Lost and Found

Lots of the new vacation craze is urging you to "leave your cell phone at home."
I can tell you that I do not highly recommend it.
It could save your life. Or help you find your way back home.
Besides all the calling 911 or for help, you could (hypothetically, of course) be lost in the woods at dusk with dinner in the oven at home and use the compass and GPS functions to navigate your way back to your beloved gas guzzling SUV.

OK, fine. I'm speaking from experience here. Today, while Dad was visiting, we decided to impress him with the massive Percy Warner Parks. We started out on a dirt trail and came upon a nice paved trail. Mind you we are doing our best to exhaust the energy from a 5 year old and 2 year old. I think that if nothing else, we accomplished that. We walked along the trail for a while and came to a fork in the road. I was always taught: When you come to a fork in the road, you take it. And take it we did. At some point along the way, Lincoln lost his zeal for walking and I began to worry about dinner in the oven and the fact that I could hear the highway but I had no idea how to get back. None of us did.
Lost. In Nashville. On a paved path in the Percy Warner Park. It was pathetic but because we had a trusty cell phone, there was no panicking mother of 2. As we walked on to activate the GPS, we discovered that we pretty much had to go back the LONG way around. As we were topping the trees, we could see the trail we needed to be on WAY down a pretty steep cliff. It was like driving under the interstate, knowing you need to be up there and having no way to do so. Dad decided that we would/could scale the side of the cliff rather than walk the half mile around the curve to take us down. So sporting my yoga flip flops, we begin a VERY steep decent to the trail below. Dad carried Lincoln and Jackson and I let momentum propel us from tree to tree as we hung on for dear life or our foothold. It was touch and go for a while as we sunk into rotten wood or decaying leaves. I wasn't thrilled with the idea but Jackson seemed to think it was the highlight of his day. My "never again" decision was confirmed as we approached the end and I, the most arachnophobia mom on the planet, ran right smack into a spider web. I think the rest of my hiking party enjoyed watching me pummel my own head to rid it of the awful web. I didn't find it amusing in the least bit. We continued to follow the trusty GPS and it did in fact lead us right back to the parking lot. Not many times have I been so happy to see my large gas guzzling, anything but eco friendly, kid hauling SUV before. It didn't help to know that dinner would be done when we got home. Hiking has a way of making a girl hungry.

The summary of our trip goes something like this: We were lost in the woods and the GPS on the phone graciously found us and led us back home. You'll rarely ever see me without mine. I mean, not that this experience has changed that at all. It just confirmed my never leave home without it theory. Besides, without it you wouldn't have these great pictures to document our recovery. You can call off the search parties, we will all be sleeping at home under the air conditioning tonight. Thank goodness!
Now, you tell me, are you willing to leave your cell phone at home?