Wednesday 8 June 2011

Thanksgiving - USA Style.

As an avid fan of 'Friends' and many other U.S. sitcoms and Romcoms, I've always enjoyed watching the portrayal of Thanksgiving as a great, social, annual event.

We've visited California at a variety of times throughout the year. We've been to Yosemite in Spring when the river was vibrant with the melting snows and the wateralls beyond words.

We've visited California when the summer sun had baked the green, lush hills into the parched grasslands that give the State its name - The Golden State.

We've visited California in the fall when the leaves glowed with autumnal reds, oranges and yellows.

We've visited California on Labour Day weekend and got married.

We've visited California on Memorial Day and played in a golf tournament to raise funds for our friend's local church.

And now we're going to visit California for Thanksgiving. We're going to spend time with our friends and experience the tradition for real, rather than watching it on programs on TV.

The air tickets are booked, the visa waiver application forms submitted and approved.

We're definitely going.

And I am SO excited!

163 days and counting!

4 comments:

Travel & Dive Girl said...

Wow! You are in for a treat - no one knows how to do Thanksgiving that Americans. Make sure you pack some stretchy pants...LOL!

Spanish Owner said...

Oh, fantastic! We've never had the urge to go to the US or Canada or further afield like many of our friends who've told us we're seriously missing out! Since buying in Spain, certainly with the expense of it, we've not thought of going elsewhere although we do miss proper holidays & loved our times in Greece & Turkey where we've been many times though not for well over six years.

The couple who were our best man & Matron of Honour go all over the world to places we've no knowledge whatsoever of, in fact we've not heard of many of them. They also own property in France as well as in the UK.

Friends here in Spain, Richard & Jeanette, recently went on a very good cruise, something we had thought of doing for our 40th wedding anniversary July 10th, coming soon but nothing has been arranged. (I'll be lucky to get a pint in the pub opposite!!!)I know for a fact there'll be no surprises &, if I want to go away, it'll be me who will need to book it. We don't leave Spain till June 30th so I have no time to organise going away around July 7th for a week.

Richard & Jeanette then went to Thailand for almost three weeks within three months of their cruise. Whilst there they had flights to other places too. The amount they packed in was amazing, each day they uploaded many photos to their Facebook so friends felt they were with them.

When I used to suffer panics I couldn't think of going away other than here (Spain) where we own property & where I know & even that almost tipped me over the edge. Thankfully, after giving up caffeinated coffee, the panics have totally gone. It was THAT SIMPLE! I have awful problems with my back which gets me down & I certainly am a totally different person if I wake up painfree so, to me, that is an issue. Maybe I create excuses though why??

Chris CERTAINLY would be happy living his life out reading, doing Sudukos & watching football. It's difficult to get him interested in holidays other than here, which isn't a holiday as such.

We are fools to waste our lives as we have the funds to do whatever we want, it's motivation we lack.

I envy you your get up & go, Jacqui, I really do.

Spanish Owner said...

Ooops sorry, it's YOUR blog, not MINE!!! (LOL)

Brindy said...

Dive Girl - we know how much we'll be eating - especially as the first couple of days we will be breakfasting in the Black Bear Diner - how I love that place but boy, do they pile your plates high.

Spanish Owner - this is exactly why I wanted to come back to the UK and work, so we could continue to travel and experience different places and cultures. The thought that I would not be able to visit new places and have new experiences and meet new friends did not settle well with me - I was too young to retire and not be able to afford those opportunities.

I too get nervy when I go to new places but I am lucky that Neil is an absolute gem and takes control which calms me so that I can start to enjoy the new experiences.