I gotta hand it to Roswell, NM. They know how to convert alien-wary kids into alien superfans in one stop. And, no, it’s not the iconic International UFO Museum.
It’s McDonald’s.
Shaped like a UFO, the enormous PlayPlace room carries on the theme, complete with a creepier than usual astronaut Ronald McDonald.
I took close-up pictures of Ronald, but I immediately deleted them and signed up for copious therapy when I get back home to dispel my reemerging-never-present-before fear of clowns.
Ahem.
Anyway, McDonald’s: Win. Earl went from alien “would you please stop whistling the X-Files theme, Mom?” hater to alien “Hey, you wanna play another round of X-Files QuizUp?” fangirl.
Sorta.
(Though I must admit, those things creep me out almost as much as astronaut Ronald.)
I had warned Earl about the aliens with their hovering UFO at the museum. We’d even watched a YouTube video of the whole exhibit firing up with steam coming from the underside of the UFO and creepy lights dancing around the aliens. While that kept her from up and running out of the building, it didn’t keep her from walking around the entire museum with her fingers in her ears.
At least her hands weren’t over her eyes, I guess?
She was actually very cool with the whole thing, even looking closely at the creepy alien replicas scattered here and there. Like this guy, who she later wondered why he was chilling in a tanning bed.
I don’t know, Earl. Maybe to catch some gamma rays?
Oh, hush. It’s early and I’m kicking myself for missed photo opportunities. Laugh at my cheesy jokes, dangit!
Look. Another picture of my kid with an alien, sans petrified look on her face:
Proof that I was there, too:
After the museum, we wandered in and out of a few of Roswell’s dozens of alien-themed shops. We picked up souvenirs and postcards, then went in search of a mailbox.
I can’t decide if I’m offended or confused that the mailbox outside of the Roswell Visitor’s Center is technically a droid and not an alien, but he’s totally cool nonetheless.
We left Roswell only an hour or so past when I’d hoped to leave, but we still squeezed in enough time to have a very late lunch and a quick stroll through Santa Fe. I didn’t take pictures, because there was too much cool stuff to see and we were under the crunch of a parking meter in a very packed part of town, but the feeling in the air was electric and elated. A shop owner later explained the crowd: “It’s Pride!” Wow, Santa Fe! What a weekend for Pride!
Back on the road again, I kept telling Earl to put down the Word Search and look around her at the ever changing and incredibly beautiful scenery. Despite the threatening storms and the sheets of rain, it was amazing. I love this part of the country with its colors and layers and jagged edges. I always forget how different the mountains are here than back home.
I took a picture of precisely one. I was, after all, driving.
So Day 6 was a day of firsts: Earl decided aliens aren’t horrible, we saw our first glimpses of the super cool geology of the Southwest, and Earl had to make a pitstop on the side of a long, interminable stretch of highway.
Yep. It’s officially a road trip.
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