We now live in San Diego. Well, just north of San Diego. I feel like I have moved out of the city and into the 'burbs. In the South Bay (LA - there is a San Diego South Bay, too), you don't see a lot of open land. There is just about everything within walking distance of everywhere. We are talking at least two donut shops within half a mile of each other because there is a big enough population to support them both. And the grocery store, round trip plus shopping, 1700 steps on the pedometer. It was really congested and it's not quite the same here.
Today I went to Target. The GPS took me to the nearest intersection and then stopped. It told me I had reached my destination. Then, where the heck is Target? I'm driving around like a completely lost person and have a cop driving next to me. Crap, am I speeding? No, I was just driving past where you turn into the Target parking lot. You see with all of this open land, there are a lot of trees. Trees on hills to be exact. And I figure, to keep the city looking pretty, they put all the shopping centers behind the trees on the hills. As a result I drove past the Target. On the bright side, while I was turning around I found the Post Office.
I make my way to Target, which is in the very back of the shopping center and pick up a couple of items. Now I have to go to Bed, Bath and Beyond. Punch it into the GPS and, oh look, the Post Office is right next to the exit by the Target. If only I had driven another 30 feet I wouldn't of needed to turn around. I would of known that if I could of seen the Target through the trees.
Fifteen minutes later, I find the Bed, Bath and Beyond, which is actually only five minutes from the Target. The GPS took me to an intersection that I swear had nothing but a sign that said, The Forums. Of course, it told me to turn right instead of left and I had to make another U-turn. On the bright side, I did find a nice looking church. Couldn't see where the Forums where from the intersection, but heck, I haven't driven in this direction yet. Found the B,B and B. Did my shopping.
Now I need gas. Go figure. Turns out if you want to go to a gas station, you need to know the freaking DaVinci Code. I could see the Shell station, but circled it twice before finding the correct road that would take me down the right hill to get to it. I needed gas when I was down here last week. I'm telling you... DA VINCI CODE. I'd walk, but nothing is within walking distance.
I'm certain that a couple of trips around town and I'll know where everything is. But it sure is confusing when you are in a new place. I got lost in Redondo all the time when we moved there, too. For example, those that live there will understand this better, I lived at Artesia and Aviation. I used to drive down south on Aviation to PCH in order to get to the Target at Sepulveda and Manhattan Beach Blvd. I knew Aviation would get me to PCH and that Target was on the same street. Two months later when I took a wrong turn, I discovered that Manhattan Beach Blvd was just north of my house and I was driving four miles for a one mile trip. I'm really not the best when it comes to driving around.
At least I know how to get to and from the new school :)
4 comments:
Congrats on a successful move! I always find that the best way to learn your way around a new city is to let yourself get lost. Still...I'm the kind of person who learns one route from A to B and can't put the rest of the map together to learn a better route. I keep thinking I will improve, but no such luck. :-P
It sounds beautiful there. At least while you are lost there are nice things to look at... but what are these tree things you keep talking about?
Good luck attempting to figure out where everything is!!! It took me about a month to figure it all out when I moved last time. But it only took me 5 minutes to find the LYS! ;)
Oh I miss San Diego ! We lived in Pacific Beach for a while a few years ago. Loved being so close to the beach, we had a bunch of wild parrots that hung out at the end of the street.
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