Aliens in New Mexico!

Roger here.....  Images of aliens on every corner, in every window, on every billboard...  Where could we be?  Duh, we are in Roswell, New Mexico.  Our decision to spend a couple nights here began yesterday.

We were driving through a soaking (and needed) rain on an excellent highway (285) in southeastern New Mexico - on our way back to Texas.  We intended to spend the night in Vaughn, NM, but the campground looked abandoned, it was raining, it was still relatively early in the day, AND if we drove another 100 miles, we could spend two nights in Roswell.  As a science fiction fan, Roswell has always been a place that I have wanted to experience.  Two of my very favorite movies in my younger days were:  Close Encounters of the Third Kind and ET.  (Dianne here:  Don't let him kid you -- these are still his favorite movies.  At the time he told me that he would have left in the spaceship like Richard Dreyfuss did at the end of Close Encounters.)                                                          

 At a much younger age, I was fascinated by The Day the Earth Stood Still.   In fact, when Dianne and I were first married, I playfully insisted that she memorize Michael Rennie's message to Patricia Neal, "Gort, Klatu marada nicto," which any science fiction fan knows to be the message that saved the Earth.  She can still recite it to this day.  Just ask her.  Of course the recitation would include a significant eye roll.   Now that you know that I grew up to be a science nerd, I can tell you that I also embraced the human messages that those movies projected.  OK, enough nonsense about my personal idiosyncrasies, and back to Roswell.

They were quite proud of their hats!

I know, I know, many of you probably consider Roswell to be a cheesy tourist trap.  It is a tourist trap, but it is also interesting and what fun if you accept it with a sense of humor!  Get a load of three of the many people who dressed up, just to go to town.

We found numerous alien-themed t-shirt shops and gift stores in a two-block area, but the main attraction was the UFO Museum and Research Center.  (Admission was only $5 each).  Many of the displays in the museum were, of course, related to the alleged crash of an alien saucer about 50 miles outside of Roswell.  Along with the silliness of some of the displays there was a somewhat compelling presentation of notarized statements from local residents and military personnel, who claim to have witnessed the UFO, the crash, the debris field, and yes, the bodies of the aliens.  It was quite easy to get into the spirit of the events of 1947.

Roger in his element!

While at the museum, we took the time to watch the 1994 movie, Roswell, which portrayed the events of 1947.  The movie was a pretty close depiction of the documented statements that we had just seen.  The theme of the movie projected a government cover-up of the events which included some major arm-twisting of the witnesses.  The movie was good enough that we watched it in its entirety. 

Some of the props from the movie were on display in the museum.

We spent more time in the museum than we anticipated.  Our stomachs were growling.  Dianne had read about a local restaurant known for its tasty food.  So, we walked a couple of blocks, past the museum parking lot, to Big D's Downtown Dive.

Dianne here:  Thanks to my daughter, Robyn, for encouraging me to upload Yelp on my iPhone.  The raving reviews from Yelp are what steered us to Big D's.

It was not much to look at on the outside, but the food was delicious.  I had a green chili cheeseburger.  Dianne had a shrimp po' boy with apple slaw.  Not on our diets, but really good.  As an aside, I have lost 8.6 pounds so far since I started dieting.  I have no intention of allowing a few meals out to result in a backslide.

After lunch, we drove to the local Walmart to stock up on supplies while we were in civilization.  As we entered the parking lot, we were greeted by yet another friendly alien.

Tomorrow, we intend to drive 3.5 hours to Fort Stockton, TX.  I don't expect there to be much to report until we find our way to Lost Maples State Park in the Texas Hill country.

The pet picture of the day shows Bandido enjoying his favorite travel-day spot on Dianne's lap.

My Cuddly Boy

Return to Abiquiu (NM)

Hi all, Dianne here.  On our slow drive back to Texas, we decided to spend a few days just relaxing at the Corps of Engineers Riana Campground next to Abiquiu Reservoir in New Mexico.  We spent 10 days here in September of 2010 and explored the area at that time.  This visit we just wanted to relax, hike, and enjoy the beautiful scenery.  Best of all, now that Roger has his Senior National Park pass, we can finally stay at Corps of Engineers campgrounds for half price.  $7.00 per night is quite a deal!


Lots of reading and Sudoku time.  The photo on the left shows our motor home and the beautiful red cliffs in the distance.


Tequila had lots of fun stalking and chasing lizards. 



Ever present in the background is the Cerro Pedernal, a frequent subject in the paintings of Georgia O’Keeffe, who spent years painting the surrounding scenery in this area.



The first night we were reminded of the beautiful sunsets that we experienced on our prior visit.
There are several hiking trails that we enjoyed exploring with the “kids,” some leading down to the reservoir…
Others leading up to the dam…

Here are a few of my favorite shots:






During one of our hikes, we found the perfect picnic spot on a large rock outcropping near the reservoir.  Roger wanted to pose on the rock with unexpected results  (well, he should have expected it; check out the very short video below the photo):






We didn’t make it back there for a picnic, because yesterday it rained almost all day.  A good time to stay inside and write a blog!  Roger (the consummate planner) is busy planning our route next summer to the Pacific Northwest.  It may sound early, but some of the places we want to try to stay along the Oregon coast fill up a year in advance.  Location, location, location….



I’m sure we’ll return again to this beautiful place.  Should you want more information about things to do in this area, here are two links to our prior blogs written from here:

Beautiful Hike at Ghost Ranch to Chimney Rock

Roger's Hike at Ghost Ranch to Box Canyon

We wrote other blog posts during that visit, but most were about time spent at the campground.  Last visit, we did take our Sea Eagle kayak out on the reservoir twice: 

Kayaking on Abiquiu Reservoir

I had fun re-reading these posts, but it made me a little sad because last time we were here we still had our whippets, and they loved it here as much as Bandido and Tequila do. 

This morning we will break camp and head south through New Mexico, back to Texas.  After three travel days we plan to spend some time at Lost Maples State Park in Bandera County, Texas, then a week in Fredericksburg before the last leg to Mission and our Retama winter home.


The pet photo of the day is one of about 200 photos that my wildlife cam took of Tequila stalking lizards.  I hung the camera and didn’t realize her lead was long enough to put her in camera range.  She spent an entire afternoon on high alert, looking for lizards.  At the end of the day she was exhausted!

Spa Time! --- Ojo Caliente, NM

Roger here....  Yikes!!!! What is that?   It kinda looks like Dianne.  

We have left Colorado behind, and are slowly working our way back to Texas.  We had hoped to spend a week at the Corps of Engineers Campground at Abiquiu, NM, but could not get reservations for the first couple of nights.  What to do?  We had passed by a nearby hot springs resort a few years ago that advertised RV sites.  Why not?  Welcome to the Ojo Caliente Mineral Springs Resort and Spa --- a new experience for us, and a good one.

Ojo Caliente Spa Web Site

Our $20 campsite (cheap) was not pristine, but it was fine for the price, and it was unique.  Much cheaper than staying in the cabins or lodge of the spa.  We were scrunched into a narrow, but long site.  Our steps ended in the undergrowth, forcing a side-step in order to exit.  (The dogs had trouble with this in their exuberant leaps out of the motor home.)

There was an opening through the trees to the southern sky, so our satellite worked.  Yea!  I was able to record the Purdue-Notre Dame game.  Boo! Purdue lost due to a Notre Dame field goal in the waning minutes.  The dogs were happy to find a long, sandy road for their frequent walks.  The view from the front windshield was interesting.

Since we spent two nights, we had an entire day to enjoy the facilities, and that we did.

We started the day (with the dogs) on a 1.5 mile hike to the Posi-Ouinge Pueblo ruins.  The trailhead was located directly behind the resort --- very convenient.  The first leg of the trek involved scrambling up a rocky face.

After the initial exertion, the trail flattened and became an easy walk.  The resort provided us with a brochure to help us identify the things we were seeing along the way.  The three-story wood beam and adobe infrastructure of the ruins had melted into invisibility over time, but there were other very interesting things to see.  

As we walked on top of what was once the third-story rooftop of the dwelling that  housed hundreds of Tewa Indians, we searched for 500-year-old pottery shards.  We were excited to find a few of them that someone had arranged along the trail and were glad to be able to take a picture.

A few steps later, we found ourselves surrounded by the ruined pottery.  The artifacts were covered with distinct decoration.  Hundreds, probably thousands, were on display in every direction.  I had never seen artifacts like these that were not behind a glass display case.  (Dianne here:  It was obvious that hikers would add to the shard displays as they came across an interesting one.  It was hard not to step on them, there were so many along the trail!  I did my share of adding new pieces to the shard displays on the rocks as we hiked along.)

Dianne was certainly in her element --- ancient pottery artifacts, and beautiful desert plant-life.  (By the way, every relic that we examined was carefully returned to the exact location where it was picked up.)

  

After scrambling back down the rock face, we approached the (soon-to-be-visited) mineral springs where Dianne took this picture.

SPA TIME!  After the morning walk, we changed into our swim trunks and hit the mineral pools.  Unfortunately, it was a Saturday and the weekend rates applied, costing us an extra $10 per person, but it was worth the splurge for a new experience. We don't splurge that often, and hey, we were already there, and we were not going to spend bigger bucks for the myriad of spa massages and treatments!

The mineral spring area really was beautiful and relaxing.  In every direction there was water, landscaping, and the sound of splashing water. 

According to the resort brochure, the sulphur-free (and they really didn't smell) geothermal mineral waters have flowed from a subterranean volcanic aquifer for thousands of years.  Ojo is the only hot springs in the world with four different types of mineral water, including iron, soda, arsenic and lithia.  There are 11 pools filled with different types and combinations of the mineral waters, with temperatures ranging from 80-109 degrees.

The spa even offers private outdoor pools with kiva fireplaces at $40 per hour, with $10 extra if you want a fire in the fireplace.  A little rich for us.

  Each pool was supposed to cure a variety of ailments: (digestion, arthritis, skin tone problems, etc.)  Don't know about that, but immersing our bodies in them sure did feel good. 

Some of the pools backed right up to a cliff face. The setting really was amazing.  It was also very -- well, let's say new age.  (There were multiple signs indicating "Whisper Zone.")  A lady, eyes closed, who waded around in the iron pool chanting a mantra was a highlight for me :-).  

There were lots of hammocks.  Lots and lots of hammocks.  I like hammocks.  I just had to try one out.  

Among all the intriguing new experiences, the highlight had to be the mud pool.  We have been in hot tubs before and actually owned one, once upon a time, but this was definitely something new for us.

The first step was to cover ourselves with mud from the mud pot.  BTW.  I am not sure who would even think of plopping into that mud pot, but evidently someone did.

After allowing the mud to dry, the next step was to soak in the thermal mud pool --- obviously followed by a shower.

We soaked in the mineral springs until mid-afternoon when we went back to the motor home to walk the dogs, eat lunch, and watch the unfortunate Purdue game.  (All that relaxation just to get tensed up again.) 

Since our admission price covered all day, after dinner we went back to the hot mineral pools  to soak and watch the sun set over the cliffs.  We will probably do this again someday :-).










The pet picture of the day depicts Tequila gazing into an arroyo --- probably looking for lizards.

I just KNOW there's a lizard down there somewhere!!