For the first time in my life, I didn’t spend Thanksgiving with my family. For 20 years I have gone down to my dad’s parents’ (yes, my grandparents’) and over indulged in delicious homemade food with my family.
This year was different. I went to northwest Iowa to spend Thanksgiving with my boyfriend’s family. This is how I know I’m growing up…I start doing stuff like this.
We started our trip on Wednesday with a delay. The darn Iowa weather thwarted our plans to start break at a decent time, but we kept ourselves busy. We went out for burgers and saw HP7 (Harry Potter 7 for you non nerds).
Luckily, on Thursday (Thanksgiving Day mind you) we were able to start our vacation. We packed up the ol’ 2010 Ford Taurus and trekked our way to Laurens, IA.
Right when we got there, we turned around (I’m terrible at geography…I’m not sure if we turned around, headed the same way or flew into space) and headed to the Wild Rose Casino in Emmetsburg. I ate my weight in turkey, taters, green been casserole and ice cream.
After stuffing ourselves with calories, we waddled our way to Jessie’ grandparents’ to watch some Thanksgiving foozball (football) and have a few brews.
The next day we headed back to Emmetsburg for a family fish fry. I’ll admit it–I haven’t eaten fish in more than a decade. Don’t judge. Along with the fish, we had Rocky Mountain Oysters. I’m not a big fan of seafood, but I thought I’d try one anyway.
Just before I ate one of my Rocky Mountain Oysters, someone was kind enough to point out to me what they really were–bull testicles. I’m a picky eater, and I’m not much for eating outside my comfort zone (and strangely enough, bull testicles ARE outside my comfort zone), but I ate it even though I knew what it was. It wasn’t terrible, but it really didn’t have much taste.
Saturday we bummed around until after lunch, then made the 3-hour trip back to Cedar Falls/Waterloo. (I assume it’s a 3-hour trip, but I don’t really know because I fell asleep 20 minutes into the trip and woke up as we turned into the apartment complex. We could have gone to Texas and back for all I know.)
It was a good 3-day vacation, and as I readjust to real life, I’ll remember this Thanksgiving as the one I didn’t spend with my family (and the one I ate bull testicles…but mostly that first thing).
Megan's Meanderings 