Life after Garmin.

Oh the Garmin. I thought it was exactly what I needed for a cross country move. It proved fairly helpful as we drove from Kansas to Virginia (even though we were on I-70 about 90% of the time), and I was sure it would be helpful as learned to navigate northern Virginia.

On the 4th of July I woke up to a broken car window and no Garmin. I live in a ridiculously safe neighborhood, but there has been an increase in theft related to Garmins and I had left my car on the street. There were many other things that they could have stolen. Cash, ipod accessories, so on...nothing. They left all that alone and just took the Garmin.

My friends rushed to the rescue, pulling me back from the dangerous precipice of "WHY did I move to this forsaken place?" and pushing me onward. Eventually we got ourselves together, unpacked a little in the kitchen and moved on with the holiday. We headed into DC to go shopping in Georgetown for a little while.

This is where I discovered I was dressed like a dude. Standing in Banana Republic, I looked at my cargo shorts and white polo in the mirror and exclaimed to Abbey, "How come no one told me I looked like a DUDE?"

Abbey replied, "You were having a rough morning." Nothing more because that said it all.

I have the best friends in the world. They helped me pick out a new, feminine shirt at Banana that I wear frequently and get tons of compliments each time. Here we are in Georgetown, one of my favorite DC neighborhoods. And note that I no longer look like a dude.


Life after Garmin has been a delight. Without the crutch I've learned the roads and have my bearings. I also google map everything before I go. I still get lost, but getting unlost helps me so much more than a Garmin with a voice telling me to take u-turns. This map shows my route to grad school each day (B). I go so far west that I get to see the rolling mountains of Shenandoah Valley. This makes me extremely happy each morning! Mountains! Hurray!

Because I love to suggest reasons for visits, the Shenandoah River Valley is full of wineries, bed and breakfasts, parks, hikes, shops and folk life festivals. I'll let you borrow my car, but we'll have to print off a map.