Suddenly when I click Safari my maps opens automatically instead and I cannot view pages or log to Internet - no browser. It's like when I click on Safari icon the OS prompts Maps to open. I've restarted iPad, cleared cache, history, and cookies and it doesnt work. I had a few pages open that I would have a hard time retrieving so I would prefer avoiding resetting all settings.
Advice? Thank you.

To be clear, when you restart you hold down the power button until you get the red power off slider, then slide it to shut down? Occasionally we've had new members who though tapping the power button was shutting it down. An understandable mistake.

You could also try a soft reset. Hold down the power and home buttons until the Apple logo appears. It will reboot itself at that point. No data is lost.