Thanksgiving 2025

I was back at the hotel, telling the story backwards today, around 11ish, and Deborah called as I was trying to get in. The parking lot was surprisingly full, so I had to park the rental in the back lot (which I had noticed before, meaning I did not have to search for a parking spot). Deborah called me while I was trying to use my room card to get into the building. I could not answer because my hands were full, and the card did not work.

I walked to the front of the hotel, it was cold, too, and then through the lobby to the elevator to my room. And, not surprisingly, the card failed to work there. I then reversed and retraced my path. Violet at the front desk re-made my card; it worked, and I arrived in my room.

There, I talked to a sleepy Deborah, wished her good night, and then got ready for bed. Jet lag is still an issue on this trip, and I have not been able to rest until after midnight. Even if I nod off, I often wake up in 30 minutes and then have trouble falling back asleep. Ugh!

I looked for deals on some solo-play games recommended by the Discriminating Gamer, Dr. Cody Carlson. I was hoping there were some deals out there for these, but nope. GMT Games offered their new reprint of I, Napoleon, a second edition. I did the paperwork to join that process for a discounted price. The game intrigued me (3 on his list) because it featured a simulation of political choices rather than combat. GMT Games produces many board games that focus on intrigue. I looked at another one, decided it was a repeat of things I could do now with what I have, but the solo (and expensive) Plague of Dracula got my attention.

It is published by Blue Panther and was released just a few months ago. I was fascinated by Blue Panther, which publishes short-run board games, and noticed that some of the games I saw are also available from another publisher as print-and-play versions. Blue Panther had some small-topic games that appear to be for museums to sell or advertise for various battlefields, at different price points and with various makeup options (i.e., the price reduced if a paper map is included instead of the printed cloth map).

A whole new world of options and thoughts comes to mind. Maybe that Jutland Card game I was thinking about might work. I found someone selling a card game for Cold War naval battles. Hmmm.

Before this, I was at Clint’s and Annika’s house, and I taught/remembered Root, and we played a basic game of the Cats vs. Birds. In the first game, I was able to push Clint’s Cats around, keep the points coming in, and never change the leaders. I won by twenty points, but it was a learning game. In the second game, Clint was still playing the Cats, and I walked into an ambush, and he had extra cards that did even more damage. I was not able to recover for some time and went through two leaders. Ugh! I was just about ten points away, which surprised Clint that I recovered so fast. Root is a bit clumsy with two players, but still, it was fun. We unboxed another add-on, and more options will be available if we play it on Saturday.

Thanksgiving was fantastic, with plenty of traditional foods, all made fresh (including baking pumpkins for the pies), with a butterball turkey breast as the centerpiece. Clint’s mother came (I forgot her name), and we tried the wines I brought. The red was carbonated and strangely flavored, but from the same county, very local. The local white, a tiny bit sweet, was better.

Tiny Epic Galaxies is, as it suggests, a tiny footprint game, but an excellent game with the right mix of random and risk-taking with resource management and worker placement. Clint and I played two games; I won the first and lost the second by 5 or more points (I think). Clint has purchased the extra dice for the game, but otherwise, it plays well right out of the box. There is now a playing mat and add-ons, but we mainly used the base game.

The hotel is surprisingly busy for Thanksgiving, and with me rising at 7ish, I was out for breakfast near 9 with my laptop, and the staff was making more food. I found a table, wrote the blog, and managed to eat the industrial, but complimentary breakfast. And Thanksgiving is not a day for a large breakfast!

Sleep, as I suggested above, was broken, and I woke fine but found that I wanted to execute a nap about noon. I wore a dress shirt with a red sweater vest for Thanksgiving. I let the bathroom steam up while the shirt hangs on a hanger, and slowly the wrinkles from packing fade. It works well enough to avoid the iron.

Thanks for reading!