Gimme BaltiMORE

L. Minea, International Sex Goddess, at your service...

Ahh, getting out of town is the best thing EVER!

Back in State College now very briefly from the Baltimore area, feeling re-charged after a wonderful family reunion and some light Baltimore tourism.

Yes, the reunion was Most Excellent: 32 representatives from three generations (among those 10 Penn State grads) representing 12 states. A whole lotta really nice people. Even some shoefly pie thrown in for good measure, of course. Naturally also crab cakes, socializing, stories, pictures, fun.

It was really enjoyable to connect with some of my cousins ('once removed' or 'second' kinds) and to see my grandmother's siblings to match faces to stories and old photos. I hope we manage to get together more than every 20 years. I'll try to post pictures somewhere sometime soon. It was so funny to watch: as soon as more than about five people were present it got silly about trying to convene at certain exact times, it was more like 'ok we'll all get there eventually' after figuring out who was riding with whom and how and when we were getting there, etc. Which is more my style since hey, we all eventually do get somewhere, it never fails. I just forget though that some people prefer to be more 'planner'-like. It was all harmonious though, no issues. Like I said, a very nice group of people. It was fun just to have everyone around.

I drove down to Glen Burnie, MD (near Balto) to meet my grandparents and parents on Thursday and the next day other great aunts and first cousins once removed (my mom's cousins) and spouses and kids started streaming in to the hotel where we were all staying...it cumulated with a Saturday reunion lunch and subsequent visit and then brunch and lunch on Sunday with Anne Hundley, who flew in from Seattle just for the day (!). Later, the remainder of us still present (after the majority of relatives had all gone their separate way) made our way to the Inner Harbor for a super nice Sunday evening of more catching up and perusing the local happenings. Being on the water again was to die for, I need it, definitely. All in all a sweet way to ease out of the excitement of it all. AUSKLANG! Important concept, wish we had it in English:)

Yesterday I tootled around some sights of Baltimore with my parents (Fort McHenry, USS Constellation, etc.; we were really looking forward to the African American History Museum which is unfortunately closed on Mondays so we missed it, dammit!) and then stopped off near Harrisburg to visit one of the uncles who couldn't make it down for the Saturday lunch. It was a new test of my patience whilst driving with the parents but all in all, we made it to State College again very late last night. Plus, I have a new splotchy sunburn pattern going on on my arms. It's real sexy.

So now I'm back in State College, where I am for a brief while before heading down to D.C. on Thursday to sneak in some sightseeing and a basketball game (WNBA: Seattle at Washington, that's fandom dedication!) before flying to Seattle. Now gotta make sure I pack all my work materials to take to the Northwest.

More soon, coments go here BELOW: