Good
day, Crafties! Christine Johnson here today to chat about the joys of getting
lost. Recently I took a road trip to Detour Village in Michigan’s Upper
Peninsula, at the mouth of the St. Mary’s River. That required a drive of several hours. Now,
I’m old-school when it comes to navigation. No GPS for me. Maps? Love them, but
I don’t want a computer telling me where to go. I especially love directions
from people who’ve been there before. You know, the kind that say to turn left
when you reach the giant plastic rooster.
For this trip, the “in the know” instructions said to turn a little past
the park with the big buoys (yep, on land, not in the water). Simple, right?
How many parks have huge buoys in them? I felt pretty confident that I could
find the place.
Ah,
over-confidence! I saw the park but went
zooming past my turn and had to backtrack. But that little detour (no pun,
honestly) showed me things I might not have noticed had I turned exactly where a
GPS voice told me to. I might have missed the old wrecked sidewheel steamer
near shore. Hm, maybe that captain could have used better charts. Or the little
museum with the ship-viewing station.
Or
this bunch of geese who’d commandeered the street and were in no hurry to
go anywhere.
It got
me to thinking that maybe the most direct route isn’t always the best. What do
we miss in life when we’re so intent on following the quickest route? Are we
just looking at the path ahead or do we notice what’s off to the side and who else
is traveling with us? I’m far too guilty of the former, yet when I take the
time to look around me, I’m always blessed. So, in this rush-rush world, I’m
going to do my best to stop and look around. And maybe even take a detour or
two. How about you? What fascinating things have you seen when you
had to navigate off the direct route?
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