Destination Smackdown
Why the Beach Is Best
By Virginia Myers
1) I’m a nature girl: A manmade lake like Deep Creek in Garrett County, however much it tries to blend into the wilderness, will always feel fake.
2) As soon as I get within five miles of Rehoboth Beach in Delaware, I can feel the ocean breezes clearing my city-clogged lungs. And the salt air lends texture and volume to my hair. Plenty of people pay good money for styling sprays to get the same effect. At the lake, you just get wet hair.
3) Think of sunrise over the water, with a shimmering horizon that’s conducive to dreaming of faraway lands and endless possibilities. There’s not much far away at the lake; the other shore is so close you could swim there.
4) My favorite beach activity: surfing. Try that on a lake. Ditto with kitesurfing, boogie-boarding, even those inflatable rubber rafts that send kids shrieking with delight through the ocean foam before they tumble onto the sand. Now that’s a sound of summer.
5) Offshore sailing. Yes, I know you can sail on a lake, but all those trees block the wind and deflate your sails. I’ll take open water anytime.
6) I hate the slimy bottom of a lake. You never know what you’re stepping on, or when the floor will drop out from under you. Give me the gentle, sandy slope of a clear tidal sea any day.
7) I can spend hours strolling the beach. With just one mile of shoreline carved out for visitors at Deep Creek, the lake seems, well, limited. Plus, try to find a single seashell on that manmade shore.
8) The boardwalk at the beach early in the morning is the perfect way to start the day, whether with a run or a casual bike ride along its flat surface. Deep Creek Lake trails run through the mountains. Exhausting.
9) If I’m antsy from all that lying around on the beach, there are boardwalk arcades where my inner kid can wheel around in the bumper car pavilion, work out aggression at Whac-A-Mole, or amuse my teens with my inability to score on video games.
10) At Rehoboth, there are 70 flavors at The Ice Cream Store, including “crack.” Two dozen taps plus three house-distilled spirits at Dogfish Head Brewings and Eats, a pioneer in local craft beer. More than 200 restaurants, including several that compete with Bethesda’s best. At Deep Creek Lake? Thirty-two restaurants and a brewpub that serves beer in mason jars from seven taps.
Freelance writer Virginia Myers, a onetime Floridian who now lives in Takoma Park, has been going to Rehoboth Beach off and on for more than two decades.
Why I like Deep Creek Lake
By Steve Hull
1) Getting there is easy. Once you clear I-270, driving to Deep Creek Lake is a straight shot, with all but about 15 miles on interstates. Plus, you get to pass through towns with names like “Flintstone” and “Accident” and by a giant half-built replica of Noah’s Ark along I-68 in Frostburg. (A local pastor claims that God told him to build the ark in 1974, but progress has been slow.) The best part of driving to Deep Creek Lake: Every mile you go is a mile farther from the Bay Bridge.
2) When I go on vacation, I want to feel like I’m really away. The times I’ve visited Bethany or Rehoboth, I’ve felt like I was back in Bethesda. Every car there seems to have been purchased at Jim Coleman Toyota or Chevy Chase Cars and sports a “Whitman Lacrosse” or “MSI” sticker. And I frequently run into people I know. Many people from the Bethesda area go to DCL as well, but we’re in the minority.
3) The lake is serene in the early morning and evening—when it’s not buzzing with activity. It’s surrounded by mountains (or at least what we Marylanders call mountains) and the water shimmers with the reflection of the sun. It feels much farther from the hubbub of Bethesda than it is.
4) Mornings and evenings on the lake are good for more than just contemplation; they’re the best time to go waterskiing. I grew up waterskiing on a manmade lake nestled in the hills of western Connecticut (which might just explain my love of Deep Creek Lake). And there’s something about cutting back and forth on glassy water that’s both exhilarating and relaxing. (As I get older, it’s also exhausting.) Waterskiing is great exercise and can easily be taught to even young children—and boat rentals are available by the day or week.
5) Truth be told, midday on Deep Creek Lake is like rush hour on the Beltway—with no lanes. Motorboats dart in all directions and the resulting waves would make passengers on a luxury yacht queasy. But the conditions make it ideal for tubing—an activity that kids love (although why is beyond me). Tubing involves being on a large rubber tube pulled by a rope behind a boat. It sounds boring until you combine constant turns, changing speeds and big waves. It’s not for the faint of heart.
6) After a few days on the lake, I’m ready for a change. And Deep Creek Lake offers many options. Within a short drive are miles of hiking trails; rivers for swimming, fishing and world-class white-water rafting; and Wisp Resort. Wisp will never be mistaken for Vail, but in the summer you can (for a price) take a ski lift to the top of the mountain and hike (or mountain bike) down; ride on the Mountain Coaster; play golf; or go rafting on the extraordinary manmade white-water course at the top of the mountain.
7) In our risk-averse world, there aren’t many places left where you’re free to do even slightly risky things. Somehow the lawyers have missed Swallow Falls State Park. The Youghiogheny River flows through gorges along the park’s border, creating a series of spectacular waterfalls. And the falls are open to all comers to dive from and swim under. It’s risky business—a park ranger told me that about an ambulance a week is called for broken bones or lacerations—but it’s a blast.
8) A family vacation is all about a change of routine. And at Deep Creek Lake, one of the nicest changes is that you can get to most of the places by boat. You can drive your boat and park (for free!) when you go out to dinner, the movies, shopping or for ice cream.
9) There’s less to do at night at the lake than at the beach, which is a good thing. Rather than going out most nights, we make a fire in the outdoor fireplace at the home we rent (many homes there have them), and we drink cocktails, play music and games and talk until the wee hours. We’re outside, together and far removed from anything and anyone else.
10) There are no jellyfish in Deep Creek Lake.
Editor-in-chief and Publisher Steve Hull is originally from Connecticut and has been going to Deep Creek Lake for eight years.
