Chasing Aliens in Roswell

Kristin and I have been on a lot of road trips, but it’s always been about getting to the destination. We knew we wanted this road trip to be different, so we picked a few mini-destination along each route. How could you not stop in Roswell on the way to Albuquerque?

We arrived in Roswell late into the night on Jan 2nd, and as we cruised down Main St. we started to chuckle at the whimsy of it all. Roswell is a town that gives you exactly what you want. Starting with green glowing alien heads for street lamps and a McDonalds that’s shaped like a UFO. We took a couple turns around the strip, grabbed a sticker for our cargo carrier at a gift shop, and then proceeded to our hotel.

We wanted to see the sights before checkout, so we started bright and early. Beginning with the International UFO Museum and Research Center, we saw great collection of newspaper clippings. It was like when the conspiracy theorist goes crazy. You walk into his apartment and the walls are filled with newspapers all connected with yarn. It all adds up! We were a little worried because reviews mentioned that they took themselves a little too seriously, but we spent an hour skimming through documents and learning the difference between fake UFO pictures and the real deal.

Next up we embraced the sillier side of Roswell by walking down to Alien Zone. From the pictures you’d think Alien Zone is some kind of amusement park, but it’s really just a mediocre gift shop with an amazing back room. You pay a couple bucks to get an Area 51 pass. Through the saloon style door, they have about 20 different interactive scenes.  We had a cook out in an alien backyard, had an alien beer, and even had our bodies swapped. Good times!

While I don’t think we want to call Roswell home, we’re glad we took a day off the road to check it out.