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Thanksgiving in the Desert
Planning
This Thanksgiving we decided to try something a little
different. Well different for us. Anza Borrego is actually a
pretty popular Thanksgiving destination due to its mild weather and beauty.
First things first, I had to convince Mary that cooking a turkey out in the
Desert was actually easy. A quick Web search revealed at least a dozen methods
that people have used in the past, some succesful some unsuccesful.
My favorite was the "Trash Can" method where you
actually impale the turkey with a 3 foot stick and cook it
vertically inside of a trash can.
This sounded like the easiest way to do it. Unfortunately once I began reading
, I learned of the possibility of chemical contamination due to the
galvanized steel used in most trash cans.
Uggh...scary stuff.
Trash can method.
Our Trip
We then decided on the more conventional method of grilling the turkey
. The key to this is that you need a turkey that will fit into your BBQ.
Luckily Mary was able to find a 9 pound turkey which was the smallest Ralphs
had.
Not a trash can but it worked great. (Mary)
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On our way out to
Ocotillo we saw these 100' tall windmills. Seems like a good use for the
abundance of wind out here.
Giant modern windmills (East San Diego)
We decided to camp in the Torote canyon area of the park. Plenty of
room for the dogs to run around and not as much cholla as other palces we have
camped.
No footballgames, traffic or comfy couch out here.
We finally got the grill going around 1 PM and since we really
hadn't done this before had know idea how long we had to wait.
Why won't these coals light ?!
In the meantime while (hopefully) the turkey cooked ; we set up
camp, went for a climb and went into "rancho relaxo" mode.
The first thing Kaiel usually does when we arrive out here is find the largest
mountain of rocks and scramble to the top. This time was no different and
before you could say "mashed potatoes and stuffing" Kaiel was shouting
"Hey Look at Me !!".
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Kaiel rock boy
After about 1 hour the smell of turkey permeated
our campsite.The challenge now is as tempted as you are to sneak a peek
you need to leave the lid closed. We gave it one more hour and then
it was time to pull the lid. 
No trash can needed.
Carving on the tailgate
Three hours after we arrived, we were all sitting down to a great
Thanksgiving dinner. Hard to beat the scenery out here sitting amongst
cactus stuffing yourselves on turkey, cranberry sauce etc.
Next year we are hoping to bring a bigger group with us since now we have it
figured out.
More Pictures >>
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