Google Bit Me Again
Apparently I shouldn't leave the house.
Cape Elizabeth has a single restaurant with an uninspiring menu, so I dug into my brochures and started visiting websites. Things are spread out here, so the nearest cluster of good restaurants that isn't in Portland (and we're certainly not going there -- I don't want to end up at Maine Mall again) is 45 minutes away, south down the coast in Kennebunk. The restaurants right in town all called for reservations during the peak season, and I dislike crowds, so I selected one which said it was off the beaten path in Kennebunkport (which is, as you'll guess if you're familiar with the Maine naming convention, near Kennebunk, but closer to the sea). Google directions in paw, I set off down Route 1, the coastal highway, and somewhere past getting off Route 1 onto a small coastal highway, I found myself no longer on the map.
I can follow directions in Maryland. What's wrong with me here? Compass needle confused by the closer proximity to the north pole?
I pulled into a gas station, and the kind proprietor said I shouldn't be taking Route 1 south at all, as it would be slow. She offered to Mapquest me to my destination. Some minutes later (wireless printer), she returned with a sheet of directions .. which went down Route 1. She snuffled indignantly and decided that she'd dictate directions down I-95. She didn't know how I'd get to the restaurant from I-95, mind you, but said there would be an exit labeled Kennebunkport. Oh dear.
I figured that between my mobile Google Maps and the reverse directions I'd printed, which took me to an intermediary shop and then back home by way of I-95, I should be able to get there. All the way down I-95, I kept routing from my present location to the restaurant in Google Maps, and at every step of the way, it claimed that I should turn around, go back up I-95, and get onto Route 1 south. Good grief. Even after I got off 95 at the Kennebunk exit, it continued to claim this.
I was at this point attempting to follow my directions home backwards, which isn't as straightforward as it sounds, because Maine coastal highways like to take turns at intersections instead of going straight through and the like. After stopping in a residential neighborhood to reroute now that I had an address to feed into Google, I did eventually arrive, an hour and a half after leaving home.
I feasted on lobster-stuffed portobello and strawberry shortcake at Lucas on 9 and returned home without mishap.
Today I'm off to the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens in Boothbay Harbor. Google is again suggesting that I go through Portland, but I'm wise to its nefarious tricks.
Labels: Maine
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, July 8, 2008 at 9:58 AM.
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