Thanksgiving redux

I hope everyone had a very Happy Thanksgiving! We had a great time. Bill and I drove up to Etna on Thursday morning. We left about 8:00 a.m. Mark came in the car with us; Scott and his girlfriend Lindsey drove her car up separately. Lindsey had to be back to work on Friday at 11:00 a.m., and so we didn't want to have to leave that early.

They had predicted rain and snow on both Thursday and Friday, and so armed with our tire chains (well, technically they are cables), we bravely hit the road. But fortunately, the sun was shining and the traffic was light -- both are excellent driving conditions. We sailed up I-5 and arrived in Etna about 11:30 a.m. after stopping for drive-thru breakfast at Carl's Jr. in Chico, gas in Redding (always drive in the mountains with a full tank of gas, just in case), and a bathroom break in Yreka. The northbound rest stop at Weed was closed -- on Thanksgiving weekend!! Now that's just wrong!

We had Thanksgiving dinner at my Aunt Wanda and Uncle Al's house there in Etna, and we had a great time. There were 11 of us all told. We had turkey and all the trimmings and we ate until we couldn't stuff another bite. It was delicious! Then we took a break to take pictues (see below) and then had pie and ice cream (or Cool Whip). We had apple and pumpkin pie -- yum!

Then after the dishes were cleared, several of us played Cranium. What a fun game! The "youngsters" (Lindsey, Scott and Mark) played the "oldsters" (Mom, Aunt Wanda, Linda and I) and, sad to say, the "youngsters" beat the "oldsters" soundly! Yipes! But it was still a lot of fun. The men (other than Mark and Scott) all watched football in the living room while we were playing. At least they looked like they were watching -- there was an awful lot of snoring going on!! (Dang tryptophan; gets ya every time!) LOL

My mom and dad (Karen's) live in Etna, too, so we stayed the night there. Friday morning bright and early (6:00 a.m.) the kids all left in Lindsey's car. Mark decided to go back with them instead of with us later. I went back to bed for a couple more hours' sleep! We had a nice lazy morning on Friday, and then we all went out for lunch at Bob's in Etna, and the Kieps came, also (Wanda, Al, and cousin Dan). Bill and I left for home after lunch and arrived home in Chico safe and sound about 5:00 Friday evening.

Here are some pics from Thanksgiving Day (don't forget you can click them to make them bigger, then click the back button on your browser to return to the blog):

From the top of the stairs, down: Bill, Uncle Al, Karen's Dad (light blue shirt), Karen's Mom (white blouse), Aunt Wanda, Scott, Lindsey, Linda, Dan and Mark.


















Mom and Dad (Karen's parents):














Scott (age 19) and Mark (age 23) (Karen's kids):













Karen and Bill:













Scott and Lindsey:













Aunt Wanda and Uncle Al:













Cousin Dan and his girlfriend Linda: