post-thanksgiving

I'm still recovering from Thanksgiving, I'm not sure if it is from all the turkey (and associated foods) or the damn beer game Beirut that many of us played afterwards?

Thanksgiving was pretty magical for being so far away from home with no family or friends around. But that is the beauty of traveling, most especially solo. People befriend you and take you in like they have known you for years. They open not only their homes, but their hearts as well. I decided to stay at the RV park for the people have been so caring, and should I get drunk, I could easily stumble home. Although it would have been wonderful to be with my "Mexican Tios", Johnny and Regina, I would have travelled the rural, coastal road to Cardinal and I promised no more driving at night! Not to mention one of my new-found friends, KC, was leaving and I wanted to say my good-bye's.

As it it turned out, I am so thankfully I stayed at the park. The place was beautiful. We all ate out under the stars, with massive strings of lights, torches, and candles. In all, I would guess there were about 40 of us celebrating the holiday together. And there was every food imaginable at the feast. I'm not sure if food tastes better in such a beautiful setting, but it was one of the best meals I've had, complete with homemade margarita's and Pacifico's.

After the pumpkin pie and pumpkin flan were served, we were treated to yet another surprise. Placido Domingo, one of the best Mexican mechanics (or so I've heard), walked out with guitar in hand and proceeded to sing. At first, Mexican love songs (again, I'm sure being sung to me) and then popular American songs translated into Spanish. My favorite being GLORIA, not only did it remind me of Dusty, Andrea, Doug and myself being 20-something, driving on some odd road trip with Dusty strumming the guitar while all of us sang. But it also reminded me of good times. Thankfully I got most of it on video (if only I knew how to download-I'd send it out as an attachment). Apparently Placido has never sung in front of anyone there before and people didn't know what to expect - he had one of the most beautiful voices I'd heard. And for being such a shy person - he sung for the world. Or, at least for our little tropical Thanksgiving in the sand.

Then came the partying time - how could I not include that?

After all that beauty came a bit of debauchery. There are 5 youngins that came in for the holiday. Theresa and Shawn who own the park, have a 22 yo son in college. So he and his buddies come down for the holiday and bring all of the hoopla with them. I, of course, have been keeping up quite well with them for the past 4 days. Apparently they were all taking bets on how old they thought I am - they all agreed 26 yo. I'll take that! Any day of the week - oh and by the way - to my cousins in Sun Valley - Robbie, Alex and Eric - these are all your friends. So, just so you know, your 35 year old cousin can keep up with your 21-23 yo friends from home...
small world.

So after the beer drinking games, of which many of us did poorly in (Scott and I lost terribly in some game called Beirut) we all went to sleep off our turkey, our mashed potatoes, stuffing and many other yummy things...