Dinner and the Theatre…ABQ Style (12/27/2014)

Christy Mae's is an Albuquerque classic hotel. And it's located near the fairgrounds where Musical Theatre Southwest puts on their performances. So it's not unusual to go to Christy Mae's for dinner before the show. Six of us met up here tonight. Check out today's special:

And of course, I ordered that...and it was delicious!

Tonight's play was "Shrek the Musical." It was a fabulous production! Wow! They really outdid themselves on this one.

 After the show, many of the actors hang out in the lobby to meet the theatre goers. Patricia never misses a chance to say hello and congratulate the cast and crew. Here she is with Donkey.

No Reservations Necessary (12/27/2014)

One of my favorite parts about any trip to Albuquerque is Saturday brunch at Millie's. We showed up a little early and the table is ready...water with lemon for everyone and two glasses of iced tea for Tom. Nothing like being a regular.

 I had Huevos Rancheros because, of course, it has green chile. The chiles were hot today but oh so yummy!

Farewell San Antonio, Hello Albuquerque! (12/26/2014)

Milkshakes and burgers for lunch in the San Antonio airport. How to choose between egg nog, white chocolate, and peppermint holiday milk shakes.

Boarding our San Antonio to Dallas flight.

Welcome to Albuquerque! This is a great welcome sign in the Albuquerque Sunport. That means "Welcome Home" for us.

Thank you for playing "Where's Patricia?" Hope you had fun (and hope you found the 1 Patricia in this blogpost).

Mission San José (12/26/2014)

It's our last day in San Antonio and we fly out today, but there's time for one last stop at Mission San José..."The Queen of the Missions." It is "the largest of the missions and was almost fully restored to its original design in the 1930s by the WPA (Works Projects Administration). Spanish missions were not churches, but communities, with the church the focus. Mission San José shows the visitor how all the missions might have looked over 250 years ago."

Here we are inside the courtyard of the mission, looking at the actual church building (which is owned and run by the Catholic Diocese of San Antonio while the rest of the grounds are taken care of by the National Park Service).

In the "corners" of the mission are circular bastions. Defenders would stand on the wooden platform and shoot through the small round holes while cannons were pointing out the larger holes at the bottom.

This is the "Rose Window" probably named for a person and not for its shape or color.

The entrance to the church.

Inside the church.

The Rose Window from the inside looking out.

One of many beautiful Christmas decorations, this one is under the Rose Window.

Did you find 2 Patricias?

Awesome Mail Box and a Fond Farewell (12/26/2014)

I was really hoping that this mailbox had a chute that would drop mail from the floors up above, but if it ever had one, it's either gone or well hidden. Or maybe it's just a great looking mailbox that never had a chute like the ones at The Roosevelt Hotel (Thankgiving 2009 with Rodney) or Le Château Frontenac (Summer 2011 with Karen). Farewell Alamo National Bank now Drury Inn. We had a blast during our tour of San Antonio. You were a great place to call home.

Last Night in San Antonio (12/25/2014)

Q: What is an American Christmas tradition for many people?
A: Go to the movies.
So why shouldn't we join those numbers? Our whole group went to see "Alamo: The Price of Freedom" at the IMAX Theatre in the Rivercenter Mall.

The movie theatre had a great Texas gift shop. They probably figured out that most everyone who comes to this movie is a tourist. Sooo many tacky Texas souvenirs that I was able to pass up. Even these chocolate covered Oreos decorated in a Texas motif. Sometimes I do have self-control.

And then it was back to our hotel for one last night of Kickback (and probably one of a very few places serving food at dinner time on Christmas night).

NOTE: There are no Patricias in this blog post.

An Afternoon at the San Antonio Zoo (12/25/2014)

Christmas afternoon, not a lot of places are open, but the San Antonio Zoo is open!

Christmas-colored macaws.

A beautiful bird. I forgot its name, but look how long its tail is!

Welcome jaguar.

I took eight photos of the jaguar who was pacing. This was the least blurry of them all and it's not because of my photography skills...that's just how fast he was pacing.

Cute carousel!

WITH A PANDA! (There wasn't anybody in line to ride the carousel, and the nice lady running it told me I could go ahead and get a close-up photo with the panda without having to buy a ticket.)

Pelicans! Sheryl's favorite. We got to watch this guy feed them. See the duck by his left foot? That duck attacked his shoe the entire 10 minutes we watched the feeding.

Hungry Hippos!! Yes, we watched the trainers feed the hippopotamuses and they were hungry. Very informative talk and demonstration, too.

Answer: 1 Patricia

Christmas Brunch Extraordinaire at Hotel Contessa (12/25/2014)

After our Santa gifts, we boarded our coach and headed to Hotel Contessa for a lavish Christmas Brunch Buffet.

Answer: 1 Patricia and a LOT of yummy food

Christmas Morning Visit from Santa (12/25/2014)

We left our Christmas gifts to each other back in Albuquerque, but hey! Karen gave us presents, so Merry Christmas! We opened our presents from Karen first thing this morning. Great gifts as usual... that girl does know how to pick out the perfect gift and wrap it up so nicely.

And just in case you're wondering... yes, Santa Claus can find you wherever you are. Here are all our tourmates in the lobby of the Drury.

Christmas gifts for everyone!

Answer: 1 Patricia

More Bad Photos from Our Awesome River Boat Ride (12/24/2014)

(NOTE: The photos are bad...the river boat ride was great.)

A man was walking his dog on the Riverwalk and started a conversation with our guide. The dog owner told us his dog was "a Texas chihuahua."

More great lights on our hour-long tour of the Riverwalk.

This is a lemon tree! Who knew they could grow in San Antonio.

And the boat tour comes to an end. It picked us up at the restaurant and dropped us off at our hotel. Talk about service!

So many lights, not enough Patricias.

Dinner and a Private Boat Tour on the River Walk (12/24/2014)

Christmas Eve dinner at Paesano's on the Riverwalk. We even had our own custom menu. It was all ooh la la and delicious.

I had the crab stuffed salmon with spinach and pesto linguini and lemon butter garlic sauce with capers.

After dinner, we had a private boat tour of the Riverwalk. The pictures aren't very good, but hopefully you can see that the lights were varied and beautiful.

Only 1 Patricia.