San Antonio

Google Maps has new, higher-quality street level pics of the house I lived in 88-95 in San Antonio. As with most adults looking back at childhood homes, the biggest surprise is scale.

• I thought we had a huge front yard, but judging by the pictures, I could cross it in about 4 steps. 
• The walk to the corner to catch the school bus always seemed like an eternity. It's 3 houses away. 
• The house on the corner used to have giant bushes blocking the view of the pool. Apparently the new owners aren't as concerned with privacy. 
• There used to be a huge tree in the middle of our front lawn, but it's long gone.
• The house across the street was an incongruous split-level in a plat of mostly ranch houses. 
• The day we moved in I got lost trying to walk back from a house that was about 100 yards away from ours. I managed to mix up left from right and my Mom called the cops. 
• All I remember about the neighbor on the right is that a handyman broke into his house after doing some remodeling for him, and the dog was so used to him that he didn't bark. I don't remember a thing about the people on the left except a tornado knocked down a panel of our shared fence.
• Whoever lives there now has installed a canopy that covers the backyard deck (which ran across the entire back of the house). That's a good idea but imagine the cost of installing a canopy that covers half of your backyard. 
• There was gang activity in the surrounding area, and occasional gang tags on fences, but I never felt unsafe. However, I notice most of the houses have metal security doors that they didn't used to.