As I've stated in the past, I'm not the biggest fan of Thanksgiving. But I have been making an effort for a few years now and the holiday is getting better. This year we took my first ever Thanksgiving road trip! We went to stay with Drek's sister, along with most of Drek's fmaily. It was wonderful. A perfect vacation, a perfect holiday. Except that I had forgotten my anti-nausea pills back at home so I was sick for the majority of the time (Halfway through my pregnancy and still have morning sickness. Not fun).
We ate our delicious feast around eleven am.
I'm the only strict vegetarian in the family, but my wonderful sister-in-law has really delved into healthly eating this last year. She only occasionally eats meat, but it's more for the health aspect. She was in charge of stuffing this year. Several people requested her famous sausage stuffing, but she wanted to make delicious healthy stuffing, and she didn't want to leave me out, so to my delight, she made three pans of stuffing. Stuffing is my favorite, and having a pan to myself was just about the best thing ever. She labeled the pans and then took the opportunity to poke fun:
Giggle giggle
After naps for the kids (and who are we kidding, the adults too) we decided to...go on a hike? On Thanksgiving? After eating pounds of food?
I'm not one to argue throwing out current Thanksgiving traditions so I was all for it! We packed everyone in cars and drove to the mountains. The hike was a bit strenuous, especially since my lungs don't really work like they're supposed to while I'm pregnant, but we had a good time. Coming back down the mountain we spotted a creature in the brush. The creature's nose was pointed away from me and my eyes nearly popped out of my head. Was it a monkey? One of those symbol-playing monkeys? Out here?
But then it turned and sniffed the air: not a monkey. It smelled the pear my father-in-law was eating. The creature ran up to him and grabbed the pear. He took it a few steps away before devouring it.this gave me time to get out my camera:
Our best guess is a Snookum Bear.
hog-nosed coon. LOL. Is he a little out of his territory?
ReplyDeleteDid you ever find out what it is? I thought maybe badger, but it's not quite right. Also I hear badgers are vicious. I feel like I've seen that thing in a zoo. I will ask Ethan!
ReplyDeleteMy kids say it's a coati. I thought that was a South American version of a raccoon, but wikipedia says: Their geographical range extends from the southwestern U.S. (southern Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas) through northern Argentina. Not sure where you were - but VERY exciting.
ReplyDeleteWhatever it is, it's gorgeous! And if it's out of its natural range, perhaps that's because it used to be in a zoo or was a pet and broke free? It seems rather comfortable around people...
ReplyDeleteAlso, I love that stuffing division. I will do something similar for Christmas.