Plaza de España in Seville, Spain

Plaza Espana Blue Hour

Plaza de Espana at Blue Hour

Although this large open square, Plaza de España, may look several hundred years old, it was built relatively recently, 1929, when Seville, Spain hosted the World’s Fair.  Access to this plaza and the huge adjacent gardens is free and it is so large it is never very crowded.  Great local music was being played and echoing around the tiled hallways as I explored this plaza.
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Farolitos or Luminarias in Taos

Farolitos and Luminarias on Ledoux Street Taos, NM

Farolitos and Luminarias on Ledoux Street Taos, NM

 

New Mexico has a tradition of lighting Farolitos and Luminarias during the holidays.  Above are brown paper bags with a bit of sand and small candle placed inside for illumination.  Small bonfires are also lit.  The other pastime in New Mexico, other than discussing which is better, red or green chile, is to argue if the bags are called luminarios and the small bonfires are called firelitos, or is it the other way around?  I prefer to call the scene above bag-a-litos so there is no mistake about it….

I spent the month of December 2013 in Taos searching for a specific Christmas scene.  An adobe wall and gate with a Christmas wreath, snow and some bag-a-litos.  Not only did I not find such a gate, but there was hardly any snow in December.  So the search goes on.  Ledoux Street was made famous in part by the Navajo artist, R.C. Gorman.

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Shamrock, Texas

One of the highlights of the trip down RT66 was to see some of the restored gas stations in Shamrock, Texas.  We were fortunate to have a storm roll in and give me some good evening clouds.  The trip to the Magnolia gas station was inspired by a photo photographer Ben Wilmore created.  Here is what I was able to capture of these fine restored gas stations.  Turns out you normally need reservations in this small town due to the oil and gas boom, but since it was a holiday weekend we were able to get a place for the night.

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