Santa Fe and beyond

This is the famous Plaza Cafe, one of the great southwestern gastronomic destinations, according to RoadFood gurus Jane and Michael Stern. The menu is a juxtaposition of mexican, greek and comfort food--I opted for the much-heralded open-faced turkey sandwich (smothered in gravy...).

Chris did another Sawyer photo shoot on the plaza while I went souvenir shopping at the two Christmas stores around the corner--really, what woman can resist a Christmas store while on vacation? Let alone TWO??

Chris calls this one: "Backstage Pass"




















thoughtful musings...
















And then we left SF to drive toward Taos. Here's what a lot of the scenery looks like.








Our first stop was in Chimayo, where a 19th century chapel has become a pilgrimage spot (the "Lourdes of the Southwest" according to our tourist magazine) because of some miraculous dirt in the corner of said chapel.









And here it is....there was a service going on so you weren't able to go inside; you could get a peak from the open doors (and the inside was beautiful, with colorful, carved woodwork) and no pictures were allowed. I also wasn't able to find out what made that dirt miraculous, but I'm noticing a New Mexico theme...










There were all sorts of shrines and standing crosses like these and the above.










Next we went to Taos...but the daylight was becoming fleeting and we really had to get back to I-25 for the long drive home, so we did not visit the ruins. Chris is pretty convinced we'll be back here before too long, so hopefully we'll get the chance to see them then. This is looking across the cemetary to the two thousand year-old adobe structures.