San Felipe de Neri Church

While we were in Albuquerque, we decided to take a quick tour of San Felipe de Neri Church. Founded in 1706, it sits on the north side of the square in the Old Town section of Albuquerque. San Felipe, named after King Phillip of Spain, is actually the oldest surviving building in the city. Having left Saby back in the hotel room, Craig and I were able to go inside this trip. Much to my surprise, pictures were allowed, so I took some photos of the altars. We were impressed with the beauty of the interior!

Church Street Cafe

We discovered a wonderful Mexican restaurant in Old Town Albuquerque last year, so we seized the opportunity to make a return visit on Tuesday evening. The food is fantastic! Not to mention we were craving a great meal after our week of cheap fast food on the road. The Church Street Cafe was originally Casa de Ruiz, a home built by the Ruiz family in the early 1700's. They estimate 1706 -- around the time Albuquerque was founded. The house remained in the Ruiz family until Rufina Ruiz died in 1991. Then the home was sold and became Church Street Cafe. Casa de Ruiz is said to be the oldest residence in Albuquerque and one of the oldest structures in the state of New Mexico. The house was completely decorated for the season on Tuesday night. The perfect conclusion to a Christmas tour of Old Town!

I have to apologize because Craig and I both consumed half our dishes before we remembered to snap a couple of photos. He had the pork tamales with rice and beans, while I had the chicken taco salad. The food was to die for, as always! Fresh hot tortilla chips and perfectly seasoned salsa preceded the meal, and the fresh hot sopapillas and honey afterwards were yummy! If you're ever in Albuquerque, we highly recommend it!

Old Town Doors

I've always had an obsession with photographing doors. In Old Town Albuquerque, the possibilities were endless with so many doors dressed up for Christmas. Here are some of my favorites!

Old Town Albuquerque

We woke up Tuesday morning to snow in Tucumcari, New Mexico. We took our time leaving because we figured time would be our friend, but it actually started snowing harder once we were on the road. We had planned on taking a side trip to Santa Fe to spend one night, but scratched that since it's a higher elevation and gets more snow. Instead, we decided to spend the night in Albuquerque. And am I glad we did! We visited Old Town and it was fully decked out for Christmas. Seeing all the beautiful decorations there really put me in a Christmas mood! I took loads of pictures -- so many that I'll need to organize them to post! These are just a few teasers. By the way, we kept hearing this Elvis Presley/Martina McBride duet on the radio, so I thought I'd post it!