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Wednesday, November 5, 2008
T-Day getaways nourish body and soul
Give thanks that someone else is doing the cooking
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In more than fourteen years of marriage, we have spent only two Thanksgivings in our own home - once in our tiny apartment in DC and once here in Georgia. That means we have been on the road for the majority of our Thanksgivings. While most have been spent with family at the beach - not a bad turkey day destination - they always involve cramming my two siblings’ and our growing families into our parents’ house for several nights. Then we scramble around like too many cooks in the kitchen to get the big feast prepared. It is family madness at its loveliest, and it could be far worse.
But the whole weekend is still stressful. Last year, it also became expensive. After years of up to nine grandkids and their six parents piling into the upstairs of my parents’ house, William and I made the radical decision to pay for some breathing room Thanksgiving weekend. The price of the condo we rented a few blocks from the family celebration was well worth our sanity, but it still cost as much as any unexpected and unbudgeted vacation.
I am a big family person, and Thanksgiving is one of those big-family days in my book. We have friends who see the four-day break as a great opportunity to fly off to Europe or head out West for a mini-break - no family and often, no turkey involved. I love Europe, but I’m not sure I could spend Thanksgiving like any other day there. At the same time, there are a lot of places here in the land of turkey and dressing where I wouldn’t mind spending that condo money.
Thanksgiving is such a family-oriented holiday that many resorts and inns offer special packages to lure travelers to stay with them instead of Gramps and Gran — or…to bring along Gramps and Gran for a stress-free feast.
If the idea of T-Day stress makes you just want to get away from it all, you have many options. I know it’s not the southeast, but New England IS home to the Pilgrims and their traditional day of thanks, so they get props for having many excellent places to reflect on our history and gorge on some gobbler.
But back to our beautiful region - the one where dressing is made from cornbread and where stuffing is something you get knocked out of you in a fight…Many bed and breakfasts throughout the South serve up delicious turkey dinners and offer all the hearthside comforts of a Normal Rockwell family celebration without any of the hassle or tension. Here are a few Southern destinations to check out, including the High Hampton Inn in Cashiers, NC which has thrown its Thanksgiving House Party for travelers for 36 years.
For a beachside Thanksgiving, try the turkey dinner at Amelia Island Plantation or the Amelia Island Ritz-Carlton on Amelia Island, Fla. or at Port d’Hiver in Melbourne Beach, Fla. Celebrate in a traditionally-southern way at Savannah’s historic Azalea Inn and Gardens or bed and breakfasts in small-town Washington, Ga. like the Washington Plantation and the Holly Court Inn. Or head up to Tennessee and North Carolina for a mountain stay in one of the many country inns that dot the landscape. Go to bedandbreakfast.com for a state-by-state list.
If you’re not all that into turkey or feasts, or if you just want something else to do after the dressing and cranberries settle, Thanksgiving weekend is a great time to get out and go round the South. We will talk more about that next week. Until then, tell us…
Are you traveling to a stress-free Thanksgiving destination this year - or would you consider letting a B&B do the cooking for you in the future? If so, where would you like to spend the weekend - in the traditional home of the Pilgrims…a quick getaway nearby…the mountains…the beach… or just anywhere that you’re family isn’t?
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