Get lost! No, really.

“Let’s go get lost…so we can be found.” – Grace Mena

I’ve been editing some photos on Lightroom and going through the shots on my camera from so many wonderful places I’ve been fortunate to travel to. I have all the requisite social media shots in each location: fruity drinks, morning coffee with a view, beach views, selfies in front of landmarks and signs…you name it. Then I stumbled upon this photo taken last year somewhere on the outskirts of Napa Valley. And as the memory came flooding back, I was reminded that the best part of travel is the adventure that comes with the unexpected.

In today’s world we do everything for social media. We plan everything out. We use GPS so we ensure we never get lost, take Ubers in strange cities instead of wandering the streets and we miss out on the adventure, the unexpected, the beautiful connections that happen when you’re not looking. Being disconnected can be surprisingly liberating. Try it sometime.

This photo happened solely because technology failed and forced me to disconnect. And I’m a control freak, so I was really losing it when both the GPS and our cell phones lost signal as we were driving around the edge of Napa Valley last year in our rental car. To top it all off, we were extremely low on gas and out in the middle of nowhere. Just highway, dust, and burnt remnants of foliage that used to exist before the whole valley caught fire.

We stumbled upon this little gem of a place – restaurant/bar/liquor store/mini-mart – called Turtle Rock Bar & Cafe. We sat at the bar near this lone cowboy, bought him a beer and had a couple ourselves. We chatted about the fires, the history of the bar, were introduced to the owner, Peter Leung. I asked about the dollar bills covering every square inch of wall space and how that started. He said it started with someone wanting to leave a note for someone else and then it caught on and kept going. I saw the sign saying they have the “world’s best egg rolls” and decided to order some. They really were the best egg rolls I ever had. On the way out, we asked for directions to the nearest gas station and promised we’d spread the word about this lovely roadside find and if we were ever back in the area, we’d definitely drop in again. It was one of the best stops on our trip to Napa Valley and probably the cheapest meal we ate there, including the fast food from In and Out Burger! But it would never have happened if the GPS was working.

So go on, get lost.