Hello! My wife and I would like to take a break during the 4 day Thanksgiving weekend. We love natural beauty (hills, beaches, national parks etc. are all good...). We are also game for some light cycling / walking / trekking (nothing too strenous though!).

We live in NJ and would like to explore the US. As we are relatively new to the US, we would love to discover more about the history and get some first hand exposure to the unique aspects of this great country (one of my friends suggested a Thanksgiving party but we are not really keen as we are vegetarians).

We would appreciate your inputs on where to go. Thank you!

Plenty of great options, though at that time of year, the weather may limit your geographic choices. If you want nice weather, I might suggest the area around Phoenix, which would include areas like Sedona.

One caveat, Thanksgiving is the busiest travel time of the year. Unlike Christmas where travel plans can stretch over a 7 or 8 day period, with Thanksgiving, the vast majority of the travel occurs on Wednesday and Sunday.

The moral of the story is book early.

What about heading down to the Front Royal, Virginia area and Shenandoah National Park. Beautiful hills, walking trails, places to bike if you wish. Depending on where you live in NJ it would be about a 4 hour drive. Virginia horse country is very beautiful and there are several historic villages to stay in.

Do you want to drive, fly, or either?

We spent on Thanksgiving week renting a beach house on Emerald Isle near Jacksonville NC. Not sure if you can rent for less than a week. We enjoyed watching the Christmas boat parade at night, also exploring the area. Whatever you do, try to avoid driving near NYC on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Heading north for the 4 day break would mean a lot of traffic. Maybe south would be ok if you're driving.

Santa Fe New Mexico is a great Thanksgiving place vacation. We do it every thanksgiving..... My honey and I are not originally from here so thanksgiving doesn't have special meaning to us although we've been here for some time now. Weather can be cold but depending where you are, you can have high 60's with full sun (ie, Abiqui country) or snow (taos) so your range of activities are quite big. We do some hiking and then head to ski in taos/red river (it's also the cheapest skiing time, almost half off!!) then relax at the mineral pools of ojocaliente. Here are some links so you can have an idea of what you will be visiting.

(scroll to the bottom and click on the links of the different places) http://www.digitalabiquiu.com/pages/tours/tours.html

www.ojocalientespa.com

www.taos.org

www.santafe.org

TTT
Cvechko,
We are ok with either flying or driving.

Maria,
Thanks for the information on Santa Fe. We have never tried skiing before, but would like to do so...will this be a good place to start? If not, if cannot go skiing, what are the other activities/places to see?

Starsville,
Are there any websites re the Front Royal / Shenandoah Valley that you would recommend? Is there any historic village that you would recommend?

Thanks!!

hey njwanderer,

there are so many hiking oportunities and both santa fe and taos are (an hour north) is full of galleries and museums. red river and taos ski valley at this time of year is a good (really, really good) starting point if you've never skiid before. I only learned how to (and am still) last thanksgivng for 2 1/2 main reasons.

1. it's so darn cheap. it's about 50% of what it normally is.

2.a) There is very little people so it allows you to have very little competition for time from your instructors (i had only one other person and even then, on the second half, she taught me by herself since i was having "fear" isues. That woman was fntastic and the most patient person I know! Because of her, I gave skiing a chance and I'm looking forward to going back this year). Having a private instructor at a ski resort of this caliber will usually run you something like $600/hr (at the minimum).

2.b) again, very little people so no need to be emarrased or worried about long lines in ski lifts, etc.

i should just mention to that if you really find yourself not liking skiing, the area is beautiful and you can always have apres ski in the resort with a good glass of wine and and really yummy food.

In Santa Fe, that link I sent you with abiqui has multiple hiking oprtunities, especially at ghost ranch (my favorite was the chimney rock hike). The riparian dirt road trail (can be travelled with a regular car) is so beautiful we alwasy stop and have a picnic by the water (the sun always seems to chine sometime during our adventures there) and the monastery at the end of that road is so peacefula nd beautiful. There is an observed hushed silence there and the only sounds you hear are the monks chanting and the birds, and nature.

We always take 6 days for thanksgiviing and go back year after year and we never seem to be able to see everything we want to.

Santa fe lights their luminarias (brown paper bags with sand in and a candle) during thanksgiving and with those lining hte streets of the plaza and the christmas trees, I'm at a loss for words. It's so nice there.

Take some time to look at some of the links and do a search on this forum for santa fe nad the area - you will see I am not alone in all the positive things to say.

Now, if you DO find yourself bores, there is always white sands ntl park and carlsbad caverns to the south of the state - the latter being the farthest to drive.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

sorry for all the typos. I was rushing to get out for dinner on time....

We spent Thanksgiving in Santa Fe last year and I also recommend it. There are lots of wonderful hikes at all levels. We also spent a day exploring the fascinting Indian Cave Dwellings in a National Park there (name escapes me right now). There are lots of galleries, shopping, eating in Santa Fe proper. The weather was cool in the evenings (we even had a light dusting of snow one evening), but pleasant during the day.

If you are not interested in skiing, you can stay in the Santa Fe area w/o even going to Taos, there are plenty of wonderful places to visit in the area.

Santa Fe is also truly special at Christmas as they light up the town with luminaries beginning Thanksgiving weekend.

The only downside is that it may be impossible to get a direct flight from NJ to Albequerque.

Just did a search and the cave dwellings are in Bandalier National Monument. It is a fascinating area and everything about the the lighting in New Mexico is true. There is a beautiful glow unlike anything you get in the northeast.

So glad to hear such positive things about Santa Fe at Thanksgiving time. That is exactly where I was thinking of going this year, so your comments are helpful!

Not to discourage you from traveling, but I want to point out the many, many Americans are also vegetarians and enjoy meat-free dinners on Thanksgiving. Also, other than the turkey and maybe stuffing (depending on the recipe), the meal is really ALL about the vegetables: baked/mashed/boiled potatoes, sweet potatoes, yams, squash, pumpkin, green beans, string beans, okra, Brussels sprouts, carrots, really the list is endless. Then there are the desserts: pumpkin pie, apple pie, banana cream pie, again the choices are almost limitless. This is a harvest festival, not a meat festival. Many people do not use sausage in their stuffing. People do use chicken stock, but it is possible to use vegetable stock instead. A vegetarian Thanksgiving is not hard to plan. If you attend a non-veg one, you can skip the turkey and maybe the stuffing and be very happy with just the vegetables and desert, IMO.

As for travel options, I am not sure I would recco flying for such a short trip, and over such a major holiday. If you really want to fly for that holiday try to (i) take the very first flight out on your flights out and back even if that means a 7 am departure as your chances of an on-time departure are much better, (ii) take non-stops, don't risk having to change planes. If you can take the entire day on Wednesday off and fly out early that day I think that would be preferable over trying to fly Wednesday afternoon. Otherwise, fly on Thanksgiving itself, I think you will find airports empty. With the return, I would do it early Sunday or take Monday off.

I think I would avoid Amtrak other than if you have a reserved seat in something like an Acela train, otherwise they will be jammed and you probably won't get seats together or may even be standing for portions of the trip.

I like the Shenandoah valley suggestion, I am just afraid it may be colder than you want (not really much warmer than NJ) and therefore biking and walking may not be as enjoyable. Take a look at weatherbase.com and worldclimate.com for temps and rainfall in places you are considering.

Washington DC would be interesting for the 4 days, and should be on your list of places to go in any event. Most things would be open except on Thanksgiving Day itself, but you can walk around the monuments and go in the Jefferson and Lincoln memorials even on that day. There are lots of cultural and other activities. You can do biking in Rock Creek Park and outlying areas. Temps are not much better than NJ of course. You could take a train in about 3 hours, but definitely get seats on a reserved train, this will be quite crowded.

I have to say that Florida is absolutely spectacular in November. Warm days and very little rain. I would vote for Sanibel or Captiva Island, although the Keys or Miami area would certainly be nice. You can fly non-stop to Ft Myers from Newark on Continental. There are gorgeous beaches, biking, walks, shopping, restaurants, etc on Sanibel/Captiva, and other activities.

I recommend you add a couple of extra days to your trip if possible.

We travel at Thanksgiving every year but extend our trip to avoid the busiest period. Usually we go away for 10-12 days and have been to Hawaii and England but this year we only have a week.
Our shortlist of two destinations were Santa Fe and Puerto Rico. We have finally decided on Puerto Rico as we found direct flights, so it worked out cheaper and quicker than Santa Fe (from Boston).

I'm still researching Santa Fe for next year though, it sounds perfect!!

yeash, us too. we are leaving on the 22nd and staying in santa fe for 2 nights in a casita. then 3 nights in taos (another casita), and one night in ojo caliente. so we fly out on the evening of the 28th. We only take 2 days off (27 & 28).

Thanks for the great information on Santa Fe!!

Unfortunately, we might not be able to take 2 days off...is it worth going to Santa Fe from NJ for 4 days?? or should we do this trip when we can spend some more time in the place?
If that be the case, any ideas on what places are doable in 4 days??

Thanks!!

You can still do it in 4 days but just concentrate on santa fe - not taos. Drive through turquoise trail from ABQ to santa fe. do one day aqugui and the rest in the town itself. The airport is only an hour away from santa fe so you'll be fine stationing/basing yourself out of there.

i really think santa fe is a pretty long haul for 4 days. i just looked at flights wed22 from newark and jfk. nothing goes after 6, so if you work wed you can't get a jump on travel time. santa fe is great but well worth more than 21/2 days.
in your original post you mentioned seeing the country combined with history. easy drives from nj might include williamburg, virginia or sturbridge village in mass or valley forge/philadelphia. the journey would for you be part of your end goal, whereas 7 hours in a plane will not. each of these places has an historical aspect to it. check out their websites:
www.history.org
www.williamsburg.com
www.sturbridge.com
www.osv.org
www.valleyforge.org
www.ushistory.org

The first time I ever visited Santa fe was on a 3 day weekend. We concentrated on Santa Fe. We did the turquoise trail and then 2 days in santa fe itself. It was a great weekend but it did feel like we didn't see enough - but then again, we still feel the same now and we have minimum 6 nights each thanksgiving for the last 4 years (this will be the fifth). The second year is when we went to go to White Sands, Carlsbad, and Gila and it was just last year when we added Taos. In any place that's as wonderful as New Mexico, it will be like that. We feel the same about our recent trip to Portland (first time on a 3 night, 4 day long weekend). It's going to be another yearly trip for us.

Another thing you have to consider is the time you are going. Most places (ntl parks, state parks, little towns with stores/restaurants) are mostly closed during thanksgiving. You need to look at places that will have enough for you to do/visit even though it's thanksgiving. Santa fe is "artsy" enough that some restaurants will be open and most of the places to go see (Abiqui country, etc), you won't need to worry about it being "closed" or "open". What we usually do is see Turquoise trail or Abiqui during the holiday itself (then go have dinner reservations at Canyon Cafe but this year since we have a casita, I will be cooking us a stuffed chicken instead)- basically visit places that won't need anyone to be working to accomodate you. The days before and after modt places are open so you can visit the town properly. Not to mention that it is truly magical during that time of year with the luminarias lining the streets and adobe walls. On our first visit it was colder and they had their first snow fall in santa fe day after thanksgiving as we were sitting at Pasqual's having a nice lunch and a great bottle of "J" pinot. Can't beat that. Last year it was mostly sunny. Either way it was really nice.

Santa Fe is a good choice, IMHO. Even if you fly in the morning, remember it will be 3 hours behind you from NJ and it's only an hour away from the airport. Take the earliest flight out if there's not anything in the evening the night before.

Anyway we like it specifically for thanksgiving. Maybe you will too. Have fun either way, wherever you end up travelling.

Hi Maria,

Thanks for all ur effort!! We have decided to go to Santa Fe for Thanksgiving. We have a few questions though:
1) Will it be possible for us to do Santa Fe and Taos in 4 days? (We would love to visit the Taos Pueblo and may be try skiing)
2) How long does it take to go to Taos from santa Fe? (I read abt a lot in this forum abt stopping by in a lot of beautiful towns en route, particularly the Chimayo.)
3) If we cannot do both Santa Fe and Taos in four days, what are the activities we can do in Santa Fe? (We are not mueseum people)
4) Any suggestions for places to stay in Santa Fe and Taos ?
6) Any suggestions for places where we can go for dinner on Thanksgiving day ? (we are vegetarians)

Thanks a lot for all ur time...i know i have asked too many questions...i went thru a lot of posts in this forum...the more I read, I wanted to see more places!! I thought, it would be best to know what u think, since u have been there many times....

Thank you very much!!