I got lost, and look what I found: This beautiful Art-Deco theater! It’s an operating theater, opened in 1928 and part of the Civic Theater in Allentown. Dig the elephant head sculptures, with curving trunks, on the corners! Actually, I discovered the whole “West End Theater District” in Allentown. I didn’t even know there was a “West End Theater District” in Allentown to find.

It just fell into my lap: I had been driving all around an unfamiliar part of Allentown looking for my intended destination. WhenI couldn’t find it, I gave up and parked on a rickety little side street, not expecting anything particularly special. As I started walking around, however, I discovered all of this: This beautiful one-of-a-kind theater, a little coffee shop right across the street, nice tree-lined streets with kitchen and other fun boutiques.

Yeah, today’s New Place taught me the lesson of not getting too locked into my expectations. I didn’t find the exact thing I was expecting to find, but the thing that was right in front of me was pretty cool too! And although I initially had a sour attitude about the place I landed, when I looked more closely at it, it turned out to be much more interesting than I expected.