Thanksgiving this year was a bit less eventful than last year without mum, dad and Matthew here… but it was super relaxed and we had a lovely time away.
We got up to Albany in the dark and checked in to our usual hotel… just in time for Bill to head out for his own Thanksgiving tradition – dinner with the guys.
I headed to Denny’s for dinner – I couldn’t wait for turkey any longer so I got their holiday special Turkey sandwich with a strawberry thickshake. It was delicious and a great way to unwind after all the stress packing up our stuff, getting the car and the horrendous traffic getting out of the city.
Our contributions for lunch was a new mashed potato casserole dish (it was great!) and homemade cranberry sauce. Earlier in the week, we made some Thanksgiving favors for everyone. Homemade salted caramels and white chocolate bark. I was meant to make the bark but had a nap on Sunday afternoon… so Bill made it instead. Awww! I did all the candy wrapping and bark breaking and bag stuffing.
Here I am wrapping our caramels –
The White Chocolate Bark –
The end result –
On Thanksgiving morning we slept in and headed out on a drive around town before heading over to the Blevins Homestead. With my Dunkin’ Donuts Hot Chocolate in hand, I had to leave it for a good 20 minutes as it was piping hot. I then went to lift it out of the cup holder and some spilt on my top… then we went over a bump and more spilt. It was still SO hot so I told Bill to quickly pull over… he zipped into a slanted driveway that made me spill it even MORE. I cracked it SO much that I hurled the stupid drink out the car to save me getting burnt any more – sticky hot chocolate was all over the inside of my door and all over me. A less than stellar way to start Thanksgiving… and I have sworn off their Hot Chocolate now until they realize that boiling hot isn’t really necessary for that drink!
When we got home I was able to fix myself up a bit and we could start setting up for lunch. Sister-in-law Pauline cooked two 20lb turkeys so we would have enough for lots of leftovers. We had sweet potatoes, different stuffings, our dishes,’broccoli stuff’ and Eileen made a delicious brussel sprout and pancetta dish.
Some of the Turkey –
Pauline’s Broccoli stuff –
Bill loves Thanksgiving –
Newly engaged… Emily and Brian!
Desserts were then served and we ended up back at the hotel at 5.30 and I was sound asleep by 8.30!
We were up super early on Friday.. not for the sales but for a little trip up to Saratoga Springs.
As with last year and we now think this is our own Thanksgiving tradition, we ended up at the Cracker Barrel for breakfast. Here are some photos to tease mum and dad –
I love the Cracker Barrel!
Blurry self timed photo –
I loveee the Cracker Barrel shops –
We then hit the road. First we went to Warrensburg to check out Oscars Smokehouse – one of Bill’s favorite places! If you like smoked meats and cheeses, this place is amazing. Warrensburg was a gorgeous little town as you can see here –
View from Oscars –
Then we drove down to Saratoga… first we went to the train station. Because we love Amtrak!
We visited the closed racecourse. It was really creepy seeing everything closed for the season –
Some of the houses… gorgeous!
The main street –
We then went and did some shopping, spent the afternoon with Pauline, then had more leftovers with everyone for dinner and then headed out to do a bit more shopping.
Here was the beautiful Fall sunset that night –
On Saturday we did some more visiting, ran some errands, picked up our first anniversary gift to each other (more about that later!) and then hit the road. With a stop in New Jersey for dinner we were home by 8pm! It was a great Thanksgiving and it is awesome knowing that it is only a few weeks and we’ll be up there with everyone again.
I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving too!