Anniversary Part 1: Roswell

I chose Carlsbad Cavern in Southeast New Mexico as the destination for our 23rd wedding anniversary.  Stephen did most of the research, determining the route and the other places to see along the way, and booking the hotels.  This is how Team Marino goes on vacation.  Stephen likes to stay in hotels that have "character" and to eat in restaurants with "local color."  So no chains or safe choices for us!  So far that has worked out pretty well.

Our first stop was Roswell, NM.  I have never been that interested in UFOs or conspiracy theories, so I didn't know the story behind Roswell's fame.  The very short version is that in the summer of 1947, a rancher found some debris and reported it to the local sheriff.  The Air Force took control of the area, and the official report was that a weather balloon had crashed.  Decades later, conspiracy theories were launched by various publications and documentaries claiming that an alien spaceship had crashed and the Air Force had covered it up.

Roswell has made the most of its fame, as you can see:

This place was full of alien-themed kitsch, and you could pay to go through a spacewalk (we didn't).

We really did have to check this out.

 The UFO Museum and Research Center was a hoot.  There were newspaper accounts of the 1947 events, and lots of interviews with various people involved.  There were many documents to "debunk" the official explanations given by the government at the time.  The presentation was clever -- the museum included a few exhibits about hoaxes to give the as yet unexplained stories more credence.  And then there was the simply ridiculous:

The museum also featured alien abduction stories and UFO photographs.  And they have a records library for "research."  We skipped that part.

Roswell has many businesses like this one.

Even the local Mexican restaurant is on board!

 Roswell was a fun place to visit, and we could have spent more time walking around, but we wanted to get to Carlsbad in time for dinner.  Stephen had booked us a room at the Trinity Hotel, which was recently renovated from the ruins of its previous incarnation as a bank.  On the way to Carlsbad we drove through rain, which is very unusual for this area, and during the night there was a tremendous thunderstorm.  The Trinity did have lots of character, and our room was spectacular.

We had a lovely dinner in the hotel and took a walk around the area.  During our walk we found an auto museum that Stephen was interested in seeing if we had time after going to the cavern the next day. 
Day 1 of the weekend was complete.