Back to Square One

You have heard "Back to square one" number of times. It makes more sense when one goes through this in the real life. It happened in the last weekend trip to Leavenworth, wa - the bavarian village in Washington state. On the way back, we were looking forward to exploring Stevens pass. At one point on the state highway, there was a left direction to Stevens pass. We turned left and followed other directions got on to a 2 lane highway. The views of the mountains were breathtaking and the fall foliage was simply amazing. We were not sure how far to go and what to expect. I suggested pulling out at the next rest area which was 10 miles away. After about 30 mins ( with breaks for photo shooting), we almost reached the rest area. Just before making the turn, Dinesh said loudly "we've been here just half an hour ago". Me and wife dismissed his claim by telling him all the rest areas in the state look similar. Since there were light showers and my daughter was sleeping, I rushed to the place where they had set up coffee and snacks counter. For reasons that I don't know, some volunteer groups provide free coffee, cookies, etc in the washington state rest areas. Coming back to the story, I thought the 2 elderly gentle men looked very familiar to me. I asked them what to expect in the stevens pass and they took 5 mins and told me all they knew. Something was telling me I've been here before and seen these guys. However, i picked up my coffee and came back to the car. By then, the 2 other passengers in the car had made their analysis and declared we were back to square one. Dinesh submitted his evidences of seeing the same car/truck/sand dunes in the area. On the way back, we saw the same landmarks we had seen 45 mins ago. Actually before turning in to that stevens pass road, we had spent a good half hour in the very same rest area. Also, I had asked those 2 elderly gentlemen, creamer for coffee!. By going back to the same place, we had not only lost 45 mins, we also went 20 miles behind... No more doubts..we understood what "Back to Square One" means! - This is my first & unique experience while driving in the US..have you had similar ones?