Thats one of the top draws for tourism attractions in and around Roswell. There is much more to this city though. We have a small but nice arts community here as well as many parks and nearby mountain fun. I will show you around a bit as the International UFO Festival starts tomorrow and I wont have time for non festival posts for a few days. (hang in there I will get back to my rantings soon.)

A small eastern New Mexico town located on the Pecos River Roswell has been steeped in the cattle industry. Still known as the “Dairy Capitol Of The Southwest” it was on the Chisholm Trail.

This cool sculpture sits downtown across Main Street from the Chaves County Courthouse shown here Ten Commandments out front and all.

In front of that very courthouse I was told my sign memorializing fallen soldiers in Iraq would get me arrested and charged as an enemy combatant.

As you can see they won that one and I no longer carry my memorial sign even though just at the other end of the block there is a big granite or marble memorial standing.

I guess my sign wasn’t fancy enough.

Although this picture has nothing to do with our towns history or attractions I just wanted to remind you that McCain loves Bush and his policies.

I got kinda thirsty taking these snapshots so on the way to the art museum I stopped at our local Mc Donalds for a Coke. The alien theme extends to the business world here as you can see from the flying saucer shaped play area there.

Arbys is in on it too.

As well as the Christian coffee shop.

Even before the crash in 1947 Roswell was steeped in space travel research. Robert Goddard experimented with rockets here from the early 1920’s through the early ’40’s. There is a great exhibit of his workshop and some actual rockets at the Roswell Museum And Art Center.

The museum faces the Spring River.

Yeah, I know. Huh? The river side of that curb is about 18 inches. I have seen it almost to the top once. Kinda seem more like a ditch to me after living in Louisiana for so long.

During World War 2 there was a big POW camp just outside of town. The German inmates were put to work on projects around here and one of the things they did was lay rock walls along the river bed. One day while they were quite unsupervised they laid the rocks in an Iron Cross. The Roswaliens were pissed. A group of citizens poured congrete over the cross to hide it. The mixture was too thin however and soon washed away. It is now a National Monument and there is a small pocket park overlooking it.

The POW’s were treated well here. Nothing like the POW’s are treated in Gitmo today. The people of Germany remembered the treatment and when the Berlin Wall came down they sent our city a piece of the torn down wall. Both a thank you and a symbol of world unity. It sits in the park where the cross is.

The nearby mountains and villages scattered through them offer summer coolness and lots of winter sports. The Bottomless Lakes State Park is just 9 miles east of towm amd the Bitter Lakes Nature Preserve is just minutes from downtown as well. Lots of local wildlife abounds in the area and at the risk of sounding like a travel agent I want to invite y’all to visit.

I will be covering the Festival in the next few days so hang on and stay aboard my big rig to insanity. I may go interstellar on you.

Stumble it!