Dinner on DCL

A great evening for "Dinner on DCL"

         It's almost the end of July, and last night was our first trip on Deep Creek Lake this summer.  Our worlds get busy and time passes but sometimes you just have to stop and enjoy what this place has to offer. 

        My dad has a boat, but it spends most of the summer sitting alone, covered, hanging out at the dock all by itself.  The poor thing might get used a half a dozen times a summer, and last night was one of those occasions.  The weather was nearly perfect, with temps around 80, a calm breeze and a clear blue sky.  We fired it up and headed out in the early evening for our three-hour cruise.



Looking for bad guys?



        Our first stop was at Silver Tree Marine to fill up with gas.  Of course, fuel costs about twice as much on the water as it does on land, but being on the lake is worth every penny.  We had noticed helicopters and planes flying over the lake and the rumor at the gas dock was they were searching for someone who robbed someone else in the area.  I really didn't believe it "cuz that kind of stuff really doesn't happen in good old Garrett County," does it??

Leaving Holy Cross

        Next up, take-out food from UNO's for our "Dinner on DCL".  Does it really ever get any better than this?  The only down-side at all is walking through the goose crap on the dock at the Honi as we carried our food back to the boat.  It's a small price to pay and we continued our journey to our ultimate dining location, a quiet cove near Holy Cross.  We dropped anchor and dug into our supper.  It was very peaceful, and I can't even describe how enjoyable this experience was.  There was a noticable lack of action around us, but soon we were treated to the sight of a boat, filled with at least 15 Amish (dressed as you would expect) cruising past.  Sorry, no picture....  After a quick swim, it was time to move on in search of the perfect sunset picture. 



Paradise Point

        Getting the perfect sunset picture takes work.  The sun was dropping fast and I had to maneuver the boat into the perfect location.  Speed up, slow down, turn left, turn right, we were all over the place.  The first shot was taken as the sun dropped behind some trees at a place called "Paradise Point".  Is this a perfectly named spot or what???  Finally, we made our way to the main part of the lake to get the final shot of the night.  The sun was dropping and the enjoyable evening was coming to an end.  I was amazed that on this perfect evening, in the middle of summer, we were virtually alone.

Into the sunset

        As the sun fell behind Marsh Mountain, we headed into the sunset and back to the dock for a peaceful end to our "Dinner on DCL" excursion.

"Let's Roll" - Flight 93 Memorial

      Yesterday afternoon, we visited the Flight 93 Memorial near Shanksville, PA.  It was a cool, overcast afternoon, very different from the bright, sunny day that led to the construction of this memorial.  September 11, 2001 started out very sunny, but soon a huge cloud hung over our country.

      As we entered the memorial, we encountered several signs, capturing the events of the day.  We then came upon a young ranger, telling the story to the crowd with great emotion.  The memories of that day came flooding back. Where I was, who I was with, what I was doing and what I was feeling. There were very powerful emotions.  The young ranger was probably in grade school in 2001, but he told the story as if he was on the plane that terrible day.  The ranger described how the flight began routinely but soon everything changed.  He spoke of terror, phone calls, messages to loved ones and of course, he spoke of the heroic efforts of the passengers. 

      Who doesn't get chills when thinking about passengers like Todd Beamer and Jeremy Glick (and others) who took it upon themselves to do everything in their power to stop the hijackers and save the lives of hundreds if not thousands of people in Washington DC.  "Let's Roll" was the phrased use by these heros as the stormed the cockpit, and it is a phrase I still use today with these people in mind.

      We made our way to the actual memorial site, with the impact zone on our left.  It was a quiet, reflective stroll, the memories of that day fresh in our minds.  The actual momument was very moving, with the names of the passengers engraved in the stones.  One stone, bearing the name of a woman, had "with unborn child" engraved in small letters below.  Wow, what a terrible day that was.  It was quite powerful, but the part that touched me the most was looking throught the wooden gate, across the impact zone, to the symbolic boulder where only family members (and I am told, our President) are permitted enter.  Lives lots, the world forever changed.

All those lives lost, but so many more saved by the heroic actions of regular Americans who refused to sit quietly by and accept their fate.  They came together, developed a plan and dove headfirst into action with the command "Let's Roll".