ALT-1 Thanksgiving Vacation Ideas
Rather than plan a huge Thanksgiving affair at home, many take this time to vacation and get away from it all. Whether spending it with family, friends, children in tow, or alone - A Thanksgiving away could be the answer to your holiday doldrums. Here are several options listed which are slightly offbeat and yet packed with fun and history.
Springfield, Illinois
What could be more appropriate and affordable than visiting the home, museum and library of the father of Thanksgiving, President Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln proclaimed Thanksgiving Day a national holiday in 1863 during hisThanksgiving Proclamation.
The whole neighborhood surrounding his home has been reconstructed to its 1860's splendor and the homes can be toured as well. Within the neighborhood is a community heirloom garden which can be visited and still operates today.
TheAbraham Lincoln Presidential Museum & Libraryand hishomeare educational and fun spots to visit.
Springfield holds much more than just the living and resting place of its most famous citizen, it is also a famous tourist spot because the infamous Route 66 runs through and has some of its most popular stops like, The Cozy Drive-In, where the owner invented the first corn dog which is an American food event of historic proportions, even though it has nothing to do with turkey.
Old Salem, North Carolina
Located in thehistoric districtof Winston Salem, you can step back into colonial life in early Southern America.Old Salem Museums & Gardens, is a national historic attraction.
The three museums - the Historic Town of Salem, the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts (MESDA) and the Old Salem Toy Museum - engage visitors in an educational and historical experience about those who lived and worked in the reconstructed Moravian community from around 1741 - 1870.
The Old Salem Toy Museum presents a fascinating seventeen-hundred-year survey of toys, circa 225 A.D. to 1925. With more than 1200 antique European and American toys, this toy museum will delight anyone young or old.
New York City, New York
If the Macy's Day Parade is your chosen destination, perhaps planning a couple extra days to relieve the exhausted workers on the days after the Thanksgiving festivities atHoly Apostles Churchis up your alley. Located in Manhattan, it is home to the second largest Soup Kitchen in America. The kitchen serves an average of over 1,100 hungry guests per day, 5 days a week.
Holy Apostles relies on mostly donations, and volunteerism to keep their very large kitchen serving all those meals. They receive very little funding from local, state, or the federal government.
In addition, you'll be given free lunch from the kitchen and the warmth of knowing you have helped feed someone their Thanksgiving meal when one in six children in the US go to sleep hungry at night. It is astounding to find out how many people in America's cities cannot afford lunch.
As you can see, there are many alternatives to the usual holiday stresses of hosting Thanksgiving at home. Isn't it about time you had a historic vacation or started your own tradition?
