The Pines at Beulah, to die for.

Loaded my friend Nancy in the car today and headed West across the beautiful Beulah Valley to my favorite place in the whole world, The Stompin' Grounds Coffee shop on Main Street.

Yep, the sign was still there!

Little Jan was still inside!

The refrigerator was still covered with bumper stickers!

And up the road was the thing that had brought me to Beulah in the first place, the dragon by John Clay.

But now Jan has a new job.  She is helping run the Pines at Beulah.

Take a tour here by simply a click!

These are cabins up the road from the coffee shop.  They have kitchens and everything you need for a little get-away in the mountains and the cost is dirt cheap.  Oh, you could go to a Motel 6 and for a lot more money you could have asphalt all around you and you could eat at the McDonald's up the block.  These cabins are nestled in the pines and have all the amenities of home.  I could see how getting together with the family could be a joy!

Nancy and I walked up the road and peeked in the windows.  Hell, I may just go hide out in one of those some time when I am wanting to get away from it all.  They even have a fire pit out back.  Course it is a propane fire under artificial logs, but who wants to start a forest fire anyway?  Not me!
I did forget my camera so the pictures above are old, but you would not have known that if I hadn't told you!
That aside, I love Beulah.  It is a 30 minute drive from Pueblo, but it is another world.  When I first came to Colorado back in 1977 one of the first places I visited was the Host Restaurant in Beulah.  That was a real treat to set in that little place and watch the Hummingbirds and the soft rain that seemed to fall every afternoon.
I did not know about the Pines of Beulah until Jan told me today.  So I made up my feeble little mind that I would blog about it and then put it on Facebook and maybe someone would want to take me up there for a nice relaxing day and night in the mountains.  Hmmmmm.  Maybe Jesse and Bernadette could go there for their honeymoon.  Or Ross and Chaz?  Well, somebody could and then they could invite me up for coffee.  OK.  So I guess I won't be going, but you could.  Be sure and click on that link below the picture for phone number, pictures and prices.
And tell them Lou sent you!!

Amy will be here today!

A long time ago, I became friends on the Internet with a girl named Amy who lives with her husband and mother in Daytona Beach, Florida.  Amy loves cookies, but she does not cook.  So I make her cookies and send them to her and she eats them, that is the deal.  So now I guess she is coming to see just where these cookies are coming from.  So she called last night and they were in Kentucky.  The GPS said they will be here at 8:30 this morning.  Now I rather doubt that because they are surely going to need to have a rest stop and they might even want to eat.  Knowing Amy, I am sure they are going to eat.
And Amy likes the cold, so guess what the forecast is for this next week?  I think today is going to be up over 70 degrees.  So she may not get the cold weather she wants, but we will be making a trip up to Beulah to see Jan at the Stompin' Grounds.  Oh, and Rye.  Pretty sure there will still be snow up there. 
Of course there are those who are concerned that I may be murdered in my bed, never stopping to think that perhaps I might be the one who is going to do the murdering.  You know, slip a little something in the cookies?  A couple years back I stopped in Missouri and met a  lady named Cindy.  Went right to her house.  The wiccan was with me.   Now if anyone had a right to be scared, that woman should have been terrified.  She lived on the edge of a lake and no neighbors for quite a little radius of her house.  Her husband drives a truck over the road so I could have done her in and no one would have known for days.  She turned out to be lovely lady and showed us around Crescent City and bought us an ice cream at a quaint little ice cream store.  Yummy.  (Hi, Cindy!  See I still think about you!)
Years ago we had pen pals that we wrote to and put a stamp on the envelope and mailed.  These pen pals were sometimes overseas, or far away.  Sometimes we would read in the paper about "meet and greets".   So why was it safe back then when we exchanged a few letters with a post mark on them and is not safe now when with the click of my mouse I can get the whole history of her Internet address?  I can type her address in Google and a camera will pan in on her front door and I can go out back and see how much trash is piled there? 
I think you would be amazed if you knew how many "Internet Friends" I have.  Some of them last a long time and some of them are just here for a while.  They are still my friends.  They send me pictures and cards and video's and touch base regularly.   If I ever get rich enough to travel there are a few people I would like to meet in New York, a couple in California, Florida, Missouri and one in Texas.  I did correspond with one fellow for over a year, but I never felt like I knew him at all and it turned out I was right.  So, see, there are ways to tell.  I would never have jumped in my car and gone there, nor would I have had him here.  Just a premonition sort of thing I guess.  But Amy has always been open and honest with me and anyone who knows me, knows how important that is to me. She has been through a lot and shared most of it with me. 
So, I am waiting for Amy as we speak!  I am going to cook for her and Bernie and I have cookies in the freezer, and lots of milk and got the sheets already to put on the bed.  I think we will have a lovely visit and I am probably not going to have time for the blog for a few days.  But get ready when it is over I am going to have a ton or pictures for you!  And she is going to have to drive 3 days to get back home!

John Clay, I gotta get up there and see you again in beautiful Beulah!

This is a carved statue that was in John Clay's wood carving shop when I was up in Beulah, Colorado in the Spring.  I actually met John at that time and I think I did a blog on him.  If I didn't I sure should have because he is a very talented man.  I think he told me this one is Father Christmas.  If it isn't it sure should be!

 Then here we have a little Indian Chief almost ready to go to war.  I did not measure this and I should have.  There is a big one in the Beulah Inn that I know I did a piece on earlier.

 Here are some tulips that you can stand in your yard and people will drive by and say, "Damn!  Those are the biggest Tulips I have ever seen."  These are, of course a work of art, as is everything John Clay does.

 Now what is this?  This is a necessary item in the shop.  John assures me he goes through a lot of band aids on any project he does, and I do believe the man!  If anyone should know it John!

 Here we have some of the tools of the trade.  There are several different sized power/chain saws.  There you will see a hand and a foot.  Those belong to John and in my usual inept way, that is all you are going to get until I get back up there and catch the illusive little man.

 Here is a tangle of cords and more tools which are a bit smaller.  Looks like a mess to me, but the man turns out some very intricate work in this tiny shop.

But here is the part I want to tell you.  When I first went up there John showed me a tree root behind his shop.  He was working on it at the time and had called it "The Dragon's Nest."  This has a mother dragon, father and then lots of little babies.  I snuck by his shop when I did the Indian at the Beulah Inn and took more pictures.  It did not look like he had done much, so I need to get up there this week and find out what is going on. 

John is now working on stone carving and I hope this is not the end of the Dragon's Nest.  I don't think it will be cause that thing is going to be fabulous.  So John, you are on notice!  Lou Mercer is coming back to Beulah and you are going to get reported on again and this time I will get a picture of the whole John Clay!

John Clay does custom carving in and around Beulah, Colorado.  I am sure he ships orders elsewhere.  Call John for prices.  1-719-485-9605.  And be sure and tell him Lou sent you!  Won't get you any discounts, but makes me feel like I did something to help a Beulah Artisan!