I'm 90% sure we had an exam the day we came back from Thanksgiving break, which would mean the following weekend would've be an off weekend. The schedule changes year to year though depending on how they work the courses. You probably won't know the specifics of that time period till sometime in August sadly.
This isn't accurate. We had Monday and Tuesday lectures then we were off from Wednesday until the Monday after Thanksgiving. Then we had that full week of lectures and then an exam the Monday after that week. I remember this because I thought I would get ahead over break because I didn't travel anywhere for it.
You should be fine to take off. I believe a majority of our class did and some left the weekend before the break and just got caught up watching lectures from a distance.