It's been several days, and my shoes are still shedding fine white dust from White Sands National Monument. In fact, Stephen kicked great crusted chalky piles of it off his vehicle in Carlsbad.
Dust around here seems to stick. The small amounts of red mud from Little Wild Horse canyon still show on my shoes and socks (I'm going to have to try bleach). The red dust from Monument Valley was clinging to the back bumper of Stephen's car until we went through a car wash after Vegas (that's a lot of highway driving).
It makes me wonder: Why buy people souvenirs? Just go into their house and stamp your feet. "Here's a little bit of Monument Valley for you, there's some gypsum from White Sands - and oh, there might be a little dandruff in there too. Had we gone to El Paso, we might be shaking marijuana leaves off our shoes, but alas..."
So, anyway, we're still is Roswell. Why stay in Roswell? We didn't want to hit Santa Fe at the end of the long weekend, as Santa Fe is more of a destination stop and hotels were more likely to be full. So, you see, we're planning ahead for once. :-)
As mentioned before, Roswell is a mixture of alien kitsch, military academy, and medium-sized normal town. I'm not sure who's winning - the aliens, the military, or the normals...
Anyway, the UFO Museum and Research Center was not expensive at $5, but it was a little too earnest for my taste. This is a place that really, really wants to believe. A lot of its displays are newspaper clippings and reports centred around the "Roswell Incident", as well as various photographic "proof" of UFOs, but - on the other hand - there's also some fun artwork around the place. However, unless you want to read up on Roswell, you might do well to stick to the nearby alien gift shops.
But, for the real fun, you need to head a little further down the street to the Alien Zone. Like everyone else in Roswell, they sell Alien t-shirts and toys. And, for a mere $3, you can get into their "Area 51" section, where you can pose with bobble-headed aliens in multiple settings. So awesome! Now this is the Roswell we came to see!
Alas, after that, I think we've seen Roswell. There is supposed to be an interesting historical park, but our treacherous GPS claims it can't find it. Oh well, moving on.
Driving out of Roswell is very much like driving through Saskatchewan. Plains rolling off in every direction, although the vegetation is obviously scrubbier and more desert-like. In the fields, you can see that the ground also tends more towards sandy red dirt and white (alkali). There are farms, but I presume most of this wilder area is cattle country?
Yes, the scenery out here is as bland as it is at home. I keep waiting to see Lumsden over the next hill. :-)
Dust around here seems to stick. The small amounts of red mud from Little Wild Horse canyon still show on my shoes and socks (I'm going to have to try bleach). The red dust from Monument Valley was clinging to the back bumper of Stephen's car until we went through a car wash after Vegas (that's a lot of highway driving).
It makes me wonder: Why buy people souvenirs? Just go into their house and stamp your feet. "Here's a little bit of Monument Valley for you, there's some gypsum from White Sands - and oh, there might be a little dandruff in there too. Had we gone to El Paso, we might be shaking marijuana leaves off our shoes, but alas..."
So, anyway, we're still is Roswell. Why stay in Roswell? We didn't want to hit Santa Fe at the end of the long weekend, as Santa Fe is more of a destination stop and hotels were more likely to be full. So, you see, we're planning ahead for once. :-)
As mentioned before, Roswell is a mixture of alien kitsch, military academy, and medium-sized normal town. I'm not sure who's winning - the aliens, the military, or the normals...
Anyway, the UFO Museum and Research Center was not expensive at $5, but it was a little too earnest for my taste. This is a place that really, really wants to believe. A lot of its displays are newspaper clippings and reports centred around the "Roswell Incident", as well as various photographic "proof" of UFOs, but - on the other hand - there's also some fun artwork around the place. However, unless you want to read up on Roswell, you might do well to stick to the nearby alien gift shops.
But, for the real fun, you need to head a little further down the street to the Alien Zone. Like everyone else in Roswell, they sell Alien t-shirts and toys. And, for a mere $3, you can get into their "Area 51" section, where you can pose with bobble-headed aliens in multiple settings. So awesome! Now this is the Roswell we came to see!
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| Roswell |
Alas, after that, I think we've seen Roswell. There is supposed to be an interesting historical park, but our treacherous GPS claims it can't find it. Oh well, moving on.
Driving out of Roswell is very much like driving through Saskatchewan. Plains rolling off in every direction, although the vegetation is obviously scrubbier and more desert-like. In the fields, you can see that the ground also tends more towards sandy red dirt and white (alkali). There are farms, but I presume most of this wilder area is cattle country?
Yes, the scenery out here is as bland as it is at home. I keep waiting to see Lumsden over the next hill. :-)
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