Tatum, Nm to Roswell, Nm

Roswell UFO Museum and Research Centre was our first stop on arrival - it had to be, given the history of Roswell! Well, this was one of their exhibits. We're not sure if we trust a museum that has plastic trolls..... to be fair, a lot of information was very relevant.

Roswell, New Mexico July 7th 1947 - the local paper reports that official military sources discover a 'flying saucer'. The very next day, the official line was: 'weather balloon'. Was it real or a cover up??? You be the judge - more to follow on this intriguing story...

The tour became increasingly frightening, it was of course our first time experiencing aliens. From the Roswell incident, through semi-fictional encounters such as Betty and Barny Hill, to Encounters of the First, Second and Third Kinds, right up to Erich von Däniken. The problems started, we thought, at the beginning, with the incredibly retro walkman audio cassette tour. In fact most of the town seemed to have plastic aliens (additionally, most were dusty and kinda sad)...

We rang up to experience 'The Tour' - the slow, methodical voice asked us how many humans were booking the tour. We later learned (from the UFO museum Research Library, which added a certain authenticity to a somewhat flakey subject) that although the tour operator claimed to be a co-author of the Ultimate Guide to the Roswell UFO Crash, he only took the photographs, was fired from the UFO museum, and the tour consists mainly of him pointing to non-public areas and explaining what happened behind the closed doors, all for a measly $50!

After a grilled ham'n'cheese, we decided to do the Roswell Space Center - well, it was really for children - the $2 blacklight Roswell Spacewalk might have been better if we were hippies in search of the mother ship, but the Roswell School of Fine Arts t-shirts did win local awards, so a better class of toot, if you will.

In the 1930's, after new financial backing, the inventor of the rocket Robert H. Goddard relocated to Roswell, New Mexico. He was not recoginised until many years after his death. On a lighter note, there are many, many paintings of aliens in Roswell in various guises - this one is a Mexican bakery alien.

This one, just around the corner, served as the Matador for the local Mexican grill 'El Toro Bravo' - The Wild Bull. Alien.

The Coca-cola Alien.

The sleepy, 20-year-old poker-playing alien shop-front sculpture. Check out the ace up the sleeve - even aliens have to cheat sometimes.

The tourist information guide tried to convince us that the light rays from the photo-flash were from the mothership. It was at this point that we knew we had to get out of town.

After a hasty exit to stage left, we encountered this R2-D2 shaped (official) US Postal Service postbox. In case confusion reigned, (less than 10 meters away) a normal blue postbox waited for the George Lucas-illiterate.

A long day, a long week - in any case, we thought we deserved a treat - so we paid extra for an upgrade to a suite with built-in hot-tub and two TVs! Nothing beats alien abductions like a long hot soak...