A LOOK BACK: Send Us Photos of Your Gulf Coast Memories

A sunset stroll in the Florida Panhandle in 2004 (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
With the oil spill capped, at least for now, it's time to look towards recovery. Considered one of the worst environmental disasters on record, the area most affected--the Gulf Coast--might never be same, at least not for years. Researchers have found that spills--and sometimes even the clean-up process--can damage the wildlife and hidden pockets of the spill area for decades.

From Fort Myers to Corpus Christi and from New Orleans to Gulfport, an area once remarkably lush, is now marred. The fishing and tourism industries have nearly grounded to a halt, as tarballs wash ashore. When we tell our kids stories of how the Gulf once was, we'll may need photographic evidence.

In memory of its pristine state we're asking readers to submit their own photos of the area from back in the day--when we didn't even know how lucky we were. Family vacations, lunch break snapshots, high school sports games, weddings along the shore, anything that features the Gulf as a backdrop. Post your photos to your Yahoo! blog and tag it GULFCOASTMEMORIES. We'll collect submissions and create a scrapbook of the way things were.