Friday, July 28, 2006
Google and I are fighting...
I have been a loyal Google fan. I use their gmail, their gtalk and their search engine. I have also loved their mapping site (http://www.maps.google.com/) … until recently. I was going up to Meeting Lake Regional Park to visit the in-laws. In previous years, Google maps haven’t been able to supply a map for this park due to its location but I was pleasantly surprised when this year, there it was: a map to Meeting Lake. I excitedly print it off:
So I get off work on Saturday at 4:15 and start the 2.5 hour drive to the lake. I am following the directions…until the directions run out…and I am no where near Meeting Lake. Where am I you ask? I am in small town no-where, aka Marcelin. It maybe hard to tell by the above picture, but I was trying to get to the blue area northwest from the red dot. Not even the blue lake straight up from the red dot but 40 km to the west of it. I am confused…how could Google let me down?! I pull over a couple and ask them if they know how to get to Meeting. They don’t but they show me a provincial map…and I am way off mark. I must have looked very pathetic, standing there, on a gravel road staring at the map. They were a very a nice couple and let me keep their map in order to find my way to the cabin. I quote “We know where we are going…you need this more than we do!” Thank you nice couple!
So I start on my adventure; an adventure that is 2 hours of quality driving on some the back gravel roads of Saskatchewan. Sometimes I would be concerned about where exactly I was but then out of no where there would be a church…only a church…and I knew that at least I was still in Saskatchewan, the land of the random country church. For two hours, my poor Golf was no match for the giant ruts that were left in the road by huge trucks. Only when there was a body of water beside me would the ruts throw me around on the road…towards the body of water. It was if the back country roads of SK were testing the city girl. If it was a test, I think I passed with flying colours…or at least an 80%. I did finally make it to Meeting Lake at 9:30 and in the end it only took 4.5 hours to get there. A 2.5 hour trip was extended by 2 hours. Here is the trip that I ended up taking:
Thank you Google maps, thank you.
"Lost for you, I'm so lost for you" - DMB
So I get off work on Saturday at 4:15 and start the 2.5 hour drive to the lake. I am following the directions…until the directions run out…and I am no where near Meeting Lake. Where am I you ask? I am in small town no-where, aka Marcelin. It maybe hard to tell by the above picture, but I was trying to get to the blue area northwest from the red dot. Not even the blue lake straight up from the red dot but 40 km to the west of it. I am confused…how could Google let me down?! I pull over a couple and ask them if they know how to get to Meeting. They don’t but they show me a provincial map…and I am way off mark. I must have looked very pathetic, standing there, on a gravel road staring at the map. They were a very a nice couple and let me keep their map in order to find my way to the cabin. I quote “We know where we are going…you need this more than we do!” Thank you nice couple!
So I start on my adventure; an adventure that is 2 hours of quality driving on some the back gravel roads of Saskatchewan. Sometimes I would be concerned about where exactly I was but then out of no where there would be a church…only a church…and I knew that at least I was still in Saskatchewan, the land of the random country church. For two hours, my poor Golf was no match for the giant ruts that were left in the road by huge trucks. Only when there was a body of water beside me would the ruts throw me around on the road…towards the body of water. It was if the back country roads of SK were testing the city girl. If it was a test, I think I passed with flying colours…or at least an 80%. I did finally make it to Meeting Lake at 9:30 and in the end it only took 4.5 hours to get there. A 2.5 hour trip was extended by 2 hours. Here is the trip that I ended up taking:
Thank you Google maps, thank you.
"Lost for you, I'm so lost for you" - DMB
// posted by Rach @ 7:46 p.m. 
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