Thanksgiving trip ideas from Houston

When I lived in that area back in the 80s, it was a going concern. But it was closed down when I went thru there in 2018. Did someone buy it and open it back up?
 
When I lived in that area back in the 80s, it was a going concern. But it was closed down when I went thru there in 2018. Did someone buy it and open it back up?

South of the Border? Website is active, signs are still on I95. Open as far as I know. I stopped there once many years ago - my wallet did not like that experience.
 
We traveled up and down I95 in the 70s and 80s. Probably stopped there 30 or 40 times. Moved west in 85 and hadn't been back east until 2018. My first thought was to stop at SOTB and give a shout out to Pedro. To my dismay, all there was was a convenience stop/gas station. Everything else appeared to be closed and abandoned.
 
We stayed at the rv park last year. I posted pics in my other thread
This is how we rv.
Shops and restaurants were open but the park was fri sat sun only.
It's sad in a fun way.
Rv Park was clean and silent and gated and adjoins the amusement park.

Not a destination by any stretch but certainly worth a couple of hour drive if you're near.
Like the Pike, you better go while the going is good or it will disappear and you cant say you went.
 
I think you should come to Florida, it's a no brainer with Disney aged kids. It doesn't even need to be Disney, there are lots of theme parks.

Getting a reservation will be the hard part, but the kids will love it.
 
I think you should come to Florida, it's a no brainer with Disney aged kids. It doesn't even need to be Disney, there are lots of theme parks.

Getting a reservation will be the hard part, but the kids will love it.

I watched a fall foliage video of New England, I was like how in the world I missed this for 30 years, so our Smoky Mt idea came back to focus. But it may be too late for Thanksgiving as Bob Nadine here said leaves are already starting to fall. Live web cam are still showing large areas with green trees, I guess the cameras are showing static pictures :)

In any case, if it is not Smoky, our plan is to go to Florida, just not sure if it is going to be Orlanda or Tampa. I did price Disney and came to $5000 for the four of us - including a stay in the park. :nonono::nonono::nonono: Yet I dont see an advantage of entering parks through side doors like we had in Universal Studios two years ago.

Appreciate your input.
 
Colorado is cool !

If you haven't, you may wanna check out the railroad between Durango and Silverton. It's a day trip through some of the most beautiful gorges, canyons and cliffs on an old small gauge railroad. Once in Silverton, eat, drink, shop. As kids, we went there and road horses through downtown.

Also several places along the way. Mesa Verde is pretty cool to see how the natives lived in cliff dwellings.
After 800 miles with my kids, we would have all been ready to strangle each other. Take your time and smell the roses, maybe day 1 - Fredericksburg for some wine fun and cool Christmas shopping, Carlsbad caverns is a must see, painted desert is cool. Grand canyon - bucket list.

Enjoy yourselves !

Charlie from West Point Texas
 
You can drive your rv from Durango to Silverton and see all but all of the same views.
We recently did this trip then over the top and on north.
 
If you haven't, you may wanna check out the railroad between Durango and Silverton. It's a day trip through some of the most beautiful gorges, canyons and cliffs on an old small gauge railroad. Once in Silverton, eat, drink, shop. As kids, we went there and road horses through downtown.

Also several places along the way. Mesa Verde is pretty cool to see how the natives lived in cliff dwellings.
After 800 miles with my kids, we would have all been ready to strangle each other. Take your time and smell the roses, maybe day 1 - Fredericksburg for some wine fun and cool Christmas shopping, Carlsbad caverns is a must see, painted desert is cool. Grand canyon - bucket list.

Enjoy yourselves !

Charlie from West Point Texas

CWalther & duckface: Thanks for your comments. Kind of makes me uncomfortable to call you duckface, sorry.

We went to CO, UT, WY, NM this summer, missed the Durango Silverton and did every other place. Durango required us to travel an additional 600 miles from my trip route and also the train raid appears to take the whole day which we did not have. We will attempt it again next summer. We have visited all the other places mentioned. (already 40k+ miles on our 3 year old RV)

We did spend a day in Fredericksburg while waiting and witnessing the solar eclipse. Hill Country is truly a gift to Texans and we have been to all the areas in and around Hill Country, some places too many times to count.

Thanks
Raja
 
Disney Fort Wilderness

Duck has the right idea. Moab is beautiful, and Arches National Park is amazing. I’m just not sure the ages of your kids, and whether or not they will think it is amazing.

I am pretty tough when it comes to businesses being “woke”, and Disney can certainly fit into that category, but we took our two grandsons (ages 8 & 6)to Disney in July. We stayed at Ft. Wilderness for the first time, and it was a wonderful experience! It was hands down the least expensive, and most enjoyable Disney trip we ever had. We did rent a golf cart from the Fort, so getting to the ferry that took us to Magic Kingdom or the bus stop up front was very easy. We took our two kids to Disney 5 times throughout the years, and always stayed in a hotel. Talk about expensive. Especially if we flew! This trip we had breakfast and dinner in the rv. Sometimes we had lunch as well because we returned to the rv around lunchtime to rest. Even my husband who has never been a big fan of Disney World trips said it was a fantastic experience.

They are young only for a short time. We had so much fun watching our grandsons’ faces, and it was a great bonding experience. We live in Beaumont Texas, and drive only about 4 hours per day, so the entire trip took 12 days.

Whatever you decide to do I hope you have a wonderful trip!

Pam
 
Duck has the right idea. Moab is beautiful, and Arches National Park is amazing. I’m just not sure the ages of your kids, and whether or not they will think it is amazing.

I am pretty tough when it comes to businesses being “woke”, and Disney can certainly fit into that category, but we took our two grandsons (ages 8 & 6)to Disney in July. We stayed at Ft. Wilderness for the first time, and it was a wonderful experience! It was hands down the least expensive, and most enjoyable Disney trip we ever had. We did rent a golf cart from the Fort, so getting to the ferry that took us to Magic Kingdom or the bus stop up front was very easy. We took our two kids to Disney 5 times throughout the years, and always stayed in a hotel. Talk about expensive. Especially if we flew! This trip we had breakfast and dinner in the rv. Sometimes we had lunch as well because we returned to the rv around lunchtime to rest. Even my husband who has never been a big fan of Disney World trips said it was a fantastic experience.

They are young only for a short time. We had so much fun watching our grandsons’ faces, and it was a great bonding experience. We live in Beaumont Texas, and drive only about 4 hours per day, so the entire trip took 12 days.

Whatever you decide to do I hope you have a wonderful trip!

Pam

Thanks Pam.

My kids are 10 and 11. We visited Utah and visited the mighty five this Summer. I did look at Ft Wilderness. Did you see any advantage in staying in one of their hotels/campgrounds? At Universal Studios there was a definite advantage, I looked at the 3D map of Disney park surroundings and did not see how staying in one of their hotels would improve the experience.
 
Thanks Pam.

My kids are 10 and 11. We visited Utah and visited the mighty five this Summer. I did look at Ft Wilderness. Did you see any advantage in staying in one of their hotels/campgrounds? At Universal Studios there was a definite advantage, I looked at the 3D map of Disney park surroundings and did not see how staying in one of their hotels would improve the experience.

You get early entry if you stay at a value or moderate resort. If you stay at a deluxe resort you get both early entry and after hours access? I might not have all the details correct. We loved the convenience of the boat to Magic Kingdom. Once you get to MK you can take the monorail to Epcot. Any other hotels (unless they are on the monorail route or the Skyliner route) you stay in you have to rely on the bus system or your own vehicle.

I definitely recommend doing some research before making the decision to stay there, and with the ages of your kiddos, they might enjoy Universal more than Disney. Especially if they like fast rides. We actually did both Universal and Disney World. We stayed at the Orlando/Kissimmee KOA for a couple of days while we did Universal. There are a lot of things to do and to see in Orlando, and the surrounding areas.

Pam
 
We completed our Thanksgiving trip and very thankful to all the comments and suggestions.

We were planning on Disney, I considered two days in their RV lot and 2 days in their hotels. While booking the rooms, as with most AI powered booking sites, Disney appeared to track IP address and after we went back and forth on shopping for rooms, the price increased considerably. So we ditched Disney and decided to go to Gatlinburg and Smoky.

Smoky - we did this after Gatlinburg, endless ranges of mountains to delight the eyes. Cades Cove campground might be liked by some RVers, we truly did not see a good purpose to go there unless one comes from Townsend. Black bears are plentiful, we spotted bears twice (one a loner and another mama with 3 cubs) on the roads.

Cades Coves Scenic Loop - A 11 mile trap, the biggest feature is "Disappointment". There were some old churches and log cabins. We see churches in many small towns equally as good. It is quite amazing people will drive into it just by looking at the name, myself included. 11 miles of back to back traffic moving at 5 mph. It is a f'ing trap. You will not miss anything if you did not go there. I wish someone had warned about this loop. Sorry if I offended anyone but it is my opinion. No wildlife and not much of a scene other than back to back cars trapped there. No cell service, if a single car brokedown, I dont see how others behind can get out. We drove the 30 ft RV into it and I am sure got cursed by most auto drivers :)

Gatlinburg - A town with no room for growth to accommodate the traffic. The weather was very kind to us. The kids had a blast, and wife too. This opened my eyes that I should take them to places like this more often. Did Ober Mountain Tram (not good), Anakeesta (good but highway robbery, also you have to stand in the same line to get refills) and Sky Park (good). Long lines at Anakeesta and severely understaffed. Avoid the North China Restaurant at all costs.

Dudley Creek RV Park in Gatlinburg is where we stayed and the lady managing the place (Lisa) was truly awesome, been in that place for 30 years in hotel management. A truly remarkable RV park IMO. A circular lot with all amenities in the center of the park. The creek side sites are not worth the price difference.

We stayed at Harrah's at Cherokee after that, same booking game, while we were booking, the price went up. We stayed two nights and Cherokee is, IMO, better suited for adventure parks like in Gatlinburg and their roads allow for growth and handling traffic. I am guessing the native Indians placed too many restrictions that made the adventure parks open up in Gatlinburg. We enjoyed Cherokee stay, mostly decompressing. Checkout the Oconaluftee park in the city.

Fall foliage - we saw some on the Gatlinburg mountains, but on both sides of the roads, trees had shed their leaves. We were sorely disappointed on that part but when driving back home via Atlanta we were delighted by Georgia as fall foliage was in full display in that area. Beautiful landscape too.

We learned a lot about Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and the bustling cities we drove through. Atlanta was less impressive (second time for me after 25 years).
 
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We completed our Thanksgiving trip and very thankful to all the comments and suggestions.

We were planning on Disney, I considered two days in their RV lot and 2 days in their hotels. While booking the rooms, as with most AI powered booking sites, Disney appeared to track IP address and after we went back and forth on shopping for rooms, the price increased considerably. So we ditched Disney and decided to go to Gatlinburg and Smoky.

Smoky - we did this after Gatlinburg, endless ranges of mountains to delight the eyes. Cades Cove campground might be liked by some RVers, we truly did not see a good purpose to go there unless one comes from Townsend. Black bears are plentiful, we spotted bears twice (one a loner and another mama with 3 cubs) on the roads.

Cades Coves Scenic Loop - A 11 mile trap, the biggest feature is "Disappointment". There were some old churches and log cabins. We see churches in many small towns equally as good. It is quite amazing people will drive into it just by looking at the name, myself included. 11 miles of back to back traffic moving at 5 mph. It is a f'ing trap. You will not miss anything if you did not go there. I wish someone had warned about this loop. Sorry if I offended anyone but it is my opinion. No wildlife and not much of a scene other than back to back cars trapped there. No cell service, if a single car brokedown, I dont see how others behind can get out. We drove the 30 ft RV into it and I am sure got cursed by most auto drivers :)

Gatlinburg - A town with no room for growth to accommodate the traffic. The weather was very kind to us. The kids had a blast, and wife too. This opened my eyes that I should take them to places like this more often. Did Ober Mountain Tram (not good), Anakeesta (good but highway robbery, also you have to stand in the same line to get refills) and Sky Park (good). Long lines at Anakeesta and severely understaffed. Avoid the North China Restaurant at all costs.

Dudley Creek RV Park in Gatlinburg is where we stayed and the lady managing the place (Lisa) was truly awesome, been in that place for 30 years in hotel management. A truly remarkable RV park IMO. A circular lot with all amenities in the center of the park. The creek side sites are not worth the price difference.

We stayed at Harrah's at Cherokee after that, same booking game, while we were booking, the price went up. We stayed two nights and Cherokee is, IMO, better suited for adventure parks like in Gatlinburg and their roads allow for growth and handling traffic. I am guessing the native Indians placed too many restrictions that made the adventure parks open up in Gatlinburg. We enjoyed Cherokee stay, mostly decompressing. Checkout the Oconaluftee park in the city.

Fall foliage - we saw some on the Gatlinburg mountains, but on both sides of the roads, trees had shed their leaves. We were sorely disappointed on that part but when driving back home via Atlanta we were delighted by Georgia as fall foliage was in full display in that area. Beautiful landscape too.

We learned a lot about Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and the bustling cities we drove through. Atlanta was less impressive (second time for me after 25 years).


Next time do the Florida trip. You can book your site at Ft. Wilderness online or through the My Disney app. Do not book a package. Just book your site, and you have until 2 weeks before your check in date to cancel with no penalties. You can also change your dates with no penalties via the Disney website. Verify that because things change. You can also book the Orlando/Kissimee KOA. Get your sites, and then you can research tickets. We purchased our tickets separately from our site reservations. We used an online site that tracks the discounts that Disney and Universal provide from time to time. We found a discount from Universal that provided 4 days admission for the price of 2 days admission.

Thanks for giving us an update on your trip! I hope y’all had a great Thanksgiving!

Pam
 
Next time do the Florida trip. You can book your site at Ft. Wilderness online or through the My Disney app. Do not book a package. Just book your site, and you have until 2 weeks before your check in date to cancel with no penalties. You can also change your dates with no penalties via the Disney website. Verify that because things change. You can also book the Orlando/Kissimee KOA. Get your sites, and then you can research tickets. We purchased our tickets separately from our site reservations. We used an online site that tracks the discounts that Disney and Universal provide from time to time. We found a discount from Universal that provided 4 days admission for the price of 2 days admission.

Thanks for giving us an update on your trip! I hope y’all had a great Thanksgiving!

Pam

Yes Pam, it is on our to-do list, may be during the spring break. I too realized not buying the package made more sense. Thanks for the tips on tracking discounts.
 
Well, it looks like skipping St Louis for this weekend turned out to be the right choice if bad weather isn't on your list of things you like.

Got one of those relatively rare winter storms for the weekend and ended up with a couple of inches of snow. Not expected to start thawing out until this Wednesday!

I'll be near your neck of the woods next weekend for the San Antonio Rock 'n Roll marathon. Running the half. Hard work for an old guy with a bad hip, a replacement hip and two replacement knees plus I'm carrying a good 30 extra pounds that I can't seem to outrun....
 
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