Ode to a GPS

This is the best vacation tip I own. Last C'mas I got Joe a GPS system. My niece actually was the one that fought the crowds at Walmart diving into a mob of bargain hungry Black Friday shoppers and coming up with two of these at the bargain price of $99.00.

This base level Garmin made our vacation easy peasy. Before we left, I researched all the place we were going and necessary stops. I found the local Target, Trader Joe's, and Whole Foods. I got addresses to every winery, restaurant, hotel and attraction we had planned to visit. I made a list, tossed the unit to Jarrett, and he programmed in our entire vacation and saved it under Favorites.

When we got to the rental car place, we attached our Garmin to the windshield and punched in "Lilly's house" which was what we named our rental house and off we went. There was a slight delay as the Garmin tried to figure out where the hell we were since as far as he knew we were in Port Orange, FL and now we were in Sacramento CA. The Garmin and the satellites had a little chat and he figured out that we were "no longer in Kansas, Toto."

We use a spooky vampire voice in our Garmin called Dr. Nightmare who guided us all over California - we did alot of driving. He helped us when we needed a post office (did not think of that one for preprogramming!), he helped when we gave up on a traffic clogged highway and wanted to take the back roads to Napa and anytime we made a wrong turn, he would "consult his magic book" and we would be back on track. It was simply the best thing we did to make sure that our vacation went smoothly.

Now that we have vacationed with a GPS, I would not go without again. EVER. So, as you start thinking about your holiday gift giving consider a GPS for anyone who does not have one. If you do have one, do not forget to plug it into your computer and update it every 6 months or so. New roads, construction and updating the list of restaurants, etc. is very helpful. And you pick up some new fun "voices" for your GPS.

Dr. Nightmare and I are BFF's.