shy gray fox would occasionally make an appearance before heading back into the thick brush.
Sunset from our balcony overlooking the gorge
After catching up on our sleep we enjoyed a full day's adventure in the park and surrounding area. First it was coffee with the deer and racoons who were now looking for breakfast. Afterwards we hiked the nicely shaded, mostly flat Lake Shore Trail that encircles Long Branch Lake. We followed that up wit a walk to a nice scenic overlook just off the parks main road. In the afternoon we played the incredibly difficult miniature golf course, explored Pipestem Falls, which is just outside the park, and drove a quick 20 minutes to see the impressive but more rustic Bluestone River State Park.
Bluestone River near Bluestone River State Park
Sunset is still a few hours away. Hopefully we'll be joined by the deer, racoons and shy fox again tonight as we close out our first full day of being in "almost heaven".
