The road not travelled

When driving around, local or not, I am always up for the idea of taking a different route, of driving down an unfamiliar street. So when we stopped for lunch on Sunday in Cleveland, Tennessee (I know ...... who knew there was more than one Cleveland?), we took a different route back to the Interstate than the way we drove in.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, looming on the horizon on our left, there appeared to be a water tower featuring a blue M&M. This warranted a quick turnaround to investigate further. It was none other than a Mars location and, when I put my window down to take photographs of the aforementioned tower, the air was redolent with chocolate. How it could be possible to live directly across from the plant -- the other side of the street was strictly residential -- is something I don't understand. That aroma would drive me crazy.

If we had not driven off the main route, we never would have seen this. I'm glad we took a chance on an alternate road!

We had a similar experience today. The skies opened up here in Savannah and the rain pelted down, but the morning and early-afternoon were relatively rain-free, so the captain and I were out driving around today, trying to find a particular old gas station that I remembered from last year and never photographed. I remembered the station, not the location. Anyway, we came to a street that we might or might not have driven down before, we weren't sure, so we hung a left and gave it a try. It was quickly apparent to both of us that we'd never been in this particular section of Savannah before.

So what did we find? Not the old gas station I was searching for, but instead we found ourselves driving right beside the Wilmington River. On the left, we saw a row of shrimp boats docked at a small pier; on the right, a seafood restaurant that looked inviting. If you are ever in Savannah, by the way, eat as much local shrimp as you can; they're amazing. And also on the left, an old shack selling fresh local shrimp.

So we ate shrimp for lunch (should I mention that we also had shrimp for dinner last night?) and I took photographs of the boats as well as the shack. A great lunch and a great photo shoot -- all because we took a chance on an unfamiliar road.