Re: Lost In the Woods

[Doug Brewer]

It can be disconcerting. I carry both a compass and a flashlight in my bag, 
and have been known to stuff a Columbia jacket in there as well.

The most absolutely and irrevocably lost I have ever been, though, was in 
Granada, Spain. You wouldn't think so, it being all urban and everything, 
but oh my goodness I was lost. I had decided during the hot part of the day 
to go get a sketchbook and commit a few doodles to paper, and I had seen an 
art supply store not far from the hotel. The proprietors, of course, 
decided at the same time to shut down for the afternoon, and they pulled 
down the little gate, covering the store so I walked right past it. hmmm. I 
know it's right around here somewhere. Maybe down this street. No? Maybe 
this way.

I was supposed to meet my wife back at the hotel for a little siesta, 
change of clothes and then a ride to a reception, and as it got closer to 
time for me to meet her, the farther away I got and the more convinced I 
became that I would soon find myself in Portugal. The time came and went, 
with me no closer than I had been. I saw much, much more of Granada than I 
had intended to on that day.

And my wife, who is normally quite compassionate and worrisome, came back 
to the hotel, snoozed, changed clothes, and left my lost little ass behind.

At long last, tired and angry and sweaty, something occurred to me that 
should have done hours earlier. I hailed a cab. (um, yeah...duh)

Made it back to the hotel, ran upstairs and into my wife's loving ar--- 
hello? Anyone here? I know you were worried...hello?

Oh, well. Changed shirts and got another cab, somehow managing to locate in 
the dark recesses of my brain the name of the place where we were supposed 
to attend the reception,  (at the Alhambra, for you who are familiar), and 
surprised her by actually arriving where I was supposed to be.

I'm glad you made it out okay, Mark. But you gotta love the mind of the 
photographer. "Well, let's see, it's getting late in the day. I have no 
food or water or the foggiest idea where I am. I think I'll take some 
pictures."

To drag this back in the neighborhood of being on-topic, this reminds me to 
recycle an old fave:

http://www.alphoto.com/poodles/index.html





At 09:49 AM 4/22/04, throwing caution to the wind, Mark Cassino wrote:

<tale of being lost>