Thanksgiving Travels

The husband has already made travel plans for Thanksgiving.  Wow!  He's never done that before, but he has had some experiences that have led up to this.  The boy was asked at school about his family's traditions on Thanksgiving.  His answer. . . traveling.  Yep, that's our family tradition.

For several years, we traveled to Houston, Texas, for Thanksgiving.  We have family there and would fly on Wednesday and return on Sunday--the busiest travel day of the year!  Our plans changed when my step-mother's school vacation time changed.  Now we go to Houston at other times of the year.

Thanksgiving, 2006, was our first trip to the Walt Disney World Resort.  The photo above was taken on Thanksgiving Day!  We were at EPCOT that day and ate at the Garden Grill.  I remember we had turkey, stuffing, and even cranberry sauce.  Dining with characters on Thanksgiving Day!  I also remember listening to other guests at our resort talking about their plans for the Thanksgiving meal.  Disney makes sure you are well taken care of.  And, Thanksgiving is a high attendance day at the World.  I can also recall sitting next to a lady from Canada on the bus to Downtown Disney.  She was telling me how surprised she was at the crowds.  I told her it was Thanksgiving.  She had a light bulb moment, as it wasn't Thanksgiving in Canada.  Thanksgiving is an American holiday.

In November of 2007, we stayed a bit closer to home and traveled to the Amanda Colonies.  We had rooms booked at the Holiday Inn with the Wasserbaun Indoor Water park.

On Thanksgiving Day, we swam, changed our clothes and ate a traditional Thanksgiving meal in the restaurant at the hotel.  Uncle John, Aunt Diane, and Cousin Eric joined us for the meal.  Grandma Carol was already with us.  Then after we ate a great meal, it was back to playing.

Our family from Houston flew in and stayed with us.  It was actually a great place for family to gather and the boy had loads of fun.

There were many other families who had also gathered at the hotel and indoor water park.  I overheard ladies in the hot tub talking about their shopping plans for "Black Friday" at the nearby Williamsburg outlet mall.  They were going to shop while the dads watched the kids at the water park.

Thanksgiving 2008 we took the train to Omaha and stayed at the Holiday Inn with the CoCo Key indoor water park.  The train ride was a highlight as we ate dinner in the dining car.  We went to the dining car and sitting at the table across the aisle was a person I work with and her children.  Small World!  Grandma Carol rode the train with us as she went on to stay in Sioux City.

One of the favorites of CoCo Key was the indoor/outdoor hot tub.  There was a door the went up and down on top of the water and you swam under to find yourself outside.  It gave the adults a headache--the change in the temperature, but the boy loved it!

We had a traditional Thanksgiving meal in the restaurant at the hotel and then went back to swimming.  One thing CoCo Key had that Wasserbaun didn't have were TVs for the ballgames.  TVs were located in multiple spots throughout the water park.  The kiddie section had a large pirate ship with slides.  TV was projected onto the huge sail at the top of the pirate ship, so parents could watch their child and keep up with the latest game.

CoCo Key had a large lazy river that encircled most of the water park, plenty of restaurants including a Pizza Hut located inside the water park, and an arcade.  In fact, getting to and from our room was a cinch as the elevator was located in the arcade.  Up we went to our floor. . . no walking through lobbies or lots of hallways.

Thanksgiving 2009 we headed to Kansas City to stay at Great Wolf Lodge--click here to read more.  Great Wolf Lodge also has an indoor water park.  I know. . . there seems to be a theme.

We enjoyed most of the amenities, especially the nightly kids activities around the clock tower.  The water park had many slides--and I understand another slide has been added. 

One of the favorite activities was MagiQuest--an interactive quest that takes guests around the resort using a magic wand.  It is cool!  We still have the magic wand so it can be activated should we return.

We ate a traditional Thanksgiving meal at the restaurant at the lodge.  It was quite busy.  Many locals were making a day of eating and playing at the water park.

Yes, traveling is our family Thanksgiving tradition.  Creating memories and having shared experiences make the holiday for us.  And, we have discovered that we are not alone.  Many other families do the same, annually.  And, since the husband is taking care of the plans this year, all he needs to do now is figure out what to do with the cat and dog.