If I could have any superpower, I’d want the power of time travel. I wouldn’t care about going into the future—I’d prefer not to know. But I would LOVE to go into the past. I drive by buildings and wonder what they were like in their heyday. I live in an old city, so there are a lot of old buildings. Depending on my mood, there are different eras I want to visit.
The early 1960s, the era when my mom was young. It’s also the era of Mad Men, and it’s just fascinating to see how different mores were in those days. A lot of the buildings around my neighborhood were built in that era, with the flat roofs and the plate glass, and I would love to see them when they were new.
The 1950s, when my mom was a child. She talks about shopping downtown, and the buildings are still there. I can just imagine her traipsing down the street in her little dress, going to the soda fountain. My dad’s hometown was also thriving in the 1950s, and I would love to experience that small town in that time period. I’d also love to travel Route 66, and stay in those motels along the way.
The post-Civil War era, during western expansion, the time of Laura Ingalls. I devoured those books when I was young, and while I didn’t really care about visiting that time period at the time, now I wonder what it must be like to have experienced that wide-open feeling.
MAYBE I’d want to visit a trail drive. Just for a few hours.
And downtown San Antonio as it recovered after the battle of the Alamo. I’m not sure I’d like to visit the time period that my book, SUNRISE OVER TEXAS from Carina Press, is set, during the time Stephen Austin brought the first families to Texas, when it was still a part of Mexico. The Texas frontier was wild at the time, and the Mexican government wanted it settled. I don’t think I could ever do the things my heroine Kit has to endure.
Time travel would be a fun power to have, but I’d want to return to my own time period, of air conditioning and transportation and hamburgers.
Where would you want to time travel?
MJ will give away a $10 gift card to either Amazon or Barnes & Noble today to one lucky commenter. So get typing!
We live near Washington Crossing and the Barracks are just over the bridge in Trenton. When our son was young he went to a camp there where they pretended to be soldiers so I would love to see the same area that I lived in for so many years as it was during the Revolutionary War.
Oh, cool, Maureen! Isn’t it great to live in a place with so much history?
I was thinking about my trip last weekend to my grandmother’s hometown, and wondering what it would have been like when my dad was a boy! He has good memories!
Hi, MJ! I love the cover for “Sunrise Over Texas”, and the story line sounds quite intriguing! I would love to travel back to the American Old West of the mid to late 1800s. I have often thought that I could set my birthdate back 100 years and not be out of place. This is the era and the setting that calls to me. In my heart, I think that I belong there. It feels as though I actually lived there with the love of my life and my children, and we were very happy. That may explain why Historical Western Romance is my favorite genre : )
Hi MJ! Welcome to Petticoats & Pistols! When it comes to time travel, I’d buy an all-day fare card. Colorado and Wyoming in the 1870s would be the first stop. That’s where most of my books are set. After that stop, I’d go to Los Angeles in the 1950s, colonial America, then back out west to take in untouched landscape. I’d end on an untouched beach in Southern California.
I’d like to time travel into the future. Even though I’m not very tech oriented, I’d love to see all the new gadgets, zoom around in outer space, travel via space packs on your back. The views the astronauts send back from the space station are unbelievably beautiful!
I remember The Jetson’s cartoon from the 60’s… look how much of that has come true.
HI MJ-
I too go past old buildings and imagine what they used to look like back in the day. I have done that since I was young. My favorite time to go back to would be post Civil War era out west. I would love to meet the people who were settleing the country, and I would also like to meet some of the Indian tribes that were there as well. 🙂
I would travel to the old west too. I love reading historical western romances. I would also like to travel back to Woodstock.
hello mj! thank you for the post!
Sunrise Over Texas sounds very interesting! I don’t think I’d be brave enough to be settling there either…I can only find it on Amazon in Kindle edition…is that so?
Time travel…back in time of course!
I would love to go west in the mid to late 1800’s
colorado/montana/wyoming….
i’d also like to go live with the native americans before that time
and…i’d live to come to my very house in the late 1800’s when it was built and hang out…i think it’s amazing that some 140yrs ago someone was sitting right where I am right now.
who where they?
what were they like?
MJ,
Congratulations on the release of SUNRISE OVER TEXAS. I read a review and excerpt on another site and liked what I read.
Time travel would be such a wonderful experience. If it could be like going back in a bubble so we could see everything, but not interact with anyone, not really be there. I wouldn’t want to disrupt history. Never mind the 50’s and 60’s, It sounds like I am the same “vintage” as your mom. Been there, done that, even if it was as a child.
I’d first visit the Victorian era. Our house is an 1898 victorian farmhouse in the Blue Ridge, and I’d love to see what it was like when it was built. Our town is the oldest in the state and it would be nice to see how it compared to its current restored state. It burned to the ground a time or two, so I would like to see what it was like back when Davey Crockett was born here and Andrew Jackson was in the area.
My childhood home was an early 1800’s farm house in the Adirondacks. I would like to see it when it was new. The family my parents bought it from remodeled it in the 50’s and pretty much destroyed all the wonderful historical details ripping out the brick fireplace/oven in the kitchen, boarding up the summer kitchen, painting all the woodwork white, ripping off the wraparound porch, and putting knotty pine over everything. I would love to see what the town looked like then. One of the deciding battles of the War of 1812 was fought on the lake there. It would be interesting to observe the naval battle at night. We weren’t far from Fort Ticonderoga, NY which was pivotal in the Revolutionary War.
Regency and Elizabethan Great Britain would be interesting.
Going further back, I would love to go to Medieval Ireland, Scotland, England and Europe. To see the castles in their original glory and seeing what life really was like for everyone.
I could find so many people and events I would like to see. Wouldn’t it be nice to find out how accurate or inaccurate history is.
Hope you have a great weekend.
I live in Oregon and there are so many ghost towns that I would like to travel back in time and see what they were like at their peak. I would travel back to the Civil War –I’d want to meet some of my ancestors that fought in the war.
I enjoyed your creative and fascinating post today since time travel is compelling to imagine happening. For me I would enjoy experiencing life in small town America during the 1940’s especially in the historic mining towns of the Old West. That locale and the era always have an appeal for me. As well as England when Britannia ruled.
Y’all are making me so glad I’m not the only one who thinks like this! My husband thinks I’m crazy!
Virginia, my dad says he was born in the wrong time, too. I think he would have made a great settler!
Victoria, interesting about 1950s LA. It WOULD be cool to see, though, wouldn’t it?
Laurie, true about The Jetsons! I like how you describe the future!
Tammy, a soulmate!
Amy, Woodstock, hm? I hadn’t thought about that, but to see some of those bands would be neat!
Tabitha, yes, my publisher Carina Press is digital-only right now. So you live in a 140-yr-old house? How awesome! And probably a lot of work!
LOL, Patricia, on being the same “vintage” as my mom. How heartbreaking about the remodeled house!!! I hadn’t thought about learning the accuracy of history, but that would be COOL!
Ooh, Amy! ghost towns! There are a few here, too. Good idea!
I read a lot of historical romances, so I would like to travel back in time to get a real feel for the setting of the story. It would be great to see historical sites in their glory days. Of course, I couldn’t give up my modern conveniences for long, so it would be a brief visit to the past.
I’d like to travel anywhere there isn’t violence. For example, I wouldn’t want to be hit by a stray bullet at the O.K. Corral, nor would I like to see dinosaurs up close and personal!
Previous bloggers have mentioned ghost towns; that being said, I don’t need a gunfight to erupt! (Do you see a recurring theme here, LOL?) I guess there’s danger just sitting in your home, so it wouldn’t matter where you went….
Your book sounds really good and I have added it to my TBR list.
If I could go back in time, I would have loved to go on the expedition with Lewis and Clark. To see the West in its pristine glory would have been so exciting. I am an adenture type person and it would have been so interesting to discover the flora and fauna, rivers and beautiful mountains of that area in that time period.
Anne, ooh, yes, the 1940s. Post-war, though, I think!
Cheryl, I’m with you on the modern conveniences! Imagine how long travel took then! And no phones!
Laney, LOL! True, true! I guess a lot of the history we learn about is from violent times, isn’t it? Which makes the 50s more appealing, maybe.
Joye, thanks so much! I wish I was more adventurous–some of y’all’s ideas have me shivering!
Your post today was captivating and resounded with me. I always think about different eras that interest me and what they would have been like to have lived through. One that definitely hits home for me is the 1950’s even though I grew up then and I think that it was wonderful I miss it daily and oine for it once again. The simplicity and the values especially. Another one that I would enjoy would be Italy during the 1950’s as well.
I like time travel books and movies.
So many amazing places and times to see. I don’t know if I could pick just one. I would love to see America during the late to earily 1800 hundreds. Would also love to see Scotland before all of those castles went to ruin. Time travel books are my favorite books to read.
the cover model is sweet. 🙂
I want to go to England, but if could travel back to Wild West.
Oh I would like to do both – go as far forward as possible and as far back as possible and everything in between.
Hi MJ, congrats on the book and welcome to Wildflower Junction. Very thought-provoking post. I would not like to see the future, not at all, but the past, just for a couple of days, I’d like to visit the Old West…maybe San Antonio; I just went there for my first visit. And definitely medieval London. Just a couple of days though…I’m very fond of indoor plumbing and antibiotics LOL
I not long agoa cleane dout my mom’s old house and came across a treasure trove of antique photos and documents. It was almost like time travel. Thanks for spendign time here today!
Ellie, yes, the simplicity appeals to me, too!
Anon, yes! Somewhere in Time is my favorite.
Oh, Rebekah, castles! I hadn’t thought of that. Just for a bit, though 😉
Dina, he’s a cutie, isn’t he? I think he’s perfect for Trace.
Catslady, I like your style–why limit yourself?
Tanya, I’m in San Antonio. We do have a LOT of history here. Sometimes you can see just how wild it must have been!
Hi MJ!!
I would like to travel back in time to the late 1800s to the wild wild west!!
Time travel, now that would be interesting as long as I could return home… Hmmm… the Old West, Ireland & Scotland at points in their pasts… it would be amazing to see my parents and grandparents when they were younger!
I would like to travel back to the old west, but I wouldn’t want to give up my washer and dryer. I remember helping my Mother heat water in a pot outside and using the scrub board. Then we would hang the clothes on the clothes line. In the winter thy would freeze dry and we would take them inside to finish drying.
I’ve always wanted to visit the old West, from when I read the Little House series. But honestly, I’d want to only make it a visit! I’m such a spoiled person, I’d never survive a season in another time!
I’d love to go back to 1870s. I’d like to make the trip west by covered wagon – at least for a day or two. LOL
I’d also like to go back to the time an orphan train stopped in town and a family of children was adopted out all along my street, including one at my house. I’m not sure exactly when that was – early 1900s, I think.
It would be so much fun to go back and meet my mom, aunts and grandmothers when they were young. I wonder if we would have been friends?
I’d like to time travel back to Chicago in the 1920’s-40’s when my mother’s parents and brother were still alive. I never got a chance to meet them which is such a shame because I am so much like them. I also would like to see Chicago through my mother’s eyes, I’m sure it was fabulous back in the day!
I love historical westerns,so would love to have a one day pass to the old west.
MJ,
Congratulations on your new book. I must get my hands on it. If I could travel in time I would go to the 1800’s and live with the Apache people.
I hope you much success
Walk in harmony,
Melinda
thanks for the post today.
I too often think about what old buildings must have been like when first built and would love to go back to see them. I recently visited the very small town that my father grew up in and was amazed at how much smaller everything seems than when I was a child and visited my grandparents, even the ditches seemed less deep! I would love to see the place when my grandfather was a law officer of this small town.
Runner and Estella, I think it’s really neat to see how many people want to go back to the west. An adventurous time, for sure!
Colleen, yep, returning to home is NOT an option!
Goldie, LOL, yep, LOVE my washer and dryer. And fridge! Freeze-dried clothing reminds me of Little House, too!
Fedora, yep, a week at most. Think of how much we’d appreciate what we had!
Judy, what a neat thought about meeting your family when they were young! I was thinking about that last weekend while looking at Grandma’s pictures. I bet she was fun when she was a girl!
Ohh, Marianne! That WOULD be cool! I don’t know about the 30s, though, given the Depression and all. I’m sure Chicago was quite affected. But seeing it through your mom’s eyes would be cool!
Melinda and Apple Blossom, thanks so much! Melinda, the plains people have always been fascinating to me, too. Even my students are drawn to them more than to the settled tribes!
Connie, another soulmate! And YES! I just went to Dad’s hometown this weekend and drove RIGHT past Grandma’s house because it was so much smaller than I remember! It would be neat to see the town where your grandpa was a law officer!
I would like to go to the future. I really don’t want to go back to far in time because I’m African-American and it was to hard.
lorettaC
lbcanton@verizon.net
Time travel would be the best super power of all, but I wouldn’t want to go to the future either. I would love to travel back in time just to see what it was really like! I don’t want to know what is ahead, its a scary thought.
My time travel romance was published January 2009 with The Wild Rose Press, It’s called,
TRIPPING THROUGH TIME- how is it you have published a book with the same name?
Could you contact me?
I see that this is the title of a blog? Could you please change the name. There has been some people contacting me regarding this blog.
Thanks
Loretta, I absolutely understand that! How far in the future would you want to go? But I’m with Quilt Lady–I don’t know if I want to know.
Mary, I’m so sorry for the confusion! I’m afraid I don’t have the ability to edit this blog. Maybe one of the P&P ladies can.
This is amazing! I’d love to travel to the Roaring Twenties. It seems like people were having lots of fun and the outfits are great!
I’d love to travel to 19th century.
Chrissy, something else I didn’t think of! Fashion would be VERY important! The 40s, too, had fab clothes.
Minna, so many options there!
I’d love to travel back to Scotland and see a castle full of kilted heros! Next stop – a ranch from the old west with real working cowboys, riding those horses and chopping that wood.
Stephenia, I like the way you think!!! LOL!