Everyone in America (and I am sure the world) remembers where they were on that horrible day. My soon-to-be fiance and I were on a ferry on our way to Martha's Vineyard when the horror started...
We were driving to the ferry in Hyannis, and a DJ on a local radio station reported that a plane flew in to one of the World Trade Center towers. At the time, it was reported as an accident.
Upon parking our car, the parking attendant yelled out to us that a plane had hit a building in New York. We told her we had heard and what a shame it was. Our 8:30am ferry left us for an hour-plus with no TV, no radio, and no idea what was going on in New York or Washington, D.C. One guy on the ferry was holding a transistor radio to his ear and would report things to others on the boat. But oftentimes, by the time we heard them, it was a nasty game of "whisper down the lane". One reported event was that the White House was on fire. We really started to get worried. No one's cell phones were working, and I didn't even bring mine with me.
By the time we disembarked the ferry, it was around noon. The bar at the end of the dock had TVs set up for patrons to watch what was unfolding. Us 100+ passengers had the shock of our lives with the television footage we were about to see. Many of us wept there, seeing these images for the first time.
Now we had 6+ hours to spend on the island, and what a weird vibe there was. But we had to try and make the best of it. It was a beautiful day (as I am sure you all remember), and we rented a scooter to see the island. We tried not to see too much TV, as we knew the coming evening and days would allow us plenty of time to catch up on the day's events.
But we did find enough to do to keep us busy that day.