The otherwordly cat was there again waiting for us as we loaded the Forester, again fairly vocal and this time managing to get inside the house. Cat was agreeble enough though when I scooped it up from the kitchen area and took it back outside again.
First stop was Dunkin Donuts, for donuts, coffee, and pics.
Had to walk down to check out the spaceship-themed McDonald's for a few pics there also.
Then back in car and on to Roswell Art Museum, which would be Museum 1 of 2 for the morning in Roswell. It was also the free one. And arguably the better of the two, both for having information dedicated to extraterrestrials as well as different sections devoted to art, as well as Native American history and artifacts of the area. It also had a special exhibit on quilting which was highly impressive -- had never seen quiltwork as intricately executed as for some in the exhibit.
Spent some time in the museum of art gift shop before heading out and trekking down to the UFO Museum, which was going to focus specifically on extraterrestrials (what Roswell is known for).
It was maybe a mile down the main road through town and we were parked, paid for the $5 pp entry and inside.
Have to say UFO Museum was a bit of a let-down. In concept was interesting that they had what were shared as classified docs about the UFO crash outside of Roswell in 1947.
Or, just a weather balloon that had crashed -- depending on what source you believe.
Other than for the somewhat chronological set of readings there were a few very un-realistic alien exhibits, as well as a section focusing on movies about aliens. Also, part of the back area was taped off due to the floors & baseboards being painted.
Spent maybe 30 minutes total in the UFO Museum, and the gift shop. After UFO Museum walked around immediate few blocks for other gift shop finds. Although, at that point the winds had kicked up and made it hard to walk into, or even look in the direction of, the winds.
Did manage to snap a pic of an alien lampost on the way back to the car.
Had lunch at Cowboy Cafe afterward, a Yelp find for local eats. I ordered their Alien Omelette. It had a Hatch Chile green sauce that was presumably what made it "alien" when you cut into it. Have to say it was pretty tasty.
After lunch we got in the Forester and headed south and west through the southwest. Post-Roswell plans for the day were to drive by/into White Sands National Monument (even though we already knew from website that it wasn't open b/c of gov't shutdown), drive out to and see the historic town of Lincoln, NM, have dinner in Las Cruces, NM, then drive an hour further west to the town of Deming, where we had booked motel rooms at a Best Western there.
The town of Lincoln was some miles off of the main highway we were taking to get from Roswell to Las Cruces. The draw was that it was a city preserved overall from the period of the 1870's and 1880's. Paid $5 for entry into the main buildings, as well as for a map of the town. Learned through some of the exhibits this was where Billy the Kid became infamous (had heard the name B the K but didn't know anything else). Also notable that a former president had dubbed Lincoln’s main street “the most dangerous street in America."
For some of the buildings, like the general store, they were preserved in a state that presumaby was how they operated the 130+ years ago. I noted through the windows for the general store there was a whole back wall with shelves containing what I believed were glass shades for oil lamps.
After Lincoln milling about (maybe 45 minutes total) back on the road to head down to Las Cruces. On the way we passed by the White Sands Nat'l Monument, which had signage noting was closed. Was interesting to see for the desert landscape the clear distinction between White Sands lands, which were higher and really dunes at their periphery butting up to the roadside at least, and the otherwise flat, brown-ish scrubby desert landscape. As we continued driving we passed a small area where the dunes butted up to the highway. Maybe 8 cars parked right there -- expecting it was people getting their White Sands experience in in spite of the closure. We were not so adventurous. Long day and it was getting dark.
Made it to Las Cruces and had dinner and each a flight of beer at High Desert Brewing Company. And a chips and salsa & queso for the table. My green chile stew with jalapeno cornbread was pretty good.
After dinner it was another hour's drive west to the town of Deming, where we had booked the overnight stay at the highway-side Best Western to get a jump on getting into Tucson the next day. Checked in to hotel rooms for the night and for early wakeup Saturday.
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