Several affairs going on in our country/latent general bummed-out-ness prompted us some time ago to commit to spending the Thanksgiving holiday just the two of us, in nature, contemplating and appreciating the land where we’re fortunate enough to live. Last Wednesday, we started the drive down toward the Redwoods in California. We stopped at It’s a Burl in Cave Junction, OR (I had quite a few Roadside America picks for the trip) and checked in to our hotel in Crescent City, CA, where we spent the night eating pizza and watching Jeopardy (and so many Black Friday commercials ?). When walking the dog around our hotel, we found the Old County Cemetery, which was really neat. We walked around at Battery Point and got some groceries, and then headed out to the cabin we were staying in for the next few nights. The cabin was right on the Smith River, which is this gorgeous jade green color. We settled in there and then did the Paradise Trail nearby. Then it was back to the cabin to start making our meal.

Since we moved away from Colorado and our families, we have spent Thanksgiving in Chicago, (my folks’ in) Pittsburgh, New York, and Bend. This was our first year making our own meal, and we did an awesome job! With just an oven and stovetop, we made pan-fried salmon, mashed potatoes, cream corn, vegetarian stuffing, and sweet potatoes and Brussels sprouts (and crescent rolls, which are their own challenge because someone in my family always burns them!). I also made a chocolate pudding pie, and I had made peanut butter blossoms, two staples in my family (and we had THESE THINGS from the Safeway in town ?). All so good! With a bottle of wine, we talked about what we’re thankful for and past Thanksgivings and the past year. The cabin was off the grid so we had to conserve power, no Wi-Fi/TV, couldn’t plug anything in – it was wonderful. We spent all our downtime reading books. We had a lot to read about the parks; we researched and chose our trails, which we started the next day.