I imagined Roswell to be a tiny alien-themed everything town in the middle of nowhere New Mexico.  The middle of nowhere part was right.  The tiny town part wasn’t.  It’s not huge, like Albuquerque, but it’s not tiny either.  The alien-themed everything was a little off too, but it was still pretty close.  I had high expectations and maybe they should have been a little lower.

Our first impression was on our way to Carlsbad Caverns.  Upon our return from the caves, we arrived at our accommodation for the night: Americas Best Value Inn.  It was cheap, yes.  But it was also dirty.  And smoky.

If you like occasional stains, smoke smell, killing flies, and sawing in the middle of the night, this is the place for you.  If you don’t like those things, stay somewhere else.  The weirdest part was definitely waking up to the sawing sound from the room next door in the middle of the night.  Neither of us knew what it was or had any idea at all.  It was a bizarre night.

This meant I was looking forward to the alien museum in the morning quite a bit.  Also buying everything alien that I could.  I didn’t know what to expect from the museum, but it wasn’t as exciting as I hoped.  

There was too much reading and it was pretty small.  I’m not a huge museum person and tend to just scan and go through pretty quickly.  But there were a lot of nice alien, uhh, sculptures, all over.  It’s definitely a fun stop, though.

We got to see how they look when they land.  Old and scared.

How they sleep.  In horizontal incubators.

How they Tan.  In vertical incubators with crazy space tanning light rays.

And how they get operated on.  Just like people.

It was fun to see all of this stuff and buy all the alien things, but I wouldn’t make a trip for Roswell alone.  It was a last-minute addition to our New Mexico portion of the trip and I’m glad I finally got to see it.  I’ve wanted to for years.  Now maybe I’ll see the real ones next time. 

While you’re there, make sure to look at the streetlamps.  They’re little alien heads.  The McDonalds also looks like a UFO. If this strange little town isn’t already on your bucket list, add it.

Tips for visiting Roswell, New Mexico:

• This is a great stop on your way to or from Carlsbad Caverns National Park.  I really don’t think you need to spend too much time here.
• Definitely don’t stay at the Americas Best Value Inn.
• It gets SO HOT here in the summer, so make sure you stay hydrated.  This was the first stop on our road trip where it broke 100 degrees (in July, we were very lucky we got cooler weather in Utah, like in the 80s).
• Make sure you get gas a lot if you’re driving in this area because everything is really far apart and better safe than sorry.  Same goes for bathrooms.

Have you been to Roswell?  What did you think of it?  Do you want to go?  Have you seen aliens?  Do you believe in them?  So many questions!

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