Direction

It turns out that I have no sense of direction. My friends Sandy and Julie say that I couldn't find my way out of a paper bag. I told Caroline's dad that barnyard animals have a better sense of direction than me. He promptly told me that since barnyard animals actually do have a very finely tuned sense of direction, that they most definitely had a better sense of direction than me. But more than anybody, my dad knows that I'm stupid when it comes to me trying to figure out how to get from point A to point B. And so I sat down with him last night to plot my trip from my parents' Renton home to Pier 59 in Seattle where the Seattle Aquarium is located. We realized that there were two routes I could take. One appeared to be a bit quicker so I chose that one. I'd get on I-405, merge onto N I-5 and get off on Madison. Cake. It wasn't my usual Seattle route (I-405 onto I-90) but it seemed simple enough and I was familiar with I-5. But apparantly not familiar enough. We got to the merger for I-5 and I directed my mother to head north but the sign for I-5 south said that it was headed for Seattle. I called my dad.
"Where are you?"
"We just got off I-405 and got onto I-5 N. Is that right?"
"What?"
"We took I-405 to I-5 N."
"No, tell me in places. What did you just pass?"
"Paine Field."
"You mean Boeing Field."
"No, Paine Field."
"Boeing."
"Dad, I know where I am and I'm telling you we just passed Paine Field!"
"Are you telling me that you're in Everett??"
"YES!"
"How did you get there??"
"We took I-405 to I-5 N!!"
"You did what??"
"Aaggh!! We got onto I-405 and merged onto I-5 NORTH!"
"Woah! You're way off!"
"This is what you told me to do!"
"No..."
"YES! You said that I could either take I-90 or I-5 N."
"Yes... but certainly you know that you have to go south past Southcenter and get on I-5 N there in order for that to work. I mean, you lived here for 18 years!"
"What in our history together would make you believe that I would know something like that??"
"Hehehe. You do tend to get lost a lot."
"Grrrr. Just help me get out of here!"

We turned around and got to the aquarium without the excess "help" from my father. And it was a lovely day, too. With petting ponds, sea otters, seals and five Faerber children. "I love Seattle in the springtime..." or summer.