One of the nicest things to do on a Sunday is getting out of the house for a walk or a drive through the neighborhood. Sometimes that takes you to a place you don't normally go, and if you're like me and don't have a GPS handy at all times sometimes you get at least a little bit lost.

Here are some simple suggestions for navigation without a map or compass — just by paying attention to some of the signs that are characteristic of this part of the world.

Follow a bicycle route. There aren't a lot of bicycle routes in Ann Arbor residential areas, but when you find one you can use it as a guide to make your way through winding streets in leafy neighborhoods. There's a bicycle route that goes from Packard and Granger all the way to Gallup Park, and by following the signs you can navigate through Ives Woods like a native. Some cities like San Francisco have numbered bicycle routes with signs that take you from place to place with confidence.

Follow a bus route. There are dozens of bus routes in the area, and generally the stops are about a quarter of a mile apart. The routes are numbered and usually take you to or from one of the transit centers in the area. If you follow the AATA Route 14 signs through Ann Arbor Hills from Washtenaw, you will come out on Geddes near Gallup Park, a route that can be confusing even with a map.

Head downhill. Ann Arbor is in the Huron Valley, and almost all of the area drains into the Huron River. If you find yourself in a place where you don't know where you are, figure out what direction is downhill, and head that way; you'll almost certainly find yourself near a railroad, creek, river, or some settlement originally built because of water power.

Know your street names. A "Court" is a short street, which usually ends as a dead end; a "Place" often doesn't go very far. If you're trying to get out of a neighborhood, a "Boulevard" is usually a good bet. A street will turn into a road when you cross a municipal boundary, as in State Street which turns into State Road when it hits Pittsfield Township heading south of Ann Arbor, or Liberty Street turning into Liberty Road as it heads west into Scio Township.

Know your street signs. Washtenaw County's street signs are blue with gold lettering. Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti's street signs are green with white lettering. You can tell whether you are in the city or the township by looking at the sign, which helps as you go down Washtenaw or Packard, where the city/township boundary is ragged and not marked with any distinctive geography.

Know your railroads. The Ann Arbor Railroad runs north and south, and the Amtrak runs along the Norfolk Southern tracks, which run east to west along the Huron River. A railroad grade runs southwest from Ypsilanti — the old Lake Shore and Michigan Southern track to Saline and beyond, which now serves as a corridor for power lines. Head north and you hit the Lakelands Trail, which runs on an old railroad grade from Pinckney to Stockbridge in Lenawee County.

Explore the countryside. The main county roads between towns are labeled with the names of the towns they connect, and the corresponding city streets usually give the name of the town they head toward. To get to Plymouth, follow Plymouth Road, which will turn into Plymouth-Ann Arbor Road and then into Ann Arbor Road and Ann Arbor Trail. Dexter Avenue turns into Dexter-Ann Arbor Road and then to Ann Arbor Street in Dexter, and you can follow either Dexter-Chelsea Road or Dexter-Pinckney Road to get to those cities. Mostly you can't go wrong with navigation by street; even Pontiac Trail will take you most of the way to Pontiac, if you manage to navigate a detour around I-96.

Watch out for freeways. When a freeway cuts through a neighborhood, it ruins all of the normal signals in the original design that helped people navigate. There is always a way out, but many of the rules fail to apply when cities are bisected by divided highways.

Edward Vielmetti gets lost for AnnArbor.com