UFOs and Ancient Rocks

We spent an extra day in Artesia, NM so we could visit Roswell and check out the UFO tourist attractions there. We had a great time acting like kids and the photo ops were great! Here's a fun movie we made about our UFO adventure:

Video here: http://youtu.be/cNcK6s7CCxY

While walking around town we found lots of interesting, non-UFO things as well: Roswell is a major hub for cattle and the oil industry, is home to the prestigious New Mexico Military institute with some famous alumni, was Robert Goddard's home and rocket launch location for his most successful rocket designs, and has has a very active art community. There are a number of nice museums and a small community playhouse that has regional notoriety.

We visited the Anderson Museum of Cultural Arts when it opened at 1pm and were lucky to be able to listen to a jazz group practice as we enjoyed the gallery. A number of the artworks are viewable on their web site here - roswellamoca.org/

Our next stop was Moab, Utah but it was almost 700 miles away. That's about 16 hours of driving so we decided to stop at dusk and spend the night in a Walmart parking lot in Cortez, NM. For those of you who don't know about Walmart parking, most stores allow campers to park in the outer lot for the night and we take advantage of them the break up long trips. Also a great chance to stock up on supplies!

We made it to Moab before lunch and hopped in the car to visit Arches National Park. We have seen the Grand Canyon and Zion but this park was unique in its stone formations and famous arches. The arches are unique in that just the right amount of salt, sand, water, and time were required to make them appear. The area is also geologically stable allowing the delicate arches to remain erect. Quite a feat considering all of the extinct volcanoes and fault lines nearby!

We're on the road again today, headed for Salt Lake City. The drive through the mountains on hwy 6/191 is quite beautiful. At over 7000 feet we are close to the snow line!