Courier-Post from Camden, New Jersey • Page 43

i i i 1 COURIER-POST, Sunday, November 19, 1989 9E3 I Travel Create a neutral zone for Thanksgiving dinner- Commentary uv-: -i j6i AS 'bv I lit i ft 1 nff if 7 By VALERIE HELMBRECK Gannett News Service Over the river and through the woods to Grandmother's house we go This is the sort of Thanksgiving trek some people dread. It's not that they don't like Grandma, mind you. But Grandma's house is a different matter. It's all too often overheated, overfurnished and has only one room kids are only allowed in: the unfinished basement. No, the big problem here isn't Grandma, it's the house and the shuttle diplomacy most people use to get themselves through a holiday weekend.

But there is a solution. Go away for Thanksgiving. Not far away, mind you. Just far enough so you can't be expected to eat two dinners and listen to Uncle Ralph's gastric distress or fights between warring siblings. The idea here is to create a neutral zone for Thanksgiving dinner, an alternate site that doesn't belong to anyone in the family.

Then invite friends and relatives IsSr i i i 0 including Grandma to it, but make sure they know they have to help pay the rent. (To discourage obnoxious relatives from coming along, inflate the price. If they re cheapskates, they 11 decline; if they're not, at least you'll make some money off their unpleasant company.) Renting a house in the mountains isn't particularly difficult or expensive but house hunters who want to be near the ocean will probably have more trouble finding a place. "Most of our house owners have closed up their places for the season," says Beverly Brittingham of Jack Lingo Realtor in Rehoboth Beach, Del. "By Thanksgiving, they've winterized and turned the water not too much available, but if we get a request we'll start calling owners to find a place." Private rentals are sometimes easier and cheaper than going though an agency.

Owners often advertise in newspapers and maga- and whipping up the mashed pota toes with a hairbrush. Prepare what you can ahead of time or shop at a local gourmet shop for ready-made side dishes. Don't try taking a raw turkey on a two or three hour drive unless you have a well-iced cooler and you're sure the house you've rented has a big roasting pan. As an alternative to cooking a turkey in a foreign kitchen, serve smoked turkey. Smoked turkeys are fully cooked, but come frozen.

Once they've thawed (probably on the drive to your weekend house) they need to be warmed. It's recommended to put the turkey in a foil "tent" and place it in a 350-degree oven for an hour. Kaplan says that most rental places are "generally not fancy," so if you want to fix an elegant meal, remember to bring along some elegant china and flatware. Don't forget the good linens and some candles (and candle holders) to dress up the table. As for a centerpiece, a walk in the woods on Thanksgiving morning should turn up something interesting for your table.

A few last items to pack up before hitting the road are a few good bottles of wine resort liquor stores can be treacherous places and a good carving knife. Oh, and maybe a bottle of Pepto Bismol, just in case Uncle Ralph shows up. zines and you'll probably find that prices are anywhere from 10 to 50 percent cheaper than what an agent will quote. Brittingham says rentals at this time of year are "between $500 and $1,000 a week, depending on the house. Ocean front might ask even more." In the mountains, finding a house in November is easier and less expensive than other times of the year, according to Joan Kaplan of Kaplan Real Estate near Mount Pocono, Pa.

November rentals fall between the area's two big vacation seasons the cool mountain summers and the ski season. Kaplan says the rental price in her area for this time of year is about $350 to $450 per week. Most of the houses Kaplan rents have fireplaces and television, some with cable hookup. Some places are fancier than others and come equipped with Jacuzzis and microwaves. The biggest problem of the moveable holiday feast is preparing a traditional holiday meal: Some people don't mind the idea of eating their turkey in a restaurant, but for purists, cook-your-own Thanksgiving meals are de rigeur.

It's probably not a good idea to try fixing a really complicated meal in an unfamiliar kitchen. Being a stranger in a strange kitchen you could wind up basting your turkey with an eye dropper Las Vegas beckons to families, seniors Early Thanksgiving: Though some of the vacation homes you may rent to spend your Thanksgiving holiday may be on the spartan side, they are bound to be better than the circumstances endured by the Pilgrims. Las Vegas! CatchOur BusTb AnotherWorld. $11 $10 15 $13 SinPnin 5Com 8 Coin 4 DAYS3 NITES 8Coin 5 Trop Coach Plus Deferred Arrivals Sunday before 4 pm 5 Ttod Coach Plus Deferred 5 Trop Coach Plus Deferred '5 Trop Coach Plus Deferred Arrivals Sun. Pri.

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Even in the winter, it's predictably sunny. And daytime temperatures in January average 50 to 60 degrees." Incentives for retirees include no state income tax and relatively low housing prices. "Real estate prices are one-half to one-third less than elsewhere," Allen said. "There has been a lot of home development geared to senior citizens in the past two years." Once settled in Vegas, retirees learn it's less expensive to eat out than to prepare their own meals, Allen said. "Meal prices in the hotels are about 50 percent lower than on the East and West Coasts.

The hotels have buffets that are absurdly cheap. They do that to keep people on the premises. The Las Vegas Advisor Recommendations, a corisumer's newsletter, lists a breakfast buffet for $1.99 and a lunch buffet for $2.74, both at the Tropicana; a show and complete dinner at the Riviera for $9.95 ($12.95 Saturdays), and all drinks for $1.25 at the Golden Nugget. A year's subscription to the publication, which notes each month's top 10 values, is $20. A sample copy is $2.

The publisher is Huntington Press, P.O. Box 28041, Las Vegas, Nev. 89126. Continued from Page 1 "But the recession in the late 1970s was more to blame." Now, the downturn is but a memory, and the building boom of the last two or three years has been incredible, he said. "We have about 65,000 hotel rooms; by 1992, 20,000 rooms will be added." More than 3,000 of the new rooms will become available Wednesday, when the Mirage opens on Las Vegas Boulevard, better known as the Strip.

On its exterior, the hotel has waterfalls, a volcano and a dolphin habitat. Its 3,049 rooms (including six bungalows, each with its own swimming pool) make it the hotel in the world. The largest, the Rossiya in Moscow, has 5,000 rooms but, next June, construction is scheduled to begin in Vegas on the MGM Grand, a facility with a movieland theme park. Across the strtet from the MGM Grand site, the Excali-bur, looking like a fairyland castle and being built by the owners of Circus Circus, is expected to open in June. "It will have a King Arthur theme, with jousting events and medieval games in a dinner-show arena," a spokeswoman said.

By comparison, the largest number of rooms in a casino hotel in Atlantic.City is 1,300 at Bally's Park Place. BURLINGTON COUNTY TRANSIT Daily service available from Sutton Towers, Cooper River Plaza. Towers of Windsor Park. Landmark Apartments and McGuire's Deli (Fairviewl. Please call 665-3700 for information and reservations.

SAFETY BUS Pennsauken 663-0300 Brooklawn 456-2692 Deptford 845-5664 Turnersville 227-1355 Merchantville 663-9190 Westmont 585-8323 3460001 Cinnaminson 829-7651 Cherry 4284215 GREYHOUND Day and Night Buses from Mt. Laurel. For information call 253-6030. COACHWAYS Afternoon service available. Medford Lakes 654-8400 Delanco 764-0303 Westampton 267-2567 Medford 654-7757 Willingboro 871-5220 5 DAY 4 NIGHT NfQuHM AVAIL.

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PA; Piedmont, TWA; U. United; US. USAir. Researched by the Tariff Department at Rosenbluth Travel. Fares are subject to change without notice.

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