Head Explosion Imminent!

San Diego is beautiful.  Its fabulous climate is well-known.  It has wonderful weather all the time.  Those are the only reasons I can figure why people put up with the snarls that are the roads and freeways here.  My hairdresser says she's lives 'up North' to get out of the craziness.   We live close to the center of town, and I've seen and been involved in 'the craziness' first hand.  The traffic here is no worse than anything Houston or DFW can throw down. The local knowledge needed to drive in Austin has always topped the frustration while driving charts.  However, there's a new town taking over that number one slot.   What makes this town so head banging insane are the roads and the freeways are so convoluted, we are constantly baffled trying to get from point A to B.

Here's an example:  It took us about five trips to figure out how to get to and from our condo to the grocery store.  The details will mean nothing to you, but just envision coming out of your own grocery store and after traveling for three blocks, you have no idea where you are or how to get back home.

No....  We are not developing dementia.  Sometimes streets change names. Other streets appear on GPS, but don't exist going the direction you're traveling. Street signs are fickle and come in all colors and flavors and heights.  For example, in one place marking the name of the street we live on, the sign is waist height, and half the size of a normal street sign.  This is a major turn onto a major parkway.  We drive that way all the time, and we are still anxious trying to find that damn turn each time.  

It takes both of of us to go anywhere.  I've never lived in a place that we didn't get the geography of the neighborhood almost immediately.  (That's the royal 'we'; I usually lag behind Drake in getting the neighborhood streets as a map in my head.)  In this place, one of us (Drake) has to drive while the other one (Jan) has her nose in the iphone saying, "It's three more streets; then turn left.

Today, going to the beach was a perfect example.  We got there using the driver/nose to the iphone combo even though we've been there before.  So, leaving the beach to head back home, we were inadvertently 'winging' it because my iphone was in the beach bag in the far back of the car.  Drake's like, "We've been here twice, so surely I can retrace our steps". Nope.  We managed to go north and west when we were trying for south and east.

I feel the most sorry for Drake.  He has this really superior sense of direction, and his modus operand is to map something once, and then he's got it in his head until time immemorial. He would be able to go back to any other location we've spent more than one month visiting and he'd be able to get around with minimal map interaction.  I thought the top of his head was going to blow off today as it became apparent we were lost trying to get
home from the beach.

We really love to take the transit, but, as with so many cities in San Diego it's really a concept rather than a reality.  The schedule is sporadic, and often it doesn't go someplace that seems a no brainer - like the airport for example.  We have managed to not drive two or three times, and it was such a relief.  Despite the 'getting lost' problems, we've perserved.

We've gone to LaJolla. and Torrey Pines Reserve.  We've been to the Birch Aquarium. We've been horse racing (won 3 out of 7 races); as well as the San Diego Art Museum.  We've been to the Balboa Park Rose Garden.  We've taken in Band Concerts and a live performance of "Hamlet" at the Globe Theater.  We've seen the USS Midway and the United States Sand Sculpture Competition.

Tomorrow we head to the zoo.  I swear.  If we get lost after having been in this area three times, Drake's head may really explode.  Keep your fingers crossed.  If you hear I'm having the car detailed, well, you'll know what happened.

If you want to see some pix, here's a line-up

  https://goo.gl/photos/JFH2MPYskrXe1LSY8  (Aquarium)

https://goo.gl/photos/rfR4DTLXe3DmV3tP9  (LaJolla & Torrey Pines)

https://photos.app.goo.gl/VuAnnNVWOymDo5UM2  (San Diego Art Museum)