fender's journey: Thanksgiving...

For thanksgiving, Drew, Fender, Sebastian (our dog) and I drove to Amarillo to spend the holiday with my mom and sister. Fender traveled very well. We even had the laptop set up to play Fender's new favorite movie "Wall-E" on the way back if we needed since we were driving all day instead of at night, but we never had to bring it out. And other than a couple of extra stops to "please potty in the toilet" when Fender refused to potty in his pull-up. The trip went off without a hitch.

Thanksgiving meals with my family in Amarillo are a bit different than most everyone's "traditional" holiday gatherings. Used to be we could pick up a fantastic turkey dinner for the family from Black-Eye-Pea but they closed years ago. And since most restaurants are closed for the holiday, Gran had to get creative in recent years which led to the following...

Drew, Fen, Gran and I drove an hour south of Amarillo to Clarendon to pick up our Thanksgiving feast. We boxed up 5 buffets to go, which included turkey; ham; stuffing; corn; sweet potatoes; gravy; and all the fixings with rolls and dessert too. The few people who were dining in the restaurant seemed to enjoy seeing Fender's lively presence running about the place. We had a lot of fun. And finished up just in time to drive the hour back to Amarillo and get to the airport to pickup my sister (Aunt LaLa).

I am not one to go shopping EVER so the "Black Friday" shopping experience doesn't appeal to me in the least. However, Drew and Loren both wanted to check out BestBuy and Barnes and Noble so after some breakfast and hot-chocolates at IHOP that morning, the two of them took Fender for some look-see while mom and I took the much more relaxing route and had pedicures right next door. :)

It was a fun, relaxing, and refreshing Thanksgiving. The drive back was not, but it wasn't bad either. Just exhausting sitting in a car for 6 1/2 hours.

Enjoying catfish and fries in Decatur on our way to Amarillo...

...working in a little Wall-E in the hotel room.

...picture in front of the old movie theater and a decent tumbleweed in Clarendon on Thanksgiving day.

...checking out the view from our room.

...Fen and LaLa giving us "the glare", which Fen can do on cue. It is really funny in person.

...Amarillo's painted horses are all over town. Fender liked to visit this one outside the Drury hotel where we stayed.

...windy and cold as always in Amarillo. Gotta keep the hood on.

...having some fun after dinner at Kabuki Japanese Steak house. Fen loved the smoking onion volcano that spurted fire. He liked the soup and all the food too.