Thanksgiving in the United States – at Bryce Canyon

Thanksgiving is the most important holiday in the United States, even more important than Christmas. Everyone goes home to visit family. Outside the US, Thanksgiving is mainly known because of its appearances in movies and TV shows. Almost all shows have a Thanksgiving episode in November.

Date and What Happens

We happened to be in US on Thanksgiving. We only realized that a week before. Thanksgiving is always on the same day: the fourth Thursday in November. Don’t get confuse be the name: our German “Saying thanks for our harvest” – celebration is in October. But Thanksgiving is in November.

We were in Bryce Canyon that day. The visitor center was closed, tours were not available that day and the park was in general empty. We did not even have to pay entrance fee. The gates were open, the cashier was not there.

The fact that it’s an important holiday only became clear when we saw that most stores were closed and everything was run by a minimum staff. For example the hotel’s restaurant was closed.

Thanksgiving Buffet

We stayed in a little village in front of Bryce Canyon, very much a transit place to the national park, made for Bryce Canyon tourists. There was only one offer for Thanksgiving dinner: a Thanksgiving buffet in the Best Western Hotel. All the national park visitors gathered here. Even though Bryce Canyon seemed totally deserted on the day, the evening buffet was quite busy.

The Buffet was really good. We had some of the typical Thanksgiving meals: Turkey, Sweet Potatoes, Cranberry Sauce, Pumpkin Pie. It was quite interesting to try some of the traditional Thanksgiving food. The buffet also had some more food, everyone could find something.

What Do I Need to Consider for Thanksgiving?

Thanksgiving is very important in the US. Many attractions are closed and everywhere only, very few people work at all. It’s a bit like working on Christmas for us. If you don’t have to, you try to avoid it. In particular in the evening, everything is closed.

The Thanksgiving buffet was something new, I think we would not have gotten all these Thanksgiving meals otherwise. But Thanksgiving is not the best day to travel, better have a break day on Thanksgiving.

To us, it was a special day because we were at Bryce Canyon. Snow was everywhere, it was really cold and the atmosphere matched Thanksgiving quite nicely.

Complete Madness will spread on the following day – BLACK FRIDAY.

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