Thanksgiving 2013

November 26, 2013. We piled into the car to head south Tuesday afternoon thinking we would beat the rush hour traffic out of town and sure we would beat the mass of Thanksgiving travelers. It sort of worked. but we didn't beat the bad weather traffic. We spent the night as planned at a hotel in Charlotte that came with a pool. After a swim Wednesday morning, we continued south to Decatur.
Steve, Helen and Aaron beat us because Aaron's school was canceled for Wednesday, so they left Deep Gap Wednesday morning (without a dip in a hotel pool). We had a nice Brick Store Pub dinner and then got down to serious cooking Thursday morning. Loren had been dry brining the turkey and Sally and Susan had as much prep work done as was possible. We took over a neighbor's kitchen on Thursday for the final cooking. November 28, 2013.
November 28, 2013. November 28, 2013.
November 28, 2013. Of course, while the meal was the occasion, the real fun was the visiting.
Carmen, from next door, was home this trip (she's often gone when we visit for Christmas).
Sarah liked the halo effect for Steve in this photo of the Williams boys (Loren, Robert, Steve, Aaron, David).
We white listed Aaron in Robert's minecraft world (drop us a note if you're interested), and they spent some time (too much time?) playing there.
November 28, 2013.
November 28, 2013 (photo by SZap). November 28, 2013.
November 28, 2013. Susan set a beautiful table; Loren carved a tasty turkey. We had my mom (Smom) at the head and everyone enjoyed a great dinner and lots of fun conversation.
November 28, 2013. November 28, 2013.
Sally gets a solo shot with her lovely apple tart. November 28, 2013.
November 29, 2013. On Friday, we helped Loren take down a dead dogwood tree. He and Susan were very sorry to see it go. Robert and I were enthused to play with saws and rope. Only very minor injuries were involved. And we had s'mores that night courtesy of the dogwood firewood we burned.
On our way back to DC, we stopped by Arbor Terrace to say goodbye to my mom. And we managed to arrive in Richmond in time to have dinner with Martha before finishing the trek home. All-in-all a fine Thanksgiving trip; thank you Loren, Susan and Sally for hosting. November 30, 2013.

Vacation notes: