Roswell: Aliens

 My sister and I had been planning a roadtrip to Roswell for a few years, and we finally made it happen last month. She lives in Dallas, which is a 7-hour drive from Roswell, so we made a proper roadtrip of it (shout out to my bro-in-law for doing all of the driving!). Whenever I mentioned to anyone that I was going to Roswell, those that had been there cautioned that there wasn't much to see in town. I was prepared for a small, cheesy, tourist-trap of a town—and while Roswell was all of those things it was also entirely delightful because it was all of those things.

 In July of 1947, debris was found on a farm about 30 miles north of Roswell, New Mexico. Whether that debris belonged to a weather balloon, secret military spy aircraft or an alien UFO is up to you to decide. The UFO Museum has some fascinating information on the crash, as well as UFO sightings throughout the years. My favorite section was on photographs that were proven to be frauds—a top hat, a hubcab and a button were just a few of the objects that people have used to produce fake UFO photographs.

I definitely believe that there are "aliens" out there—simply based on the fact that the universe is infinite, Earth can't possibly be the only planet with intelligent life. Do I believe that little green men crashed their spacecraft into the New Mexico desert in 1947? Not really. But I couldn't get enough of all of the aliens—gray and green—in Roswell, and finding them everywhere never got old.

Luckily for cheesy, tourist-trap-loving people like me, Roswell definitely embraces their notoriety as the alien capital of the US. Aliens and UFOs are everywhere: on the back of cars, on the side of the highway, on restaurant signs, manhole covers and bakery windows. I was immediately

enamored with the UFO-shaped McDonald's

, and even the streetlights have been turned into aliens thanks to local artists (I do wish they were green, though).

Aside from the museum and a few other attractions, the majority of downtown is filled with souvenir shops. If you can imagine an alien-themed trinket, you can probably find it in Roswell. I bought a floaty pen and made a few squished pennies, but we discovered that the best t-shirts were at a Walgreens next to our hotel (for $5.99!). I'm so glad that we finally made it to Roswell, which was—along with day trips to White Sands and Carlsbad Caverns—definitely worth the drive.