When I was young, my family lived 200 miles north of my grandpa's town. Whenever grandpa visited us, he insisted that the road north was uphill all the way. I a

When I was young, my family lived 200 miles north of my grandpa's town. Whenever grandpa visited us, he insisted that the road north was uphill all the way. I always knew that it was nonsense. After all, we lived in a coastal area, whereas grandpa lived inland (and it was definitely not below sea level), and there are no significant mountain ranges in between, so if anything the drive north should have been mostly downhill. Only later did I realize that the perception of driving uphill probably had something to do with the way most maps are drawn. Grandpa probably did burn more gas on the road north, though, because he didn't have to haul any gifts on the road south.