Thursday, May 15th
It was very cold in Corpus Christi airport. The plane loaded on time, but it traveled to the Tarmac and shut down the engine for a half hour. The plane was still hot. The Pilot said they were being delayed because of congestion in Houston. He said Hobby only has one runway in service. The Houston airport was very cold too and my 4-hour layover became six. I got to Patrick's house around 9pm.
Friday, May 16th
I got up earlier than the others so I sat outside watching the birds at the feeders for a while before I decided to get photographs of them. When I got back with my camera, they were all gone. I couldn't figure out what happened until I saw a hawk fly out of a tree near the feeder.
Later I helped Patrick put up a deer fence around his garden. Then we planted a few vegetables.
Saturday, May 17th
I took a lot of pictures of the birds because my camera was having trouble focusing in the dim light.
Later I helped Patrick figure out how to load up 4 kayaks in his truck. It was a practice run to see if it could be done.
Then we visited Jimmy at the hospital in Pittsburgh. We got to witness his reading and prnouncing words test. From there we went to The Hill Top Bar and Grill in Rochester for dinner. Nathan and Alicia met us there. The waitress did a group picture for us.
Sunday, May 18th We successfully loaded the 4 kayaks into Pat's Truck and put plenty of groceries into the car. Then we drove to Maryland, arriving at Deep Creek Lake arriving at 3:30 at the Air B&B rented from Railey Vacations. Our password wouldn't work until 4pm so we unloaded car at the door and went to the Uno Pizzeria and Grill for lunch. I got the cheese steak and had a lot leftover for breakfast the next day. Came back, moved stuff inside.
When we returned, we saw lots of goose turds on the back yard heading to the dock. In addition there were numerous other problems: the indoor pool was cold, the Jacuzzis wouldn't flow, there were spider webs on all windows, commodes wouldn't flush, cabinets greasy, etc. We put away our groceries and waited for the rest to arrive. They took scenic routes, so they arrived quite late.
Monday, May 19th I got up a little earlier than the rest and witnessed the geese that had left their mark in the back yard and dock area. Later, when Pat saw them, he chased them out into the water. They kept returning as if they were playing a game with him.
After we returned the boat we walked next door to the Lakeside Creamery. They got ice cream and I ordered a mango and strawberry smoothie, but I got an Icey instead. It was very cold (Brain Freeze) and I was already cold. On the way back we saw an honor system log vending place. We got some wood for the burn pit that evening.
Tuesday, May 20th There was a slight fog on he lake when I got up and the sun had difficulty showing itself at sunrise. The geese returned and I got some good photos.
The weather was nice so we went to Blackwater Falls State Park in West Virginia. We did three different hikes there, then one on the way back to Deep Lake, Swallow Falls State Park, Maryland. The first hike was the Blackwater Boardwalk Trail near the park entrance. It's a short walk down wooden steps to view the falls, but the return trip was quite a bit more difficult. The name, Blackwater, comes from the dark color of the water from the rain straining through the pine needles of the forest.
Michael had done some All-Trails research on this state park and we went to the next most visited trail, Elakala Trail. The first part was interesting but we should have stopped at the falls. The next part of the trail required careful stepping over exposed roots and rocks. When we neared the Park Road, we saw several ambulances so turned back along the trail to the Blackwater Lodge where we stopped for lunch.
Leaving the lodge, we then started along the Balanced Rock Trail. The trail brought us to a rock formation similar to the Nagpatong Rock hike I did in the Philippines a few months ago. It was not as impressive, but still nice. The walk also included some nice views of the hillsides.
From there we headed back to Maryland but stopped at Swallow Falls on our way back. We weren't sure if there was a fee but there was one of those honesty boxes near the entrance, so I went inside to ask and was told it was free if any of us had military service, else $5 for the car. I wasn't sure if any of our connections counted so I gave $5 on the way out. We took the Canyon Creek trail where we were warned that the Youghiogheny River and Muddy Creek were white water hazards and to be careful. We encountered numerous pretty rapids and waterfalls along the walk. The trail also passed through some nice rock formations. It was a well worthwhile stop.
Wednesday, May 21st
Thursday, May 22nd
I showed Michael that I had ponchos and we decided to try a hike in Deep Creek Lake State Park. We took the Cherry Creek Loop near the end of the park. Started near the crosscut trail met the cherry creek loop near a parking spot. The trail brought some views of big rock outcrops. We couldn't really see much of cherry creek because of the undergrowth, but we could hear it. I took some pictures of the bushes and Michael's app said they were Mountain Laurels. Later Michael saw a deer in the distance and I was able to get a photo of before he finally trotted off.
Friday, May 23rd It was cold and overcast when Michael and I hiked Deep Creek Lake State Park again. Eventually we did get drizzled on. Michael had mapped out a complex walk that started on the Indian Turnip Trail, jumped to the Lookout Trail, then we did a short diversion along the Brant Mine Trail, then back to the Indian Turnip Trail and eventually back to the parking lot. The Overlook Trail is a misnomer since you couldn't see through the trees. Even the overlook platform didn't get above the trees. Maybe it's an overlook in the winter when there are no leaves on the trees. We did see a fire tower. Someone wasn't sure we should be there. I think he left his tools there and was checking that we didn't mess with them.
Saturday, May 24th The day started with a visit of the geese families getting their breakfast before Pat got up to chase them away.
Sunday, May 25th
 Everyone headed back to their homes except us and the Eatons who made a stop at the Wisp Resort. We all took the Mountain Coaster ride.
Monday, May 26th
One of the evenings Alicia came to cook some cookies for something at work the next day. She had an interesting cook book. I took some pictures of interesting recipes from her books. I made the Hershey Kiss S'mores Cookies for first Sunday pot luck after Mass in July. The kids ate it all up.
Tuesday, May 27th I helped Patrick start to re-assemble the Frank Lloyd Wright puzzle. It was a more difficult task than envisioned, just to reassemble the completed parts. I had a 1:00 flight back so I ate lunch at the airport. Pat finished the puzzle later. I attached several images from the trip that weren't included above.
Links:
Blackwater Falls State Park, WVa Swallow Falls State Park, Maryland Hiking Trails at Deep Creek Lake State Park
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