Plague Diary: In Which I Have No Cardinal Direction

[lydy]

I just want to say that the sheer number of people who have helpfully informed me that if I wish to see Lake Erie all I need to do is drive north is adorable.  The idea that I, Lydia Nickerson, could somehow use that as information that would help me choose a direction in which to point my vehicle points to a touching faith in my ability to, I dunno, read a map, maybe?  I have literally no idea what direction North is from here.  I have a vague feeling that Minneapolis is West of here and NYC is East of here, but I honestly would not want to bet money on it.

Comments

[quadong]

It's winter (I mean, it's within a month of the solstice). North is the direction when the Sun is behind you. Ok, not super helpful for precision work. I bet this is briefly useful each year nearer the arctic circle, though.

[bibliofile]

So sorry! I forgot about that, if I ever knew.

(You and I have never traveled together someplace, and I've never given you directions either.)

[lcohen]

you came from the west to get there. so if you recall where you came from and turn left, you should be pointed north.....

[calimac]

In some other circumstance, one could say "downhill," but as I recall Cleveland, that would not be particularly helpful there.

[haertstitch]

uhm try google.maps
and let it tell you where you are.
it will orient the top of the map north
and it show and tell you where to go
it can't help itself

it helps to have a huge landmark.
in chicago i'd aim at the lake or away from it
and if it was on the right
I knew north was in front of me.

Down?

[lsanderson]

Water can also be thought of as 'down,' which is not a cardinal direction

[thewayne]

While it wouldn't do you much good until you have some time in the spring or summer, west of you is an island known as Put In Bay. My wife and I honeymooned there 15 years ago. Lots of B&Bs, couple of small hotels, decent restaurants, I think a winery or two. It's the island that Oliver Hazard Perry sailed from to fight the Brits during the War of 1812, so historically significant. It also has a geode cave that you can walk in to: so if you visit, you can go to it and then tell people that you have stood inside a geode!

There's a ferry that'll take you there, during the winter the lake frequently freezes over and the locals use snowmobiles to go back and forth to the mainland.

It's a nice place if you want to do a little vacationing. On the last day of our honeymoon we did Cedar Point Amusement Park and rode all of the wooden roller coasters! It was a lot of fun. They were all pretty much walk straight on as everyone else was riding the new rides.