Pack a Rain Shoe
Thoughts on less-than-ideal weather, good redirects, and the stories that stick
We keep going back to Deep Creek Lake for the same reasons most people do: the air is cooler, the lake is always near, & the mountains do what mountains are supposed to do. Summer delivers, winter delivers, and the in-between seasons have their own kind of quiet beauty.
The weather in Garrett County has never cared much about anyone’s expectations.
We’ve arrived in December to find rain and no snow… Wisp technically open, mountain definitely brown. Other winters, we’ve arrived to a wind chill of -17 and even the most committed skiers quietly agreed that the lodge was enough. Summer has given us full weeks of overcast skies and on-and-off rain. Fall gets moody. Spring gets muddy. I pack two pairs of shoes for every trip and one of them is always a rain shoe.
I used to find this nerve-wracking. I don’t anymore (though I won’t pretend the first few hours are graceful).
What actually happens when the outdoor plan falls apart is pretty unglamorous. Someone finds the couch. Screens come out. Kids who were perfectly happy twenty minutes ago are suddenly bored and a little restless. Adults aren’t much better. The challenge is real: you’re in a place that’s not home, you don’t know it the way you know your own hometown, and the things you came to do aren’t available. It takes a minute to regroup.
That’s where having a short list helps.
The escape room at Wisp was one of those. It was a warm, rainy December: the kind of day where skiing wasn’t happening and the lake met the sky - both felt grey and restless. We had four adults and four kids and a few hours to fill. I knew about the escape room at Wisp, and I’ll be honest, I went in with low expectations. What followed was one of the most genuinely fun afternoons we’ve had there. All eight of us, fully locked in, scurrying around looking for clues, kids convinced they were smarter than the adults (they may have been right). We did not escape in time. We did not care.
Not everything costs something & some of the best redirects don’t
At Camp Kindred, a rainy afternoon is a good excuse for a vinyl party. We play it with a loose rule: best performance wins control of the turntable for 3 songs. It sounds like a small thing. It is NOT a small thing. Someone always gets serious about the stakes.
When you're ready to get out but not ready for a plan, drive the winding roads through Deep Creek State Park & roll down the windows. The tree canopy catches most of the rain. You get the smell of wet forest, the sound of it, your hand trailing out the window between the drops. It’s not nothing. It’s actually quite a lot, if you let it be.
While over at the state park, the Discovery Center is one of those places we had not heard about until we were already regulars at the lake. We’ve visited in summer and winter both. There are short trails that drop down to the lake, birds out back, and a downstairs space that’s hands-on and genuinely interesting for kids without feeling like it was designed by a committee. It holds up.
If you want to get out, stay dry, and accomplish something: Deep Creek Pottery. Choose a piece (functional bowls, piggy banks, mugs, the options are wider than you’d expect) paint it, and leave it. One logistical note worth taking seriously: pieces need a few days to fire, so do this early in your trip, not on your last afternoon. We’ve learned this the hard way. While you’re in the Fort, pop into Cashmere Clothing. I love clothes & Marcia always impresses me with the array of clothing & accessories.
The CARC (Garrett County Aquatics and Recreation Center) is one of those places locals know and visitors often miss. Large lap pool, a smaller zero-entry pool, great for little ones, and a connected hot tub. If you have kids who need to burn energy and the rain has been going since morning, this is the answer. It doesn’t feel like settling… we’re always happy after a visit.
Golf simulators were never on my radar until the weather put them there. The Green Turtle has become a reliable option: you can eat, you can drink, you can swing, and the combination is usually better than any of those things would be separately. Logistically: they only allow you to start at the top of the hour, and in summer it can back up, so plan ahead if you’re going in peak season.
The Bogey Club is a different animal entirely. You rent the whole facility: simulator, kids’ play area, pool table… and it’s BYOB, which means you bring exactly what your group wants and settle in. It has the feel of a private party that required almost no planning. What a special option.
Some rainy afternoons call for the kind of activity that hasn't changed much since your parents were dragging you to it. The Garrett 8 is a movie theater the way movie theaters used to feel — tickets are cheaper than what you’d find in the city, and the kids’ snack deal is almost suspiciously good. Last I checked: $5 for a drink, popcorn, and candy.
The Alley in Oakland is not just “good for a bowling alley.” It was remodeled in the last few years & the food is genuinely good. It’s a full evening if you want it to be. While you’re in Oakland, head into the downtown for records at Flipside Sounds, some thrifting, & so many other treasures. I could write a whole post on Oakland…
And then there’s the other kind of redirect entirely… the one where you decide the weather is actually doing you a favor.
OMG Relax inside Market on 42 has massage chairs, red light therapy, and salt therapy. A local friend has turned it into a standing Saturday ritual: she and her girlfriend book a session, then walk next door to Harvest House for Bloody Marys. From there it’s a natural drift into Wild Ember — which has quietly evolved into something closer to a market, with food and drink items to browse, including organic wine. Then pop into Secondhand Citizen and Railey Furniture for shopping.
None of this is what I think of first when someone mentions Deep Creek Lake. The lake is what I think of first. The docks at golden hour. The trails. The skiing.
But these places have shown up in our best stories anyway & usually because the weather sent us there, and we were surprised to find something worth keeping.
I think there’s something in that. The trips we plan and the trips we take are rarely exactly the same thing. The gap between the two is usually where the memorable stuff lives. Weather, it turns out, has its own itinerary. And ours for the weekend will still be there when it clears.
A few practical notes:
The Escape Room at Wisp books ahead — check online before you go
Deep Creek Pottery: go early in your trip so your pieces are ready before you leave
Green Turtle simulator: game play starts at top of the hour only (5:00, 6:00, not 6:15 of 6:30) + arrive early in busy seasons like summer
Bogey Club: call ahead, confirm the BYOB policy, bring something good
CARC is open to the public — check their schedule before you go, as hours vary by season.
✨Rain shoe packed? Camp Kindred books at thecampco.com (+airbnb / vrbo) And if you've stayed with us, a Google review means more than you know.
