Where should we go for the Thanksgiving Week break?
We have a whole week off for the kids for Thanksgiving (furlough days for the school district – budget cuts) and we want to use at least some of this time for travel. We are working on some potential destinations (some which we have never visited and others which we have but not the kids). What are your comments on these places?
1. Santa Rosa Animal Park – Safari West along with Bodega Bay – We have heard great things about Safari West – a privately run animal reserve in Santa Rosa and always wanted to check it out for ourselves so this is definitely on our list and doable – 3 hours drive from the Bay Area. While we are there, we thought we should spend a day or two in Bodega Bay – while it is beautiful by itself (again hearsay), we really wanted to visit it after seeing the Hitchcock movie ‘The Birds’ and if you have not seen the movie yet, you should!. Regarding the places itself, I will let you know once I visit (so you can look for a future Travel Thursday post on these places).
2. Death Valley – The time of the year seems right – I know it can get cold during the nights but that is OK since we will be mostly warm and cozy in a hotel room somewhere if we go unless we want to explore the desert by night(kangaroo rats and kit fox come out then) . During the summer though, days can get uber-hot so November seems perfect to visit here – see the living stones for ourselves, explore sand dunes, see roadrunners and kangaroo rats!
3. New Orleans – we have always wanted to visit New Orleans – there is a mystical pull for us here – and the city does have a lot of fun activities for kids and kid friendly tours and sights – all put together in a neat website.After watching so many movies (from The Waterboy(Adam Sandler) to ‘The Princess and the Frog’), as well as hearing and reading about New Orleans, this is a must-visit on our ever growing list.
4. Disneyland – of course, this is one destination considering we have an 8 year old who grew up enjoying Toy Story and a 5 year old who loves anything Princesses or Tinkerbell. We have been here way before the kids arrived and loved it and know the kids will absolutely be thrilled. The only concern – lots of walking to do – and I have seen my kids get exhausted and unable to enjoy anything in the process on earlier visits to theme parks – so wondering if we need to wait another year on this.

Note: I noticed a theme in most of these places – there is something to do with movies for almost each number on my list 🙂

Theme Thursday – Male Name 
Theme Thursdays is a meme hosted at ReadingBetweenPages. It is a fun weekly event that anyone can join in. The rules are
simple:

• A theme will be posted each week (on Thursdays)
• Select a conversation/snippet/sentence from the current book you are reading
• Mention the author and the title of the book along with your post
• It is important that the theme is conveyed in the sentence (you don’t necessarily need to have the word)
  Ex: If the theme is KISS; your sentence can have “They kissed so gently”
  or “Their lips touched each other” or “The smooch was so passionate”

This week’s theme: Male name:

It hit her suddenly how cruel Virgil was, he was an empty shell, he’d gotten by his whole life on his looks, but that would change for him as it was changing for her, and what would be left—-just the mean streak. The parts of Billy she worried about, the quick temper, it all came right from Virgil.

Meyer, Philipp (2009-02-18). American Rust: A Novel (p. 50). Spiegel & Grau. Kindle Edition.