Fogbound Reagans See Greetings in Sky : Large Banner Is Flown Over Ranch as Family Marks Holiday

President and Mrs. Reagan gathered with their family for a quiet Thanksgiving dinner at their fogbound ranch in the Santa Ynez mountains, where the main topic of conversation was the weather.

The fog, prominently noted in the daily ranch report distributed to reporters, threatened to disrupt plans for a local aviation company to trail a 120-foot banner over the ranch, extending holiday greetings to the Reagans. But the clouds and fog dissipated later in the day, and pilot Pete Cottle flew over the ranch with the red-and-white banner reading: “Happy Thanksgiving Ron and Nancy.”

The fog had also made photographers reluctant to embark on the “suicide run” up the mountain to the ranch, knowing that the single-lane dirt road with its hairpin turns was shrouded by heavy mist.

Traditional Dinner

However, the Reagans did not seem to mind the enforced seclusion as they sat down to a traditional turkey dinner, prepared by Ann Allman, the Reagan family’s longtime cook in California. It was an all-American menu that included corn-bread dressing, cranberries, string beans, mashed potatoes, salad, pumpkin pie and monkeybread, a family favorite.

At the table in the modest, mountaintop adobe cottage were Reagan’s older brother, Neil, his wife, Bess, and three of the President’s four children, with their families. Only Maureen Reagan was unable to attend.

The Reagans have spent almost every Thanksgiving at the ranch since they bought it in 1974. Reporters who accompanied the President on this trip have found it to be one of the quietest of his presidency. There has been no news of substance.

Demanding Agenda

It is the last respite that the President will have before he returns to Washington on Monday to grapple with a demanding agenda of domestic issues.

Reagan will stop in Seattle on his way home for two fund-raising appearances on behalf of Sen. Slade Gorton (R-Wash.).

The White House also announced two other trips Reagan will make next week. On Wednesday, he will travel by helicopter to Fallston, Md., where he will speak to high school students.

On Thursday, the President will head for New York City, where he will be the featured guest at the 30th anniversary dinner of the conservative publication, the National Review.

United Press International reported that Reagan will go to Mexicali, Mexico, on Jan. 3 for a meeting with Mexican President Miguel de la Madrid.