Thanksgiving is a holiday steeped in tradition, from the food to the activities. For many Americans, the day includes a meal featuring turkey and dressing enjoyed with loved ones with a football game or the Macy’s parade playing in the background.
For the Powers family, however, their Thanksgiving tradition centers on the unexpected.
The family puts together their traditional meal to enjoy with loved ones, although the location changes.
Each year, the family takes to the road - or sky - to a new destination. Sometimes it’s the beach, sometimes it is to go skiing. But, each time, it is a trip of family fun with memories to last a lifetime.
The tradition began with Bethany Powers’ parents. When she was around seven years old, they decided to take their family for trips each year during the Thanksgiving holiday long weekend.
“I think one of the ones that stuck out the most to us in the beginning was when we took a trip to New York,” Powers said. She was in elementary school at the time.
“We got to see the Macy’s parade, and the Wednesday before they were inflating the balloons near the Museum of Natural History,” Powers said. “Our hotel overlooked Broadway, so we could see the parade coming down Broadway. That was just a special memory that stuck out.”
Another memorable trip was the year they took a road trip to Keystone, Colorado.
“We stopped in to see Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico,” she said. “We drove all the way up to Keystone to ski.”
For a while their Thanksgiving trips were put on hold for a while as Powers’ father, Tom Grantham, battled ALS and unfortunately passed three years ago.
Her mother, Teena Grantham, remarried, and Powers said it has been fun bringing her step-father, Chuck Jepsen, in on the Thanksgiving fun while also honoring memories of her family trips of the past.
“We still love the idea of the Thanksgiving trip,” Powers said. “We took him along for the trip this past Thanksgiving to New York. So, we kind of recreated some of that New York trip with him.”
This year, they will go as a family of four on a road trip to Colorado.
“We will kind of recreate that Colorado trip, but with a different destination,” Powers said of her Thanksgiving plans with her husband, Jason, and children Ali and Michael.
Ali is a student at Madison-Ridgeland Academy, and Michael attends Christ Covenant.
The road trip will also allow them to safely travel during the pandemic.
Their destination will be in Pagosa Springs, Colorado.
The plan is to stop in Midland, Texas, for the first night before heading to Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico. Next, they plan to drive to Santa Fe.
“Then we will go up to Pagosa Springs, which is also really close to Durango, Mesa Verde and Silverton,” she said.
They will drive out to go skiing if the weather cooperates.
“Apparently, they get more snow than any place in Colorado,” Powers said. “They just do not have the capacity to make man-made snow. So, we’re kind of banking on the possibility of snow already being there.”
If not, they have other plans for activities to keep them busy and having fun. Not to mention the Thanksgiving meal.
“You cannot get the corn meal that we use to make dressing once you get out of the South,” she said. “So, we always pack the Martha White ‘hot rize’ cornmeal, because otherwise you’re not going to make your dressing the right way.”
The other aspects of the meal are “fair game,” according to Powers, but they do not compromise on the dressing.
For the turkey and other side dishes, the family will go out to see what they can find.
Typically, they have turkey, dressing and gravy.
“We usually do some form of a cranberry salad,” Powers said. “We like to do green bean bundles and crunchy romaine salad.”
While the Powers are currently planning for their family road trip for Thanksgiving 2020, Jason said they immediately begin planning for the next location at the end of each trip. So, plans for the 2021 trip may be coming soon as well.
