Roswell

Greetings from afar!

As many know, I am a true Roswellian and fell in love with a TV show about four aliens, so traveling to Roswell, NM was an absolute must! When the alarm went off at 5 a.m. to begin our long trek to Roswell, I quickly jumped into the shower and was all smiles at the thought of heading to this magnificent city! I had it all worked out in my mind: we would eat lunch at the Crashdown with the gang and then I would meet up with Maria's mom for some of her famous pie and corny alien trinkets...The following is an account of how things actually went.

We arrived there around 2 p.m. after seeing endless miles of beautiful landscape, all the cows and horses I could wish for! I did truly enjoy the drive, but near the end, I was definitely getting antsy! When we saw signs starting to count down the miles to Roswell, I could barely contain myself! We headed right to the UFO Research Center and Museum. The buildings along Main Street had aliens hanging from the tops and stuffed aliens lined the streets. It was quite humorous. The museum was filled with persuasive, factual evidence convincing all of us in extra-terrestial life and space ships. Ha ha, okay, I can't say that we believe, but they did fill their walls with at least 20 affidavits where people poured out their versions of what happened that fateful day back on July 4, 1947.

The true highlight of the museum was the gift shop -- they had Roswell trading cards (from the show! It was filled with ridiculous, tacky nick-knacks that made all of us laugh as we filled our arms and headed to the check out counter. To give you an idea, Shannon and I bought bumper stickers that say: Buckle up, it makes it harder for the aliens to suck you up. Oh it is too funny!! So, unfortunately, I did not run into my Max or any of the others, but I had such a wonderful time!

The girls humored me and got boat loads of ridiculous pictures, all with aliens. After the museum we went to a small zoo and enjoyed some animals. We were more impressed with the wild prairie dogs though. They were so adorable and they just scampered all around digging their holes!

We went to our beloved Sonic for dinner before heading back on the road to Silver City, NM. It was my turn to drive because I was too excited to focus and drive earlier. We knew it was going to be about a five hour drive, so we headed out quickly. Most of the drive was absolutely beautiful, we passed so many rolling hills and mountains, it was amazing. We passed Smokey Bear's Historical museum and Valley of Ashes - quite the variety of attractions!

We had about sixty miles to go and the sun had completely set, we were thinking we would be ready to set up camp within the hour. OH HOW WRONG WE WERE! Highway 152 is very deceiving, let me warn all of you! You think you will be going down this nice country road, enjoying some scenery -- but oh no. This road wound around and around and twisted and turned for a solid 40 miles and we were lucky to be doing 20 mph. There were honest to goodness U-turns that winded us back, seemingly where we just came from. Needless to say there was a large drop off to one side for the majority of the drive as well. My eyes were focused on the road a few feet to both sides to avoid animals, so I did not notice this most of the time, but Shannie was kind enough to remind me while pointing out imaginary animals as well. Needless to say, we were so happy to reach our camp site!

The campsite was beautiful and had an elevated area just for our tent, which we assembled in ten minutes flat! I'm so impressed with us! And that, in probably painstaking detail, is our New Mexico adventure!!

Holly