Fly Over

Rebecca Street ran up and down, north to south.   Where the W1 is West 15th Street.  We lived at 1503 Rebecca Street -- on the corner of Rebecca and 15th. 

Sioux City, Iowa.  That's right.  Today we are zipping in and having a brief review and revisit of our old neighborhood.  I got home sick last evening and went back for a little visit.  It is amazing what you can see on the Google or Mapquest maps, in the Satellite mode.  Purely amazing. 

The photo of our great old house was taken in 2007 when Himself and I drove through Sioux City on our way back from a vacation "out west".  I gave notice last evening that it is about time for another weekend trip to Siouxland.  I loved that house!  I want it back!  See that tree in the front yard?  There was a beautiful yellow-blossomed rose bush about there.  Well, you know that -- from all the photos. 

 From the satellite map photo, I think the little 1920s garage is still standing, just up the driveway.  That long flight of stairs, I must of climbed that 10,000 times, usually with a child and a sack of groceries or a clothes basket;  later, with two children, one on each hip.   Then, when Craig arrived, I either made two trips, made Kristy walk or just didn't make the effort to go out!  No, not true.  We went out most days.  I would load three children up on our handy-dandy convertible baby stroller and off we'd go for fresh air and exercise (recommended by Dr. Benjamin Spock, the widely known baby doctor) and a quick visit to the library.

Smith Villa Branch Library

Photo from the internet.

Looking for a photo in the internet of this great Library just a block or two from our house, I couldn't find a photo and in searching maps, there were so many trees around and over it I couldn't find it.  I was afraid they had torn it down.  But never fear, here it remains.  I'm not sure if it is still a branch library, but I hope so.  Remember the pleasure we took, and the anticipation of finding a book, when we walked up the street to the Library?

2007

My Photo

This huge old building, I discovered last night in the internet, was built as a house for a doctor.  Imagine!  But it was a school, just up the street two blocks from our house.  It is where Kristy would have started school if we hadn't moved to Hubbard.  I just could not bring myself to start Kristy to school in a class of 100 children (not all in one room!).  So we moved to Hubbard and sent her to a kindergarten class of 7, I think it was.  Ah, much better . . .

This school is scheduled to be razed, if not already gone.  In my journey last evening, I learned that a new modern school was built this past year to replace Smith School and another neighborhood school, Everett.  They tore down houses to make room for the modern one-story mass of a building and now will tear down this old stone structure.  Makes a grown woman want to weep -- and tie herself to the building so the catepillar and dragline can't do the destruction! 

The Combination Bridge over the Missouri River is gone now too, replaced with a new safe bridge.  We drove across this bridge to get to South Sioux City.  It was always an adventure for a child as the floor of the bridge was made of steel grids and you could look through, down to the river.  Part of this bridge swung sideways.  It would open like a gate to allow barges and before that, I imagine, steamboats to travel up and down the Missouri. 

This is Sioux City's municipal Auditorium.  Right downtown.  Just off of I29 and the main north / south street, Pierce Street, through downtown Sioux City.  This is where we tried indoor ice skating and where they had home and garden shows and other community activities.    There was a carnival and displays set up near here in 1976, the Nation's Bi-Centennial and we went, as a family, through the Freedom Train.

Oh, wow, that was a feel-good trip.  The journey brought back lots of great memories and good times.  Just like childbirth, one forgets the work, the fights, the pain, the frustration of marriage and child rearing and only the good memories remain.