Indirect

It used to be one of my favorite ways to get to know a city.  I've done it in Vancouver, Portland and Seattle.  I manage to do it on a small scale, too, like say, in a rest area parking lot, the mall parking lot, a casino - any casino.  Oh, can't forget about, Kirkland, Bellevue, Renton....

I can get lost anywhere.  Really.  Just ask my family.  They saw me come out of a restroom at a rest stop and stop and look left, right and left again.  I was looking for the car.  One time I managed to drive clear across town, back in my days in the 'Couve.  The sad part is that my starting point was just one neighborhood away from the neighborhood I had lived in for 10 years.  I got turned around in her neighborhood, which, to my credit, I had only been in like once or twice before, and I kept turning and turning and before I knew it I was on the other end of town.

Today wasn't that bad but I kind of thought I've moved beyond the hopelessly lost phase of living in Seattle.  This fall will mark my 10th year in the Emerald City.  Hopeless is not a good word to describe the state I was in because I recognized the neighborhoods as I tried to weave my way to the highway to get home.

So, this is how it should have gone down:  Quenn Anne, Highway 99, home. 

Here is how it went instead:  Queen Anne, Fremont, Ballard, Fremont, Phinney, Wallingford,  I-5, home. 

A trip that should have only taken 15 minutes went beyond 30 minutes.  Oy. 

On the bright side I now know how to get from Queen Anne to Ballard super fast.