Run to the Hills
So I got back from lovely New Hampshire just a few hours ago. I spent the weekend with a group of college friends, one which has an uncle with a house on Lake Winnipesaukee (spelling almost certainly wrong, and I'm too tired to check). The weekend was fabulous: swimming, oversized beach ball volleyball, and beer. Lots of beer.
What wasn't fabulous was the drive out there. Since I went there from the office on Friday, I did most of the trip in the dark. Now, sadly New England has no legitimate east-west highways north of the Mass Pike, so I had to take Route 9 most of the way. Driving on unfamiliar, winding mountain roads in the dark for four hours really isn't much fun. Fortunately I had the GPS to guide me. It did a great job, too - got me from the office to the cabin without a single mistake, despite a couple of tricky traffic circles.
Speaking of traffic circles, I noted an interesting quirk of my GPS. It refers to circles by the British term, "roundabout", instead of "circle" or "rotary". I presume this is because roundabout sounds better in the synthesized voice. Or perhaps the programmers were British, I don't know. Anyway, I also noticed that the unit is pretty good at guiding you through circles; as you approach, it tells you to enter the circle, and take the nth exit onto whatever road. So all you have to do is count exits, and you're good to go. Nice! I'd almost certainly have gotten lost without it on this trip.
The drive back was way better, since I could actually see things. There was one really beautiful view at the summit of one of the climbs, though sadly it occurs right at a hairpin turn, so you don't get to see it for long. In a way, it was a microcosm of the weekend itself. Enjoyable, but ephemeral.
What wasn't fabulous was the drive out there. Since I went there from the office on Friday, I did most of the trip in the dark. Now, sadly New England has no legitimate east-west highways north of the Mass Pike, so I had to take Route 9 most of the way. Driving on unfamiliar, winding mountain roads in the dark for four hours really isn't much fun. Fortunately I had the GPS to guide me. It did a great job, too - got me from the office to the cabin without a single mistake, despite a couple of tricky traffic circles.
Speaking of traffic circles, I noted an interesting quirk of my GPS. It refers to circles by the British term, "roundabout", instead of "circle" or "rotary". I presume this is because roundabout sounds better in the synthesized voice. Or perhaps the programmers were British, I don't know. Anyway, I also noticed that the unit is pretty good at guiding you through circles; as you approach, it tells you to enter the circle, and take the nth exit onto whatever road. So all you have to do is count exits, and you're good to go. Nice! I'd almost certainly have gotten lost without it on this trip.
The drive back was way better, since I could actually see things. There was one really beautiful view at the summit of one of the climbs, though sadly it occurs right at a hairpin turn, so you don't get to see it for long. In a way, it was a microcosm of the weekend itself. Enjoyable, but ephemeral.