by We went to Roswell, New Mexico preparing to be amused, and we were. It is all aliens, all the time. Want a burrito? There’s an alien eating a burrito out front. Want a car wash? There’s a spaceship getting a spaceship-wash, if you will.
If you want the backstory on what happened (or didn’t) here, you can read our post on the International UFO Museum and Research Center, where sensitive readers will be able to deduce our opinion on the matter.
A fun fact about Roswell: John Denver was born here! His father was an Air Force pilot, serving at the base in town. The town is so focused on aliens, however, that you will not see this claim to fame mentioned anywhere.
The Roswell Incident
We did a two hour Roswell UFO Tour, which drove us around to sites that were not especially interesting, just old buildings where something supposedly happened, or an empty spot where something used to be. The crash site itself is far out of town, and not easily visited or included on the tour. It was mostly the story telling that had value, though I felt the story had a few holes and contradictions. More than once I said “wait, let me get this straight…” Our guide was very patient.
We also listened to the Roswell Legacy, written by the son of the man pictured with the weather balloon in the revised press release. The son was ten years old when his dad brought home some of the “spaceship” debris and let his wife and son handle it. I personally feel like I would have concerns about letting my family touch debris that I thought was extraterrestrial in origin, but maybe that’s just me. Anyway, the book, too, had a few holes and contradictions, we thought, but it was still a fun listen as part of our Roswell immersion.
Roswell UFO Spacewalk
We knew going in not to expect too much from the Spacewalk, so therefore it wasn’t possible to be disappointed. It took just a few minutes to walk through, and you can deduce the caliber of the experience by the accompanying pictures. No one can say we didn’t give Roswell our full attention and respect.
Roswell Museum
The Roswell Museum is a small museum focused on the art and history of the American Southwest. It didn’t take us very long to spin through it at all. As you can probably tell from the fact that I only have two pictures to share, there wasn’t much that caught our attention.
Roswell Nature Scenes
We went to the J Kenneth Smith Bird Sanctuary and Bitter Lake National Wildlife Refuge, where we didn’t see too many birds, but we did see a few lifers, so that was fun! Also, it is near impossible to differentiate between the water birds, I’m over them.
The Anderson Museum of Contemporary Art
We went to this museum just so I could be reminded how much I suck at contemporary art. I just Do.Not.Get.It. Take the pictured Exhaust, as an example. Greene clearly spent a lot of time on this giant piece of work, and my only response is just “WHY???” Doug, of course, enjoyed the museum much more than I.
Jen, no matter how hard I try, no matter how I contort my head (and brain), contemporary/abstract/modern art is lost on me. A new-ish friend from Ithaca does this type of art “very intensely and seriously.” Her works are in galleries and art shows. She keeps wondering why I have not visited these installations so she can share what each piece means. I’m just afraid that telling phrase “deer in the headlights” will inadvertently slip out.
Oh, I can’t even imagine having to talk to the artist about their work I didn’t get! Eek!