It is no secret that we love love to travel, and it has not been as often since moving to West Texas. There is just simply nothing here, and going anywhere for here is a huge mission - it requires lots of planning, time off, and more cash then usual.
I am hopeful that one day we will be able to live in a green forest, and become professional hikers - more on that later!
It has always been a dream of mine to see the Grand Canyon - so we decided that for my 30th birthday we will make it happen - so that is how this trip was born.
We decided on road-tripping to Arizona, and stopping a long the way - and it was fantastic - we had idea of things to do (and if we felt like it we did and if we didn't feel like it, we just didn't do it.)
Hence Roswell.
I have always been fascinated with the whole Roswell set-up, and being shamelessly into the TV show, sure didn't help this little obsession.
I will also go ahead and call out my brother on the fact that we NEVER missed and episode, and that we always use to watch it together - and we thought it was the coolest (no denial here.)
So when we roughly mapped out our route and I realized it was taking us right through Roswell, New Mexico, this plan was set into motion.
The Intentional UFO Museum and Research Center was a must on our adventure. It is super inexpensive, well presented, informative, clean, and open pretty much all the time. I would recommend going earlish to avoid some of the crowds.
** The lighting is a little bit of a pain, and makes taking pictures difficult with glares.
We had so much fun (well I had a blast, Nate just think I am super weird.) The kids thought it was super cool - so just to be clear Roswell and the alien stuff is super cheesy and not scary at all, so it really didn't phase the kids much (no nightmares, or scary thoughts.)
We spent a couple of hours here, reading all the exhibits and learning a bunch more about the actual incident - it is actually quiet fascinating, even though I don't really believe in aliens.
I loved watching Ian walk around and read EVERYTHING. Ever since reading clicked to him, he pretty much reads everything now, all the time. From sauce bottles on a restaurant tables, to books, billboards, ads, and an occasional text message on my phone when it goes off and I am not in the room (we have had to have a talk about that - lol)
I love this set up because everything is an opportunity to learn something new.
I loved how the the museum had so much information to display, and that it was done coherently. It was super interesting to read it all - the accounts, the events that happened afterwards, it was actually pretty convincing.
The cheesiest part of the museum....
This display played the "classic" alien music while producing smoke at the bottom of the spaceship - it was kind of cringe worthy but so fun.
This was Ian's favorite module build that he wanted a picture of so that he could recreate it at home with his Legos.
I was beyond elated to see the following poster.... read obsession at the beginning of this post.
I just enjoyed all the information they put out there, like I said I don't really believe in aliens, but it is super interesting to read other people's accounts and experiences - even though some of it sounds like complete insanity.
The gift shop was fun to browse through...
The little downtown area of Roswell where the museum is located is super cute. We were there on a Sunday morning so naturally everything was closed (small town life) so we weren't able to go into any of the stores. They all have super cheesy displays, but hey that is how they make money.
After our morning in Roswell, we headed to Albuquerque, this is a great half way point for our road trip to Arizona.
We arrived right before dinner time, checked into our little hotel, and headed to this awesome little local restaurant, called Monroes, if you are ever in the area I would highly recommend that you try it out.
Since we aren't locals our server did an awesome job to expose us to New Mexico mexican food, with a whole little platter to try out before we ordered.
Even my pickiest of eaters tried everything on this plate....
The food was amazing.... it was not the healthiest, but it was local, and I am all for trying out some of the local foods - it is really all about balance. Always get the green and the red sauce together - the green chilies were phenomenal.
Even though the majority of the day was spend in the car, it was fabulous to be together. The kids did awesome, and I can totally see more road trips in our future....
This trip was probably one of my all time favorites!
Stay tuned for our actual time in Arizona.
Happy Wednesday!
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