I will be the first to admit that I am directionally challenged, even with the aid of a GPS and my own personal Sherpa! This problem is accentuated by the fact that I come from a long line of master navigators that could tell you from which direction they came and which direction they were headed, even if they were blind-folded and dropped in the middle of the Amazon in a brown paper bag. My dad would get so frustrated with me when he would give me directions (go South on University) and I would ask if that was towards the mall or towards Wendy's!
I am unable to count the number of times I have been off course since coming to Los Angeles. Even with the GPS, I get lost . Every day. The first week in LA, I was lost in Compton which is a part of town that the Bloods and the Crips consider their "turf". I was thankful for a man who came up to the car and gave me directions on how to return to the freeway.
This past weekend, my inability to navigate carried over to a hiking trek that was supposed to take 45 minutes and instead took three hours. Remember the "three hour tour" that turned into three years of Gilligan's Island episodes? Yep, I was thinking that was going to be us.
We wanted to traipse to the Wisdom Tree, a tree that can be seen from any location in Burbank. In 2007, there was a fire on this particular mountain and all the trees burned but this one was spared.
As I stood at the precipice of the beautiful mountain, I saw a trail to the left and decided, "Hmmm, that must be another way down to the car so let's take it." And, because I just can't help myself, I then shared my thoughts with a Latino mom and her three children whom I had been talking with, and unfortunately for her, she followed my advice.
The trail was skinny and shrubby.
When we finally made it to a road, this kid ran backwards so he wouldn't get too far ahead of me.
I am unable to count the number of times I have been off course since coming to Los Angeles. Even with the GPS, I get lost . Every day. The first week in LA, I was lost in Compton which is a part of town that the Bloods and the Crips consider their "turf". I was thankful for a man who came up to the car and gave me directions on how to return to the freeway.
This past weekend, my inability to navigate carried over to a hiking trek that was supposed to take 45 minutes and instead took three hours. Remember the "three hour tour" that turned into three years of Gilligan's Island episodes? Yep, I was thinking that was going to be us.
We wanted to traipse to the Wisdom Tree, a tree that can be seen from any location in Burbank. In 2007, there was a fire on this particular mountain and all the trees burned but this one was spared.
As I stood at the precipice of the beautiful mountain, I saw a trail to the left and decided, "Hmmm, that must be another way down to the car so let's take it." And, because I just can't help myself, I then shared my thoughts with a Latino mom and her three children whom I had been talking with, and unfortunately for her, she followed my advice.
Yep, we ended up hiking over six miles!
I kept hearing the Latino mom use the word "loco" and I feel that she must have been talking about me! Lesson learned; I may get lost on a daily basis but I have promised Cole that I will never share my thoughts, feelings or my inability to navigate with a stranger again.
"We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps."
~Proverbs 16:9
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