Thanksgiving 2016 in New Mexico

Thanksgiving was splendid! Hours and hours of work, consumed in a matter of minutes! That evening we went to the Railyard, a new modernish development near the old railway station that is currently the terminus of the heavy-rail line to Albuquerque. That is where the Violet Crown is located and where we saw Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

Friday while Rob worked, Anna drove everyone else up to the Valles Caldera for a look-see and a short hike. Valles Caldera (or Jemez Caldera) is a 13.7-mile wide volcanic caldera in the Jemez Mountains of northern New Mexico. Coincidentally they were selling Christmas trees at the ranger station and Anna made a snap decision and bought two. In the afternoon we had a gallery stroll back at the Railyard and downtown near the Plaza. When it was dark we went back to town to enjoy the lighting of the Plaza, with lights (of course), music, and hot chocolate on a crisp winter evening.

 Making apple crisp with Grammy

 Everyone did her/his part

 Clara did the centerpiece

 Roberto carved the bird

Everyone took a turn expressing thanks before we ate


Now dig in

 And everyone enjoyed

East end of the table


North side of the table

 A very cool theater

 A fun movie

The pine-covered bump in the center is the Cerro La Jara

 Valles Caldera

 Jemez Mountains in the distance

 A jolly crew

 A happy find at a fine price

 Boy Scouts at work

 Cerro La Jara (la jara means rockrose) is a mound-shaped 

mountain in the middle of Valles Caldera

 On the Cerro La Jara trail

It is fun to be with these folks

 A beautiful spot even in early winter

 The library in downtown Santa Fe

 This building played the courthouse in Longmire

 The Loretto Chapel at 5:30 P.M.

 St. Francis Cathedral and the La Fonda Hotel shops

 A New-Mexican controversy: luminaria is a Christmas-eve

bonfire; this paper-bag lantern is a farolito, even though everyone
outside of Northern New Mexico wrongly calls them luminarias

Javier Gonzalo, mayor of Santa Fe, threw the switch

Not Temple Square, but pretty darned good

The Santa-Fe Hastings on the Plaza

A really good little jazz band played Christmas music

Rob and Santa Clarita

Cathedral Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi on a
cold winter evening

These were a couple of fun days. There is still more to come even though this is all for now.

OXO

D.