Spent some time at the beach today as a family. See the pictures at flickr.

Only Tim went down to the water. The others played on the playground closer to the boardwalk.

Jeff mounted the TomTom that he gotten me for Christmas on my windshield.

He entered "Freedman's Bakery" as our destination in Belmar. I suggested the cross streets of 10th and Ocean Ave., where the playground is.

When we reached the Parkway, I was advised to take exit 35 A towards Brielle. But that's not how I get to Belmar. I wondered how TomTom would react to flagrant disobedience.

And, unlike a human navigator, TomTom kept her cool, offering suggestion after suggestion to get me back on track. "Next right, exit 35 B."

Nope, I'm not going that way, either. No frustration. The kids in the back were like, "Uh, Mom, don't you think that you'd better do what she says?!" Rise of the Machines. As if I haven't traveled this way a hundred times before. Wonder how those poor chums got lost in Oregon.

Then, home, something similar: trying to send me up route 18.

I'll have to tinker with the preferences but it's good to try it on familiar routes first before going somewhere new. Not that I'll be exploring much anymore. And I'm not ready to throw away my county and state maps, just yet.

In town, where they moved Schoolhouse Road this summer, I noticed that TomTom still had the old intersection. And a new road in a development from a year ago did not display.

At night or in bad weather, when street signs aren't very visible or in neighborhoods without street signs, I can see the advantage of this GPS, certainly. I'm sure that I'll use it.