Adventures in getting lost

I used to think that I was pretty good with directions. Shoot, I navigated the streets and subways of both New York City and Paris like I had lived there my whole life. But for some reason, you put me behind the wheel of a car in Baltimore County and I end up driving in circles for hours. I just can't get a mental map of the area in my head. 

Today I had to go to Westminster for a job interview (which I got the job, by the way!) which is a super cute little town. All the buildings in the downtown area had amazing architecture and colorful paint jobs, like in this picture I snapped at a red light...  

...notice the little red phone booth? That is a sure sign that Westminster is a cool place to be. 

Anyways, on my way back home, I had to stop by a place in Owings Mills where I left my coat yesterday. That is when trouble started. I got confused on how to get back on the interstate, which happened to me yesterday too, and had to turn around. I finally figured it out, but ended up going north instead of south and ended up back in Westminster. This is when it really hit the fan, because my phone died, meaning I couldn't Google Maps it out of there, and I couldn't call Shane for directions. Luckily I followed some signs "To Baltimore" and made it back to the interstate. 

You would think "oh, she made it to the interstate, surely she got home with no trouble from there." And you would be wrong. You see, by this point, I had driven around for nearly an hour, and I was hitting the pre-rush hour traffic. I heard on the radio that there was a bad car accident on the way to my house and that the traffic was backed up really far. Apparently I don't learn from my mistakes, and I got off the interstate early to try to miss the traffic. The main road was really busy, so I tried to go back roads. Not surprisingly, I got lost in this same area of town last week. I didn't know my way around any better this time either. I got so lost, I ended up finding someone with a Pennsylvania license plate and following them, hoping they were headed home. And they were! I finally made it home, turning what should have been a 30 minute trip into a TWO HOUR expedition. 

Unfortunately, Shane got home about 30 minutes before I did. When he tried to call me and I didn't answer, he got a little freaked out. It didn't help that the bad car accident (which was on the interstate right near our condo) was caused by a car exactly like my rental car. I felt so bad that I made him worry so much, but I had no way of contacting him! 

I guess the moral of the story is that from now on, I am *not* leaving the house without a fully charged cell phone, car charger, change for a pay phone, and the GPS!