(UPI) A Michigan woman said a wrong turn led to her winning a $500,000 lottery prize -- although she was unaware of the amount of her jackpot for three months.

The 61-year-old Muskegon County woman told Michigan Lottery officials she had intended to pick up some scratch-off tickets from her preferred store, but a navigational error changed her plans.

"I always purchase my tickets from the same store and was planning to stop there on my way home to get a Cashword ticket," the player said. I accidentally made a wrong turn and had to take a different route home, so I stopped at a gas station on the way.

The woman ended up stopping at the BP station on East Apple Avenue in Muskegon and selected a Cashword Times 10 ticket.

"When I got home, I scratched the ticket off and thought I'd won $1,000. I was going to use the money toward a trip I had coming up in a few months, so I decided to put the ticket away and cash it when my trip got closer," she said.

The player said it was three months before she realized her ticket was worth far more than $1,000.

"Three months later, I went to the lottery office to cash it. When the lottery employee told me the ticket was a $500,000 winner, I couldn't believe it! It was hard to grasp what was going on," she said.

The winner said her prize money will go toward paying off her home and saving for retirement.

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