Pittsburgh vs. the GPS

It's so hard to know where to start this post, or even where to go. So I'll start with our evening's adventures. Larry and I decided it was time to venture out to find a local Christams light display known as Hartwood Acres. Although local, it is not close by and various trips in this area have served to remind us we DON'T know where we are going, and by the time we find our way 'there' and home, we rarely know where we've been!

Our first summer here, Larry wanted to show me a place he had found. It was 15 minutes away and he assured me we'd be home in 45 minutes. Getting there was easy. We stuck to the interstate. But on the way home we tried the back roads...without the GPS. 45 minutes later we had found 'the river'. I put that in quotes since Pittsburgh is well know for it's 3 rivers! 2 hours later we found our way home.

We've had various adventures since then, mostly in the city. There may be 14 ways into the city, but we've only ever found 1 way home. We end up at his office and head back from there. It may be out of the way, but it never fails.

So tonight's venture out was brave, but we felt suitably armed with a somewhat better idea of the area, 2 separate directions from Mapquest, and our GPS. The 23 mile drive was mostly on main roads (that we knew), and was suppposed to take 38 minutes. The plan was to go see the lights at Hartwood Acres and come back to town for dinner. Ah yes. Plans. Such a good idea. Such a wasted effort.

Who knows what went wrong. We headed down the turnpike towards Butler. Everything seemed fine at first as we headed south on Rt. 8, but then the GPS decided it would rather take us into Pittsburgh. As we followed the calm voice guiding us we suddenly realized we were being directed onto Rt. 28. Points to turn around were absent, and besides, 'The GPS' was quite insistent as it deposited us in downtown Pittsburgh. Fortunately, I had been in that part of town before so I was able to turn us around and head us back out. While Larry was armed with the GPS I had the mapquest directions in hand and was insistent we find our way back to Rt. 8!!! Easier said than done. We tried. We really tried. And finally we found ourselves way out of town, headed for Kittanning, where, OH THANK GOD!!!! there was the turnpike.YES! That road we really do know.

We finally did make it almost to Hartwood Acres. After 2 hours we were a mile from the entrance when we came to a standstill. Apparently, we weren't the only ones who decided to see the lights. Tired, hungry, and running on empty (the Trailblazer was hungry, too) we cried "Uncle" and turned around. It was almost 9:00 when we finally stopped at our favorite wings haunt. "What can I get you?" the waiter asked. "A pitcher of Miller Lite, and 2 glasses, thank you." (Oh yeah, we did order the wings too... after a few swigs. First things first.)

Pittsburgh is a hard place for a GPS. If you are downtown, the concrete canyons make it hard to find a signal. The multiple levels of highway and bridge make it hard to determine which road you should be on. Even so, maybe tonight's trip was more a problem of an old GPS that lost it's way. It has always been pretty reliable before. Larry asked for a new one for Christmas. I sure hope Santa brings one.