Google Earth

Okay, if you don't have a high-speed connection, you're out of luck. If you do have access to decent-speed internet, though, you HAVE to try Google Earth. It combines satellite views of the entire planet, makes it searchable, and lets you zoooooom in to the point where in some places you can see actual houses. Like my parents' house (the one in the center with the crappy lawn, just below the house with the pool):

If you zoom in even further you can see a pixelated red blur near the right front of the house... looks like Dad had the truck parked in the driveway that day! Because different areas of the country are covered by different satellites with different image resolutions, you can't always get that level of detail. More urban areas are easier to zoom in on than rural ones. For example, here's the house where I grew up ... if I zoom much larger than this, it gets really pixelated really fast:

You can also use it to illustrate points, such as ... why it sucks when we have to drive home for various holidays ....

Ooooh, this is fun. I'm going to blow off my housework and play for the rest of the afternoon!