If I ever had the opportunity to meet the person who invented Google Maps, I would probably buy that person dinner...for life. I was reminded of my inability to navigate without it on a recent trip to Ann Arbor. If you haven't been there, downtown Ann Arbor, particularly around the college, is a labyrinth of cross-cross streets that jut out and suddenly end or turn with no notice. If you are at all directionally challenged like I am you can understand completely when I say there was no way I was going to find my son without that app. After two days of driving around the same one mile square block of streets, stores, and college buildings and thinking to myself, “OK, this looks familiar.” I'm pretty sure I couldn't find my way to my son's apartment from one block in any direction. At one point, Tom said, “Lets not use that, lets just try to follow the blue line and you tell me how to get there.” I studied the screen for about 15 seconds and thought to myself, “Good Lord. I've forgotten how to read a map!” And immediately pressed “go.”
“In 300 feet, turn left on State Street.” Calm relief washed over me. We were going to arrive at our destination.
My directional challenge is legendary. I can go to my friend’s house 6 times and still ask for her address, you know, just in case I need to punch it into Google Maps. One time, waaaayy before Maps, I decided to take a trip down to Vicksburg from Lansing to see my grandparents. This was a trip I had taken hundreds of times from the back seat of our green Dodge van. I was sure and actually very confident that I knew how to get there. “Are you sure you know the way?” my parents asked several times. “Of course I do!” Unfortunately, after what seemed like a really long time, my companion asked, “Shouldn't we be there by now?”
“Don't worry, our exit should be coming up….Indiana!!” You could say that missing I-94 is akin to taking a wrong turn at Albuquerque. We did finally make it and dinner was cold, but I can promise you, that was the last time I ever relied on my instinct instead of a directions, a map, or, (you guessed it), Google Maps. I just had to accept the fact that just because this feels like the way I should turn, I know from experience that most likely it isn't. I might be a little too dependent on this simple app and have probably gone a little further out of my way than necessary because I refuse to veer from the direction on the screen. But I'll tell you what, I haven't accidentally visited Indiana since I discovered Google Maps, and if you're the one who invented it; I owe you dinner.
