How we travel
Adam and I have always enjoyed exploring new cities together. With friends and family living all over the country we are usually able to find someone to visit on our trips or at least to recommend places to stay, eat, and shop. This trip was no exception. We flew in SFO at 11pm and immediately got a rental car and headed across the bay (on I-80E ironically) to Berkeley where we crashed on a futon at Becca’s for our first night.
I was armed with maps and directions from mapquest to get us from Becca’s house to the Muir Woods, our hotel, and several other hot spots. Anyone who knows me, knows that I tend to be stubborn and don’t have a very good sense of direction (even though I’m always convinced otherwise). Needless to say, when Adam insisted we get gps in our Honda I didn’t think it was necessary, but friends will vouch for the fact that it has saved many arguments.
That said, when we left Becca’s Thursday morning to get brunch at a cafe she recommended I thought I knew where we were going. 5 minutes later we were driving in circles (very steep circles mind you, Berkeley’s hilly!) and I was hungry, which translates to mean that I was crabby and wanted my eggs and coffee NOW! Fortunately Adam pulled out what would be our savior for the rest of the trip. His Sprint blackberry is equipped with gps, which we lovingly named Callie. He typed in the address and away we went. Less than 5 minutes later we were parked and heading to a fabulous breakfast at Cafe M (it was so good we went back on Sunday with the rest of the girls).
Adam swears they had the best buttermilk pancakes they’ve ever had. I had crepes stuffed with chorizo sausage, black beans, and guac the first day (along with amazing breakfast potatos) and then juevos rancheros the second time (I was on a Tex-Mex kick). They also had a great juice machine. I should have taken a picture. I was fascinated—and I don’t even like orange juice! Basically, whole oranges (skins and all) are dumped into a glass machine with big plastic balls that mash them around and produce delicious juice.
Enough about the food though. Back to traveling with gps, or a garman, or whatever digital device you have. Part of me wonders how we survived before these little robotic voices could tell us to turn left on Cherry St in .2 miles and alerted us that our destination was ahead, on the right. Ours even checked for traffic (she wasn’t very accurate). The funny thing is our friends had a gps in their car and were following us to get gelato one night. We both had the same address, but got different directions. I guess one favored the interstate more than side roads. Needless to say, we both made it to our destination.
Even though I love the gps, and probably depend on it too much, it does take away some of the thrill of “learning” a new city. Instead of paying attention to the neighborhoods and streets, I was usually too busy tracking our progress and seeing how many miles we had ’til we reached said destination. I don’t think I could go back to traveling without Callie, but there’s something to be said about wondering around and getting a little lost (as long as you aren’t hungry) and discovering a new city.
to be fair, Adam’s gps favored roads along railroad tracks and under bridges. it was swiftly taking us to the oakland i had been warned about. my gps preferred well lit streets and direct routes.
that was a bit of a gps adventure.