Country girl in need of tips on understanding directions within cities.....specifically Milwaukee, WI?

When heading west on what ever road you are on when you get to 65th street making a right turn is north.

When a road sign says north and you're driving north the house addresses get bigger. Wisconsin Avenue is probably the road that divides north and south.

The east and west center road is water street dowtown.

Normally Streets go East/West, Avenues go North/South, and any street number (or house number) increases as you go further the direction indicator, like 3421 N. Elm is south of 3423 N. Elm.

But you are out of luck, addresses and street names make little sense in Milwaukee. Most regular cities Avenues go north and south, streets go east and west. Too much history of beer in Milwaukee, it makes no sense. W. Highland Ave is parallel to W. Walnut Street, N. 17th St is West of N. 7th St. Then N. Port Washington Avenue is Parallel to N. 20th Street.

Look at your watch and look for the Sun. If it is 6:00 pm and the Sun is shining on your left shoulder, that is west and you are looking north. Or get a city street map.

Even in the city, the sun still rises in the East and sets in the West. I'm sure a REAL country girl should be able to figure out the rest.

If you need help navigating around a strange city, I suggest you invest in a GPS unit like a Garmin or a Tom-Tom. They're fairly cheap to buy and I wouldn't travel without one.

I'm from the UK and here signs tell you where to go.

In the USA they tell you where you are, it's the American thing no one or any sign can tell you what to do, it's called free choice.

Also in the UK you get advanced warning of what the next junction is.

In the USA the street name is ON the junction up high and small with no advance warning of which lane you need. Then to make it more interesting you can turn right on red lights.

The best tip I can give you is stay in the country.

In my lifetime of experience, I've learned that women tend to prefer to use visual landmarks, buildings, signs, and colors when giving or taking directions. Men typically prefer distances, compass direction, and street names/numbers. For this reason men seem to do better in large cities.

Before the days of GPS navigation systems and smartphones, I always used a roadmap to plan my trips. I would try to memorize as much as I could about the route and the area/town/city that I would be visiting. I would notice how streets were laid out, the direction of main streets, and approximate distances from a point of interest to another. I would always keep the map handy in case I lost my bearings.

Today, with GPS and smartphones, I still look at Google Maps before going on a trip and use it the same as in the old days with paper maps. I use the navigation system in my car more for the moving maps than for directions to a destination. I sometimes even use Google Street View to preview a route.

I would advise you to do more pre-trip preparation using some form of map (Google Maps, Apple Maps, etc.) to learn ahead of time the layout of streets, how they are named, what part of the city they are in, what direction they go, and the location of major landmarks such as parks or large buildings. Trying to drive in an unfamiliar city without preparation can be very frustrating, even for me.

You can't expect to know how to navigate a city when you know nothing about it ahead of time. If you are given directions, follow those directions on a map first, before you attempt to drive it in your car.

You're the first country girl I've ever heard who didn't know East , West, North and South. If you're headed west (toward the afternoon sun or away from the morning sun) then to go North all you have to do is turn right.

1) Directions. You can tell the orientation of the city by knowing the sun rises in the east and sets in the wet. Knowing this allows you to know your approximate direction of travel at any time. (Although if you are new to the city the buildings can get in the way)

2) Landmarks. I used to live in Albuquerque and it was easy to orient yourself by knowing the mountains are to the east. I know there are no mountains in Milwaukee but you know the lake is to the east and the shore runs north and south

3) Most cities have their roads/streets broken into N,S, E, and W based on its direction to a major street or landmark. '1st Avenue North' is north of 'Main Street' and turns into '1st Avenue South' south of 'Main Street'

N, 65th street is on the North half of town with I-94 being the divider. Anything south of that is S 65th street. Numbered streets run north/south, named streets run east/west.

A couple of years ago someone invented this thing called a "map". For those of you that don't know, a "map" is a diagrammatic representation of an area of land or sea showing physical features, cities, roads, etc.