We took this trip on Thanksgiving, because going on trips on American holidays is great, because no one else here has a holiday. And given that we were in the wrong time zone to watch any football anyway, it was a good day to travel.
Now I had read in the guidebooks that there would be aggressive boat drivers trying to get you to come down the river with them. But before we even got there, a guy drove up beside me on his motorcycle and asked me to pull over. I slowed and rolled down the window, thinking he was going to tell me I had hit a small child or something, but he just said he wanted to take me on the river. I rolled the window back and up and kept driving. When we stopped for a bathroom break at the local Jollibee's he even pulled in next to me to continue his pitch. There I told him in no uncertain terms that I was not going to employ him and that he should stop following me. That was that.
This is the entrance:
This struck me as a very unsafe entrance - who is supposed to take the middle anyway?
We didn't have any reservations so we had to check out a few of hotels and resorts. In the US I would never arrive somewhere without a reservation, but here, the internet presence is so minimal and the phone numbers provided so unhelpful that I have only once successfully booked a place in advance (well actually Sheralie handled that one). The first couple places were out of commission - the recent flooding had done so much damage they were non-operational. Luckily, we found a place that the kids loved. Why did they love it?
Because of this very cool water slide. There was also another pool (with smaller slides) that we got some mileage out of, but this was the main attraction. By the second day, Laird was going down by himself:
Laird felt rather invincible with his goggles and vest on.
While Sheralie and Michael and Jeffrey went to the falls, I stayed with the Laird and Lucy and had a marathon swim session.
Lucy keeping her head above water.
Overall, a very fun road trip. Sheralie especially liked that it only took us 2.5 hours to get there. Most of our road trips to areas in my mission take at least 5 hours each way, so that is a long way.
To backtrack to Thanksgiving itself, our honored guest:
(here at the American cemetery with Laird)
was actually sidelined all of Thanksgiving Day with food poisoning or something. So Sheralie made the whole meal by herself, which is a huge feat. We invited two sister missionaries over (who brought along another member), but they were all Filipinos and so this was their first Thanksgiving meal and so we got to explain it all to them. They were particularly impressed with the squash masquerading as yams with lots of brown sugar on top.
This got me thinking of Thanksgivings past and present. It's a great time to gather with friends or family, but the combination always seems different every year:
2008: San Diego: We flew back for Melanie's wedding and celebrated with the Monroe family. Four of us ran a 10k that morning in the rain.
2007: Houston: Lucy had just been born so the Monroes flew out and we had a big gathering at my parents' place. Grandma Nancy was there too. A big gathering. The Broadbent boys (that were there) and several of the Monroes (Greg, Kim and Keith) all ran in one of the chilliest mornings ever in Houston.
We prefer not to smile in pictures.
2006: Houston: Our house - we had the Browns, Noltes and my parents. Someone else? Possibly. We loved having the Browns, because they would always make the turkey and always do a great job. Sheralie ran a 5k in the morning.
2005: Houston: Our house - We had the Browns, Paces and Smiths over. We had never met the Paces at this point (they would move onto our street later) but they still brought with them a random person from downtown, whom we welcomed. I remember this was the Thanksgiving of a million little kids. I ran my first Thanksgiving 10k that morning. The running fun had started earlier that year when Phil got married and we ran a 10k the day before the race.
2004: Houston. This was our first Thanksgiving in Houston. We had moved to Houston from Chicago in part to be close to my parents. And for the first major holiday since we moved there, my parents left to go to New York to spend Thanksgiving with Christina. Where's the love? So we still went to their house and celebrated with a motley crew: my brother Steve, two single girls he knew from his church ward, my roommate from college Mike Beck (who was married but his wife and child were out of town) and Sheralie and me and Jeffrey. It was still a great Thanksgiving.
2003: Chicago. I was in Chicago but Sheralie spent Thanksgiving in San Diego. My sister had just been hitched in Phoenix and we had gone through San Diego. I originally planned to spend Thanksgiving in San Diego too, but one of my professors at the law school was getting on me for missing his class, so I altered my plans to be in Chicago. I wound up celebrating with the Israelsens (including Karl's brother) and some random people I have long since forgotten their names.
2002: Houston: We flew down to Houston for this Thanksgiving. Jeffrey was a newborn and a sensation and we used that influence to garner some plane tickets down.
2001: Chicago. Our first Thanksgiving in Chicago. We celebrated with the Browns (same Browns that lived on our street in Houston), the Wrights (he only ate red meat, which made it awkward) and the Kitchens (I think).
2000: Davis, CA: Our first Thanksgiving as a married couple. We of course celebrated by going down to Davis to eat with Grandma and Grandpa Broadbent. We had a carload: Me, Sheralie, Phil, Steve, Christina, and cousins Eva and Rosie. The highlight of the trip was when Phil slept on the floor on some cushions and Grandma chastised him for sleeping there instead of one of the many beds.
Phil: But Grandma, it was a fine bed.
Grandma: What? You couldn't find the bed? C'mon Phil, how long have you been coming here?
There were other Broadbent relatives there too, but I can't pin them down at this point.
1999: Davis, CA: I believe this trip down to Davis featured cousins Sam Palmer, Holly Slade and my sister Christina. Could be wrong. I just remember we made really great time when Sam was driving.
1998: Davis, CA: Driving down with cousins Reid and Sara Broadbent, Eva Wilcox and my sister Christina.
1997: Laoag City, Philippines: We convinced the guy that did our laundry to cook up a turkey and we had a fine little meal. I believe it was with Elders Ashcroft, Vasquez and Legerski.
1996: Malasiqui, Philippines: I don't recall doing anything at all.
1995: Davis, CA: For some reason every year at BYU I felt like it would be a great idea to go to Davis. This year I remember going with Ben and Joy Cook.
Pre-1995: No distinct memories.
