Où allez-vous?

Two French tourists look over a map of San Francisco while
at the San Francisco Visitor Information Center near
Union Square (Chronicle photo)

Our glove compartment used to be stuffed with maps. Part of travel planning was deciding which additional maps to take and whether we had to run to the Auto Association to pick up one that was not in our library. On solo journeys I pulled over when lost, because wrestling with a large sheet of paper while driving was even more hazardous than peering at a 6-inch screen.

The joy of maps, like newspapers, is inexplicable to the young. Clumsy to handle and non-interactive (you had to look for Broadway, not enter it in your search bar and have Broadway come to you), maps aren't around much anymore. They still can be found at visitor centers, but it's only a matter of time...