Pixel Quest would be a cool name for a retro game, I think

Oh, Google. Just when I had thought I had nothing to say this week, you went and did something interesting.

It's April Fool's Day, after all. If you have the same nostalgia centers that I do, you should probably check out their new joke. For those of you who don't have time, it's Google Maps compatible with the NES.

Why am I posting about this? Because I got caught on the heavily pixelated street view for about an hour, collecting pictures of places I recognized. And they were cool enough that I thought I would share them with the Internet. Like this:

It's just a filter, of course, yet it makes everything just strange enough to produce the aha! of decoding something familiar. It also coats everything you see in nostalgia like a thick crust of cinnamon-sugar. My first aha! was poking around my old neighborhood on Long Island, not recognizing anything in the blown-out pixelscape until I came to this:

A car wash, of course. As far as I know, it has always looked like that. Not with the pixels, I mean, but otherwise.

Then I decided to take a tour of Seattle.

Why the Space Needle is wobbly like that I really don't know.

 The Hedgehog House, back when hedgehogs lived there.

 Take a bus to the Ave.

 Find my favorite bubble tea place in Seattle.

Last of all, I decided to take a look at Baltimore, since I'd been there so recently.

Yup, that's the Washington Orthanc Monument in Baltimore. But where's George? One can only assume that he was borne away on the back of the Lord of Eagles.