April 29, 2009
It took us two days to drive home from Washington DC because we stopped a lot on the way: at rest stops, to see places I used to live or go to school, to stay over with my in-laws in Connecticut, and to visit my son in Rhode Island.
My father-in-law told me about the day he drove my husband and his two brothers down to Washington to look at American University. Not only did they tour the school, they visited various sites downtown–and did it all in one day, leaving at 5 AM and returning around 2 AM. And he did all the driving. This, after we arrived at his home at about 11 PM, taking all day and evening to make one trip between DC and CT. I was impressed.
But, I explained, we did stop and tour my old hometown in Pennsylvania, and that was fun, since my daughter had not seen it before. “Aw, pshaw,” he said, or something like that. “You can see your old house on the Internet–just type in the address.”
Though I couldn’t find a photo of my old house in Pennsylvania, I did find two old addresses in New York state, including an apartment building where we live in White Plains for a year, when I was in third grade. I had been telling my daughter how intimidating that school was. It housed graded K through 12, and, as a little kid, I was terrified of the big 12th graders roaming the halls. In my mind the building was six stories high.
I found the apartment on Google Maps, and followed the little arrows down the street (to the left) and found the school. It is only 3 stories high, but it extends back for what seems like two blocks, rising to 4 stories. Amazing. A whole lot easier than driving to White Plains (if not quite the same).
I found another of my old addresses (we moved around a lot) in upstate New York, but none in other states. But, it is only a matter of time.
Notes on The Arts 