Even though it’s easy to snap and share plenty of great vacation photos these days, I do miss those fun postcards we used to collect and send during my family trips as a kid. But now with the ScenePast app for iOS, you can actually send those awesome retro postcards and give your kids a little history lesson while you’re at it.

The ScenePast Americana app is a free travel app like nothing we’ve ever seen. It gives you digital access to tons of awesome retro postcards from every single state in the U.S., that you can share via social media or send to friends and family via email with your own brief Wish you were here! message. So no need to track down that postcard stamp or worry about getting them to the post office while you’re still on vacation.

If you’re a movie buff, then you’ll love the ScenePast Movie/TV app that lets you check out what those very locations on those retro postcards look like today, whether it’s an iconic storefront from the movie The French Connection or the house from Hitchcock’s The Birds (both shown below), or just Macy’s in New York’s Herald Square. Isn’t that amazing?

The Birds set then and now via the ScenePast app | coolmomtech.com

The French Connection movie location then and now via ScenePast app | coolmomtech.com

 

Comparing NYC then and now on the ScenePast app | CoolMomTech.com

Even if you aren’t planning to take the whole crew cross-country in the Griswold family truckster, you can relax at home and enjoy the sights, past and present, and get–or give–little history and geography lesson with ScenePast. All without hearing Are we there yet? Though you might end up hearing Are we going yet? Which is definitely an improvement.

Check out digitally restored retro postcards on the ScenePast Americana app, free for iOS on the App Store, or purchase the ScenePast Movie/TV app for $1.99.