His Glory My Joy, a blog of Author Luana Ehrlich

James and I have just returned from a vacation in Colorado.  I’m sure I’ll be posting several stories in the next few days about the incredible beauty we encountered and the interesting people we met along the way, but today’s post will have my iPad as a central focus.

Since my iPad has the ability to be connected to the Internet not only through Wi-Fi but also through a 3G network, I told James a few days before we left there really wasn’t any need for him to continue to ask people who had previously been to Colorado Springs the best way to get there because I could just map out the directions using Google maps and the GPS system that comes with the iPad.  Nevertheless, I noticed he slipped a Rand-McNally roadmap in the backseat of the car before we pulled out of the driveway. 

As it turned out, not long after leaving the Oklahoma City metro area, my 3G network began to have spotty reception, and, had it not been for his rather old-fashioned, out-of-touch-with technology insistence on bringing the roadmap, we could have found ourselves wandering around the panhandle of Oklahoma for hours.

But despite that minor glitch in the early part of our trip, the iPad proved useful in the following ways:

1.   As a touring guide: As we pulled off the interstate in southern Colorado and entered a small town to eat breakfast, we noticed all the buildings looked quite old.  As we passed the center of town, James pointed out a statue, “I wonder what that’s all about?”  I had my iPad already opened (playing Words With Friends) and quickly Googled the town’s name.  In no time, we were reading about the town’s history in the early 1800’s, its population and a myriad of other details.  From that point on, we discovered this was an easy and enjoyable way to pass the time and to learn something about the scenery and the cities along our way.

2.   As a means of Bible study:  Simply by accessing the websites of some of our favorite Bible teachers and by plugging a cord into our car’s speaker system, we could listen to God’s Word being explained and exalted when we were seemingly “in the middle of nowhere.”

3.  As a way to keep records:  I found the notepad on the iPad useful for writing down reminders of things to do when I got home, keeping track of receipts, remembering a book I wanted to read and noting the confirmation number of our hotel reservations.

4.  As a method of locating places:  I used different apps on the phone to find restaurants, a movie theater (with movie reviews), a shopping mall (of course) and a Starbucks.

And, as mentioned, I used it to navigate us to Colorado and back.  Sure, my iPad decided to take us on a route different and longer (maybe 70 miles) from one James later discovered on the roadmap, but on the Googled route we learned many unknown things about the towns we passed through—all because of my useful iPad.