If I had a time machine...

I don't think I'd do the cliched things like go back and kill Hitler or watch the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

I'd go back slowly and check out every grandmother in my past back to the primordial soup. The way I figure it, by virtue of me being here, I have a direct connection to that. By "check out", I of course don't mean ogle; I mean watch them and see what their lot in life was...just a general picture: Who were they? Where did they live?

I don't think I'd want to see ALL my direct ancestors. That would be too prodigious a list and would of course end up being a literal family tree with thousands of members...too much work :) But if I stuck with the mothers, it would always be a single pair of people back to the very beginning. Sure the paternal side would be just as interesting but that's just too many people when you're talking about millions of years. Just 5 generations back and you're talking 126 individuals. Go back 30 generations and your already at a couple million people and that only gets you 600 years or so into the past. More than a bit daunting.

But stick with just the females and their partners and at each generation, you're dealing with 2 people.

I know that my journey would take me to Germany (or Austria Hungary) rather quickly but where would it go from there? How long would it stay in that country?

My aunt did a genealogy of her family back in the 70s or early 80s (pre-internet!! Amazing!) and it was very interesting but in a way I was sort of disinterested in the stories of all the distant cousins she dug up. If it's true that everyone is a 42nd or 43rd cousin or something like that, such things get a bit blurry after a while...my story is your story is your story is your story etc etc. For instance, my aunt found that her 42nd cousin was Kaiser Wilhelm and that her 43rd cousin was one of my other aunts. At first glance that sounds astounding but is it? It may be just as easy to find a 42nd cousin level link between yourself and say President Reagan or Tom Cruise or the police officer writing you a ticket or the guy serving you your Egg McMuffin.

But I digress...

Stick with the females and it'd be manageable. And an incredible journey...what a freak out it would be to see my early mammalian forebears skittering around among the rocks and rotten logs!