A good friend and client of mine, Rick, offered to take me up in his Cirrus sr20 yesterday at the Garrett County Airport (by the way, the renovations are GREAT). Rick has a vacation rental property (Cloud 10) here at the lake that he flies up to check on & make repairs. (Shameless plug: the house is awesome: indoor pool, views of the lake & ski slopes, full arcade, more).
We spent the morning looking at other homes for sale – he insists that the market conditions are ripe for some unbelievable deals (I agree) and plans on investing in several more rental properties in the coming years.
We took off from the airport around 12:45 or so and spent a half hour cruising the skies. His plane is impressive, it even has a parachute! As you can tell from some of the photos, I got to see the Lodestone golf course from the air (looks great), the Adventure Sports Center (ASCI) & the Wisp golf course (I had two of my good buddies playing at the time – didn’t see them, though). It’s really neat how it all pieces together. Another thing that was unique is seeing just how high these hills are – there is a considerable drop off in elevation when flying over Marsh Mountain and then seeing how far the lake is below. It gave me a better feel of the terrain, as well as the ‘hidden’ things you don’t see from land. A few examples of this: a large, cleared out spot near Lodestone golf course, perhaps the cleared out spot for the future clubhouse or where they keep their sand, etc; a large pond/lake near Mosser Rd with some sort of rock wall in the middle of it (had NEVER seen that before); and lots of carved out spots in dense woods & forests for farms & crops. It’s a great perspective of the terrain we are all familiar with.
Of course, I was able to get a good view of the windmills as we flew overhead. I’m starting to get used to seeing them on the horizon now, but it was interesting to see just how high they were in the sky when flying beside them. The southern part of the lake is pretty flat, save for these few ridges and a towering ‘hill’ at Thousand Acres. I remember seeing the golf course there, as well, but due to the flight path, I couldn’t get a clear shot of it. I’m sure Bill Franklin has a photo or two…
Overall, it was a spectacular opportunity to see Deep Creek Lake from a bird’s point of view. I’m sure someone offers flights over the county, I’ll check into it and report back. Also, go up and check out the ‘new’ airport – it can accommodate private jets, which is really neat, and makes our area that much more accessible. It’s also nice to see federal tax dollars at work in Garrett County. Thanks again to Rick for the flight! Check out his vacation house – Cloud 10.
Here are some photos and a link to the full gallery on Facebook.
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