Since Childhood have had a love of maps. Since we were an Army family and changed schools freq. (11 times in 12 years of school)my mother would get books and maps about where we were going next and we would pour over the maps and check out info. about the place and people.Some time we know more about the place we were stationed than the locals. I always did great in naming states and capitals, what the area was known for,etc.Over the years it has become a hobby to me,and I am amazed how little young people today know about our country and the different states. Some high schooler can't even name their capital or where it is located from their town.I don't know why but it seem to be a problem with learning about this great country we have and the various people that are in it. You can't have pride in something that you know nothing about. So get those google and mapquest going and get the atlas out and show the kids where something is located and learn what is produced there and what kind of people are there.You can goggle or bing( I prefer bing) any state or town and get tons of info from their web page. Even if you can't visit in person, you can have a pretend trip by just going online and getting all the infor. needed for a trip. I can't afford a cruise right now, but I went into that ship page and planed my perfect cruise to Alaska,or Europe. Hey, teach your kids to dream outside the box so they can put down the ipod or phone some day and see what a great place we have here in the USA.
No matter what the political climate or the jobs are doing, We have the option to move where we can enjoy a better life and it is still in the good old USA. There are no other countrys where you can do that.

There is another country where you can have the same freedom,it is a well-kept secret. Look north of your borders!

Yes and I have had the pleasure of exploring there too, I mostly fell in love with Vancouver Island and those great ferry rides and the mountains that drop down to the sea and most of all the great friendly people. I took a train (on ViaRail)vacation two times from Toronto to Victoria in the Fall 2007 and 2008 and it was great,a bed to rock to sleep in, some of the best food and service on par with a four star hotel. It all started with me just looking up info on BC and the northwest coast on the internet.

I keep a road atlas by my chair and refer to it frequently when a place is mentioned on the news or by one of you.

yes i have. see how far away everyone is.

I do it all the time. I was looking online at a shop today that I thought was in NC. The site did have a map. When I pulled it up to see where in NC it is, I found out it is in NE. We go to NC, not NE. Lashes with wet noodle for me.

I needed a non-local phone number & was told to try whitepages.com. I did, got the phone number alright, but was astounded at the additional info provided -- like the person's age, their address, the value of their house, even a photo of their house, and the names of the other occupants! Kinda scary!

http://www.googleearth.com

I love to spend time here. I have been around the world and been to places I would never have had the opportunity to see otherwise. Moscow is my favorite place to visit.

The download is free & doesn't take very long, either.

When we were looking for a job for DH, I'd look up the city we would be visiting. Found the LQS and then looked at the photos of the store. Made it a whole lot easier to find it as I knew what the building looked like and the surrounding area, too. Same with the hotel we had booked, eating places, etc.

i know where littlehud lives. in a town called 'in hiding'. but i know where it is.
looked it up.