I sometimes like to "visit" the home of the French family I stayed with one summer in high school. It is remarkably the same, but with the updates they were working on or planning when I was there. Ah, I see they took out the roses along the street ("Brigitte Bardot" roses, so called, they told me, "because they are double and they are large" LOL) And, I have to say that the houses are a lot different than in my town; they mostly come right up to the street, where my neighborhood has almost as much front yard as back yard. And more trees.

I love the mapping! I need to find the historical maps of other areas. There's a site called historic aerials you might find interesting; looks like Iowa is pretty wall represented.

I bought old aerials of my acreage when I did my house history.

Yes, the houses are close to the street but they aren't a lot different than what I see here. The farmland doesn't have corn and soybeans but other than that, all looks the same. I've seen machinery that made me check my location thinking I had somehow gotten back to the US without knowing.

Catty, I am sure that lady would be so pleased, even if she's not with us anymore, to be remembered so fondly. I think that our links to the past are so important. Probably one of the reasons for my fondness of antiques. I do love technology that allows us such glimpses.

Me too, Holly-Kay! I collect old glass Christmas ornaments. As I unwrap them and place them on my tree, I think about what the original owners may have been like. I hope those ornaments will continue to be loved after me and maybe someone will wonder what I was like.

I too love being able to "revisit" places from my past and have whiled away many happy hours doing so online.

Yesterday evening on my way home from work I took a route that brought me right by the home my parents built in the early 70s. I have so many fond memories of that house, and have driven by a number of times throughout the years but it's always looked like nobody was home. Last evening as I went by, I noticed an elderly gentleman putting his trash out at the curb for pickup. The garage door was open and there were two cars parked inside. When I saw him, I immediately thought that I should stop and chat with him, but I froze and just kept driving. After a few blocks, I thought - y'know, what the heck! My parents built that house and I grew up there, and I'm going back. I turned around, but by then he had already gone back inside and the garage door was down. If I ever see him outside again, though, I'm stopping.

I relayed this to my mother last night, and she said that she and my dad had actually stopped by the house a number of years ago and the couple living there was very friendly, inviting them in. The same avocado green countertop was still in the kitchen, and the flocked green wallpaper was still present in the foyer. The sunken tubs (all the rage in the 70s!), however, had been thankfully remodeled.

I love just daydreaming about the past. So many amazing memories.

I did that same thing TR but I didn't stop. I've regretted it every since. If ever.........I'll stop.

imhappy, I am so thankful that you posted this today! It compelled me to take a look at Street View to see if the house where I lived in the Philippines was showing up there yet. I periodically checked Street View throughout the years, and of course the street was on the map but there was no satellite imagery. Until I checked today, and learned that imagery appeared late last year. Wow. I have just seen my very first "home away from home", for the first time in 33 years.

I lived in this little concrete house as a young military bride. The house was a cheerful yellow color with white trim and yellow fencing. It was neat as a pin with banana trees in the front yard and a huge, gorgeous bougainvillea spilling over the carport. I doted on it (I have a clear memory of sitting at the kitchen table on a rainy day and hand-sewing little green calico curtains), and was so very proud of it. I longed for my family back home to see the home I had created. I wanted them to be proud of me too. How very different it looks today ...

It has been added on to in the back over the years and has obviously deteriorated (but hey, it's still standing!). Makes me a little sad, but also helps provide a strange sense of satisfaction and closure.

Amazing technology indeed.

Oh!! TR, I'm so happy you found it!

My favorite topic, in fact I've been meaning to do another topic about this again, "Google Earth." I use the free download on the PC instead of my iPad because it's easier to control. I spend time on GE daily.

I saw something shocking to me on GE a couple of years ago. It still shocks me. A little background info. My mom was orphaned at around 4-5 years old, in Danville, VA.

She had two memories which she told me about, her mom dressed in all white because of being in a TB Sanitarium, where I guess she died. And her little brother who was deaf and sadly was run over by a train when they were playing on the tracks. He couldn't hear them screaming to get off.

From childhood through my teen years, we went to Danville every summer. She took me to the orphanage she grew up in, which to this day is being used for a school for autistic children, I think. It has many buildings and they all have those beautiful white columns and red brick. Lots of good memories she had there, along with her twin sister.

When I hooked up with my 1st cousins on FB, they told me our mother's house is still standing. I looked at it on GE, and we drove that road w/my mom many a time.

Not once did mom show us the house, ever. WHY? I didn't find out about it until after she passed away.

I also found out I'm a quarter Indian after she passed. What other secrets did she keep from me? LOL.

Here's the picture. I'm thinking she was too ashamed to show me how dirt poor they were.

House is on the right, why it's still there is a mystery. There's the train track. Tin roof on the house. I was able to zoom in on street view. Very sad.

Catty, we must be kindred souls. I always wonder about the previous owners of my treasures and say a little thank you to them for sharing with me.

I forgot I had google earth installed! One of those things I did a long time ago and then promptly forgot.

Imhappy, I love to get on GE when I'm reading a historical book to see the places talked about.

What a great idea.

This is just too cool! Either I just now discovered a new feature on GE (the download!), or I'm late to the party. lol.

Because of Shakespear's head possibly missing from his body, I decided to visit his birthplace.

In the search box, type "Henley Street, Stratford-upon-Avon,
Warwickshire, England" It's a very short street. Maybe one or two blocks long.

Now, as you drag the little orange man icon down to Henley street, you'll see a bunch of orange dots appear. I didn't notice it at first but when I dragged it to street view, I accidentally found myself inside a children's store and got to take a tour! I thought, "WTH??"

If you want to see inside a shop, drag the icon to an orange dot instead, as you're dragging it to a street view. You can only see the dots appear when you start to drag the icon.

Look at the street view too, at all the tourists! And the stores, oh my!

I'm off to England...if only in my dreams. :)

IIRC, there is a Pizza Hut just down the street from Shakespeare's birthplace. Or at least there was about a decade ago. Pretty surreal.

Well, England certainly needs a Pizza Hut! I'm in a FB group and there are a lot of people from England in the group, and yesterday someone posted a picture of a pizza they made. I couldn't make heads or tails out of her pizza. Strangest looking thing I'd ever seen. lol

I want so badly to go to Warwickshire and the surrounding shires. I've never had a desire to go to London.

In England I'm headed for East Riding of Yorkshire; the Pocklington and Seaton Ross area.

I went to Henley this morning, not Henley on the river, and looked at an old church there. I love how I can zoom in on the old headstones.