Roswell, NM

Roswell is such a fun little town! They have absolutely embraced the 1947 Roswell incident, when some people reported the crash of a flying saucer and posterior coverup by the US government, and the stores, coffee shops, and even the street lights are covered with alien and UFO references.

We started by having coffee and pastries at Stellar Coffee and then went to the International UFO Museum and Research Center. What a fun and ridiculous place! It covers the history of the 1947 Roswell incident and other phenomena related to UFO research from a very "believer" perspective, to put it that way, and it hosts a few displays with aliens, flying saucers, and so on.

After the museum, we walked a bit around town and went into some of the stores selling t-shirts and other souvenirs with space messages and UFO puns, some of them kind of questionable, such as a Mexican-dressed alien under an "illegal alien" graphic.

It's worth noting that Roswell, like much of the area we have gone through during this road trip, is very conservative. In the last days, we have seen signs with anti-abortion messages, anti-Biden slogans, pro-Trump flags, gun stores and ads, and a guy in San Antonio wearing a t-shirt that said "don't California my Texas," whatever that means.Read more