Miles Traveled: 19; Current Location: Roswell, NM

As a result of the hype that I feel I probably created yesterday by mentioning Alien City, I can only assume that you all must have already booked airline tickets and hotels to check it out for yourselves.  Cancel your reservations.  I’m not going to say that I haven’t appreciated my experience here, because I have, but unless you’re going to Roswell anyway (ha), I feel obligated to report that it’s not worth a special trip.

First of all, there is no such thing as Alien City.  For the first time that I can remember, I got it wrong.  It’s Alien Zone.  Second, the “official” UFO museum is called The International UFO Museum Center. Seriously.  I decided to go there first, it being officially international and all, and for the twenty minutes or so that I spent exploring the entire museum, I had a good time.  It reminded me of a 4th grade science fair.  There are interesting alien replicas and no shortage of poster board exhibits displaying news clippings about what is deemed the “Roswell Incident of 1947.”  There are also photos of the cast from the X-Files television show, sketches of what a UFO might look like (I’m not kidding), a seemingly irrelevant horse statue, and pieces of aluminum foil that are likely to be from the alien driven spacecraft that crashed here over 60 years ago.  It’s all great.

I enjoyed everything that I saw at The International UFO Museum Center, but my favorite parts of all were the quotes proudly displayed on each wall.  These quotes are from United States politicians and serviceman, all expressing the obvious reality that aliens exist.  My favorite is from General MacArthur, “the nations of the world will have to unite, for the next war will be an interplanetary war.  The nations of the earth must someday make a common front against attack by people from other planets.”  This quote is from 1957.  In fact, I was unable to find any highlighted quote spoken more recently than 1970.

In addition to the quotes, I found joy in reading the explanations provided for the continued coverup. “Constant worry would be a penetration of the research work by enemy spies.” “Rule number one for security is that you can’t tell your friends anything without telling your enemies. We would be giving our competitors the new technology.” And the best of all,  “Religious groups would be disturbed by any announcement that humans are not alone.”  Well, I guess we can all agree that they got at least one thing right.

All in all, the pictures of the museum that I have posted below chronicle nearly everything that I saw there, including the display about American astronauts that doesn’t address UFOs whatsoever and other museum go-ers who seemed to be taking the experience just a touch more seriously than I was.  I had fun, but if you have $5.00 to burn, I suggest Bedrock City or buying coffee at Starbucks as possible alternatives to the UFO experience

Following the International Museum, I went to Alien Zone and discovered that it’s just a bunch of alien statues doing weird things.  The photos offer a much better explanation than I can articulate, so as a rarity, I’m not going to try.

As far as I can tell, Roswell, New Mexico is a small town with some run down buildings and seemingly old fashioned ways of doing things, located in the middle of nowhere, but it is also home to incredibly kind and warm-hearted people.  In each of the places that I visited, I was cheerfully greeted and spoken with.  Even at the Chilis restaurant where I had lunch (at 1:00 on the dot), the server repeatedly asked if there was anything I needed and also seemed to know many of the other patrons by name.  Roswell has a nice, small town, feeling to it, and I have very much enjoyed visiting here.

After lunch, I went to the wildlife refuge down the road but failed to see any wildlife.  I did take some pictures of the beautiful fields on the way there however.  I know, I know… I’m really into fields.  Tomorrow I head to Austin, Texas where I will be staying with my former roommate for a few days.  From what I’ve heard about Austin and what I know about my former roommate, I can only assume that all kinds of antics are bound to ensue.  I really appreciate all of the responses that I have been getting throughout my trip, and I thank you all very much for reading my blog!