Amy pulled our lodge room's curtains open early this morning to reveal a drop-the-baby gorgeous view of Rocky Gap State Park's 243-acre manmade Lake Habeeb. The surrounding hills were lit by patches of orange light from the crespuscular rays that marched slowly across the fall landscape. The scene was all too beautiful to properly record with a phonecam, but I did manage some high resolution frames with Cianna in one arm and my Olympus digital camera at the end of the other. After breakfast with Cianna's grandparents (pic 6), we took a hike up the Lakeside Loop Trail to the park's Aviary where among other birds, we got a super-close-up look at a Great Horned Owl. Then further up was the Lemel Bucy Family Cemetary, a burial site used in the 1800s. We stopped on the fishing pier at the western end of the lake by the dam before returning to the car for the ride home. With our $59 hotel discount coupons in hand, we're likely to make a trip back this winter.

- mike lee - cumberland, md