<p>Every city is expensive at Tgiving, there’s nothing remarkable about Boston in that regard.</p>
<p>Depending on your preferences:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Plymouth is likely to have its annual Interfaith Service on THursday morning. Other communities do this, too.</p></li>
<li><p>the 44th Annual Native American Day of Mourning, speakers.</p></li>
<li><p>Amazingly enough, by some collision of solar and lunar calendars, this year Thanksgiving will also be the start of Chanukah. That can happen around once every 500 years, I think.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>So, plenty to do! Have fun.</p>
<p>PG is correct. Airfares to Boston…and everywhere else are high during holiday travel time. It will cost you a LOT more for several to fly from Indiana to greater Boston than for one to fly to Indiana. BUT if you are looking for a nice New England Thanksgiving, you have gotten some excellent suggestions here!</p>
<p>Wellesley is on Rt 128/95 - the inner ring highway - so you can go north or south of Boston easily. If you actually want to rent a house, look at Cape Ann, meaning Gloucester, Rockport, Marblehead. Really beautiful rocky coast, nice towns and lots of summer houses that may be available.</p>
<p>Newberryport Is a charming town on the north shore. Quaint shops, nice restaurants.</p>
<p>Newburyport is an undervalued gem. It was one of the largest towns at the time of the Revolution and didn’t change much so it has a large collection of brick building from the period into the 19thC. I shopped for years at a fabric/furniture store run by a guy who flew jets out of the AF base where I was born.</p>
<p>My favorite North Shore “tourist” towns are Rockport and Marblehead. The latter is unique: a huge number of stick built buildings on narrow streets dating from before the Revolution, including one whose corner was lopped off so Lafayette’s carriage could pass when he made his return visit to the US. Neat shopping streets to walk around. </p>
<p>I have a real love for Rockport because it has this extremely touristy Bear Skin Neck lined with souvenir shops - and a place that sells great strudel! - mixed in with old rental housing and yet there’s another whole & real downtown street that feels like NE. Complete with a store that makes taffy in the window. (They used Rockport to film The Love Letter with a bunch of people including Kate Capshaw, Blythe Danner and Tom Selleck.)</p>
<p>Salem might be good too.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that if you stay in a hotel in Boston, you will pay an outrageous hotel tax. I’d go to Sturbridge or Plimoth Plantation (better book your dinner reservations now). I will say that accommodations and restaurants in the town of Plymouth aren’t the greatest, though. The real draw is the Plantation, so if you can’t get seats at their T-day celebration, you’re better off going elsewhere.</p>
<p>I’d ask your kid what they want. The last thing mine would want is a big formal meal out. They just want a couple of nights to relax at home with the family and pets. If that weren’t possible, they’d just stay on campus with the kids who are around and catch up on work.</p>
<p>PG, daughter is going to Wellesley: not AFA. She has ROTC scholarship which she will take classes for at MIT. I think we are going to fly her home for this Thanksgiving and next year, we may drive out there and make a trip out of it. I agree…these are all great suggestions. BTW: Plymouth Plantation dinner is $93!!!</p>
<p>Some years back, our son was at MIT and we were living in Seattle. My husband’s parents live in Maine. We found very inexpensive hotel rooms in Cambridge (and the hotel was half empty, which is probably why they were inexpensive, because it was a nice hotel) and all of us enjoyed an amazing Thanksgiving dinner at Harvest Restaurant in Harvard Square. Airfare flying in on Monday and out on Friday was very reasonable as well.</p>
<p>We also got a great deal at the Kendall.</p>
<p>One reason we decided to make the trek was that S1 also spent his undergrad years in Cambridge and had spent more than one night at Dulles airport on his way home for holidays (including T’giving).</p>
<p>Definitely ask your D to see if she’s on board. I myself and many college classmates, even those who were less than 2 hours drive away opted to stay on campus to enjoy invitations to Thanksgiving at homes of faculty/local families and to start preparations for finals and use the time to catch up on studying or any papers coming due. </p>
<p>Even as a 17 year old college freshman, I didn’t feel it made sense for me to travel home or to bring family over when finals were less than 3 weeks away. </p>
<p>And Thanksgiving was a big thing in my immediate/extended families. However, there were many undergrads like myself who felt it could be made up during winter break.</p>
<p>Not to mention winters in Boston…even in November can get very cold for those not used to it. If you’re interested in renting houses or spending some time touring the Boston/Massachusetts area…better to come in the Spring/Summer/Fall. </p>
<p>BTW: Unless things have changed recently, none of the Service Academies allow Cadets to go home for Thanksgiving. They certainly didn’t when my relative/friends/colleagues went.</p>
<p>I just want to say Plimoth Plantation is an amazing experience. In the village, totally in character. I had no idea, when I first visited, as an adult. If your daughter is ok with you visiting, go. I’ve heard mixed reviews of the dinner itself, but the tourist bit is impressive.</p>
<p>With one caveat- would the Thanksgiving period be one where the village is fully staffed? Lots of characters? I’ve been some times when it wasn’t so. Anyone know?</p>
<p>If I had a choice between something else and Salem, I’d skip Salem, except for the Peabody Museum. After plenty of Boston and Cambridge, maybe go whale watching, if that’s still on and you’re there for PP anyway.</p>
<p>Our Thanksgiving planning became much easier after DS transferred from a Boston school with 5 day break to another one that had a full 9 days. Of course it is not why he switched, but I savor the perk. My work is very busy at year end - it’s great to have him home a week in November.</p>
<p>For the last 4 years S1 was in school out side Philadelphia. My husband, son and I drove from Central New York on Wednesday morning, picked him up and drove to a vacation rental for the weekend (all were with in a few hours of Philly). We would get a precooked Thanksgiving dinner from Wegman’s (the best grocery store in the world) that could just be heated up. I would bake homemade pies every year. We found the rentals though either Homeaway dot com or VRBO dot com. It was wonderful! He just started grad school in Minneapolis and I’m trying to figure out how to make Thanksgiving work this year!</p>
<p>I am very familiar with Plymouth, I immediately thought of Plimoth Plantation.There are some good hotels and then there are Bed and Breakfasts too. Cold Spring Motel is an awesome Motel. Plymouth has a annual TG day parade. I also second the concord area, so much history. The cape would be quieter with less things to see</p>
<p>If you go to Concord, the deCordova Museum is super. Outdoor sculpture park. In Lincoln, but not a hard get-to. A few miles.</p>
<p>I do have a basic question: how do I know when someone posts to a thread I have started without typing in the name of the thread?</p>
<p>Click your username in the top right. Then click statistics and posts made by. The yellow dot indicates new posts. Or get email notifications, I think.</p>