So this is weird ... Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner spent Thanksgiving together with the kids, contrary to reports that Ben was away partying in the Bahamas with friends. Mr. Affleck was safe and sound with Jen and their three children and his mom, enjoying a turkey dinner on Thursday and they took this together-time a step farther with a road trip to Santa Barbara!

We spotted the pair in the street in front of Ben's Pacific Palisades home -- just a few blocks away from Jen's house -- getting into a pretty heated argument before Jen jumped behind the wheel to chauffeur the former couple to Santa Barbara. And there were NO KIDS with them ... just these two alone, for almost two hours, chatting and maybe fighting, and drinking coffee.

About an hour in, they stopped at a Starbucks drive-thru where their moods seemed to have calmed. They must have met up with the kids at the chic Miramar resort because when Jen was getting in the car she was carrying a game of Boggle and one of her daughter's books (both Seraphina and Violet are voracious readers). The nanny must have driven up separately with the kids so Ben and Jen could have some alone-time for what appeared to be a serious discussion that began right before they left LA. Ben looked pretty defensive ... was Jen accusing him of something?

Meanwhile, the family was together the day before Thanksgiving as well, going to the local Palisades movie theater to see Frozen 2. Obviously the celebrity parents organized the entire weekend as family time. Other divorced parents, take note!