We made our big 21-years-later honeymoon trip! It may take me a while to tell you all about it because we squeezed so much in!
Our main destination was Las Vegas. But we drove. We therefore crossed half of Texas, all of New Mexico and all of Arizona...twice!!
There are so many things to do and see in all of these states. A week and a half just wasn't long enough. But we filled the time nicely.
We first drove to my parents house, about four hours West of us. They always say we don't come to see them enough. So we spent a night there. My brother, Dragonally (USM # 59331) and my sister live in the same town. So we got to visit with them too. In fact, we were having such a nice visit that we wound up staying there an extra night.
On Sunday we left after breakfast and went straight to Roswell, New Mexico. This was where the fun part of the vacation began! Many of the shops and buildings in the downtown area are secorated with the alien theme. (I took tons of pix) You can find alien souvenirs everywhere.
There are three alien museums in Roswell. We only got to visit 2 of them though, because one was closed on Sunday. First we visited the "Alien Zone" which isn't really a museum, though I think they list themselves as one. It is located at 216 N, Main. It is an alien gift shop and sort of like an ice cream parlor. For $2 each you can go through "Area 51". Here they have little dioramas set up with aliens in all sorts of situations. They encourage you to take photos of your family in the scenes with the aliens and only ask that if you get some good pix to send them a copy to post on the wall. I took lots of pictures of Denver with the aliens including sitting at a bar "having a beer" with the aliens. He took some of me with them too, including one where I was in a jail cell with an alien. It wasn't educational on the subject of UFO's and aliens, but it was certainly fun!
Next we went to the International UFO Museum and Research Center, which is located at 114 N. Main. This is the main one they have that is to educate people on the Roswell crash of 1947 and UFO phenomena in general. It is free to tour the museum. But you can have a self-guided audio tour for a $1 donation. This is where you walk through with a recording telling you all about the crash of 1947 and some general information as well.
This is a fairly large place with many nice displays. They have the old newspaper clippings re: the crash as well as lots of photos and info. They have bits of metal that were supposedly found at the crash site. They included photos of the metal being examined and told of the results of the testing it underwent. They do try to be unbiased and included info about doubts that the metal is authentic.
They don't restrict themselves to the Roswell Crash. They had info on UFO's in general and crop circles and etc. They had photos of UFO's. Some authentic unknowns, some fake and some mis-identifications. All were clearly labeled as to which were which. I like that they do not try to pass them all off as being real just to further their own beliefs.
They have lots of artwork depicting aliens and UFO's. Some of it was quite beautiful. They have a UFO information and research library there.
They have "experts" such as Stanton Friedman come in and give lectures. The gift shop has, along with the usual souvenirs, many books and videos on the subject of aliens and UFO's. They also sell videotapes of the lectures given there. And when Someone comes to lecture there, they get them to autograph some copies of their books, which they then sell in the giftshop. I bought an autographed copy of Stanton Friedman's "Top Secret/ Majic" and an autographed copy of "The Area 51 and S-4 Handbook" by Chuck Clark.
We only spent the afternoon in Roswell and went to Ruidoso to spend the night. The horse racing season is over for the year, so there wasn't much to do there except enjoy the scenery. But that is why I wanted to go there. Denver had never been there. My family used to go there often, and I had tried to tell him what a beautiful place it is. But you have to see it to believe it. He says he would like to vacation there some time and spend more than just one day.
While there we did take time to visit the museum of the West (I don't remember the exact name of it). But it was really nice. I enjoyed it because they had photos and info on the famous outlaws and lawmen of the West. Denver enjoyed it because they have a huge collection of guns that were used in nearly every old TV Western and Western movie that was ever made. Obviously he loves old Westerns, in spite of being a MAJOR Trekkie!
This was the last main stop we made before Vegas. We did visit some Indian gift shops on the way through Arizona. If you want authentic silver and turquoise jewelry the reservations are the best place to go. We spent the night in Flagstaff, Arizona before we headed on toward Nevada.
I had been all over New Mexico and Arizona when I was younger. Growing up in West Texas, we were too close to New Mexico to not take advantage of it. And I have always had relatives in Arizona, so had been handy to go all over that state too. I had even been to Vegas once, but that was 20-odd years ago. While there I had visited the Hoover Dam. Denver had never seen any of the things we were seeing on this trip. So I wanted to be sure he saw the dam too. So of course we drove over it and entered Nevada that way.
This is getting kinda long, so I will do another post about Las Vegas!
Hope I haven't bored you too much!!
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