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If you read my blog you know my family is insane well that doesn't quite explain my trip and I won't go into much detail about parts of my family. All in all there were good parts of the trip and that is what I will talk about the good parts of the trip and not the bad parts. The highlights of the trip included the Inner Harbor. We got in incredibly late on Friday and ended up passing out on site. The next day we went to the Inner Harbor in Baltimore and caught a Unicycle Pirate Lady and the Body Worlds exhibit. I could not take pictures of Body Worlds, but I did take a ton of pictures of the Unicycle Pirate Lady. She really is what her name stands for a lady in a pirate outfit (possibly from Australia or Ohio) that gets on a bunch of unicycles. Occasionally she would light fire on sticks and juggle them while riding her unicycles. It was the most amusing part of the trip, aside from my grandmother's husband Leo. Here is a nice glimpse of her on a unicycle in her pirate outfit:
I really couldn't take any pictures of Body Worlds, so I am sorry for the lack of pictures. If you have this exhibit in your town I would recommend paying whatever fee to see it. The coolest and grossest thing was a black lung from coal miner and a smoker's lung. Those things were so tiny compared to a normal lung. If you are quitting smoking I would recommend going straight to that area. If that doesn't scare you, then I really don't know what will. I guess that when you smoke you really are constricting air from properly circulating, so your lung shrinks. If you are a smoker and don't care to pay attention go ahead to the next paragraph or ignore what I said. I'm not hear to preach. Anyway, the next day we went to Philadelphia to visit my aunt, uncle, cousins, grandmother, and grandmother's husband. This was a pretty good day. I got to see my grandmother, which I get to do maybe once every two years. I just saw her in December in Fort Lauderdale, so it was a rare treat. We ended up going in two mini vans that my Aunt Nancy owned. Johnny and I rode with Rachel and my Uncle Joel while my seventeen year old cousin Gavi drove. There was some parking debauchery, which brought me back about 10 years to when I was a permit driver. It was really cute. There was some slight hilarity when my uncle and Gavi were fighting as teenager's often do about his parking style. We all made it through safely and Gav seemed unscathed. The garden that we ended up walking around was ok and I have two or three good pictures. One of my cousin Rachel's face close up (thanks Gav) and two of my grandmother and Leo with me or Johnny. Here is some of the fun:
 We ended that day with a BBQ and passed out really late. The next day we went to D.C. and saw the Holocaust Museum. I have no D.C. Pictures, because I have been there about a hojillion times with my dad as a lobbyist for his union. We used to go to D.C. once or twice a year. I've been to a couple inside tours that were great.
As for the Holocaust Museum it was everything it was cracked up to be. I guess I am kind of desensitized, because I have seen most of the Hitler videos when I was a kid. I have talked to a lot of survivors. It was great to see people that know nothing about Holocaust learning in this environment that stuff like that can happen. I'm glad that people are able to see this and realize what can happen if we don't pay attention. Johnny told me later on that there was a girl that actually upchucked her food after seeing a couple of the atrocities on film. I've been to Yad VeShem in Israel I was a little more into that museum than this one. I guess it's because I have always felt like I'm a living survivor. One of the many people that were lucky to have there family line undamaged, because there family was in America. If my great great grandfather had not left Belgium in the early 1900s I would not be so lucky. I watched a video about these people that actually left Europe and they ended up in Cuba, but were turned away and sent back to Europe. Most of the people on this boat ended up dead in concentration or death camps. I'm not even that religious, but just because my parents our Jewish I could be dead. That kind of stuff bothers me. They didn't only kill Jews. Catholics, Homosexuals, Gypsies, War Criminals, People they just plain didn't like were all killed. Then you have to think about what if Hitler had succeeded. Who would be left? Just thinking about the Holocaust is very scary, but I digress a little too much. At the end of the day we wrapped it up with some BBQ and got on the plane. We were early, but I did not end up getting home until about 1 am. I was glad to see Gambit and Rogue. I am so glad to be home for another 3 weeks before I pick back up again and fly to D.C. for the Regional SharePoint Conference. I am hoping I get a nice long break. I think I'm going to take a walk when I have the time and just relax in between everything. I have two weddings, the conference, and a family reunion in the next four months. I need to buy two more more plane tickets for Seattle and Philly/NYC(I may stop in Philly on the way to NYC and visit with the Gavmeister some more if he's around and maybe see my other cousin Chama). All in all what to take from this trip is that you may find awesome in unexpected places (i.e. Unicycle Pirate Ladies). I'll catch you guys later when I actually post something technical and more worthy of your SharePoint Professional Time. Stay Tuned. More to come in upcoming weeks. I still owe you guys two real posts:)
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