On our way home from Arizona, we
took a side trip to Roswell, New Mexico. I’ve heard of Roswell for years. Okay,
who hasn’t heard of the “Roswell UFO Incident” in 1947 when a spacecraft
containing E.T.’s buddies crashed in the nearby desert? True or not? Stories of
conspiracies and cover-ups abound. Since I write science fiction romance, I had
to see the town for myself. So I convinced Hubs to make the detour. Like the
good guy he is, he indulged my whimsy.
After all the stories about
Roswell, I’m not sure what I expected—certainly not a rather large city that
looked like any other city. Then I saw for a sign at fast food restaurant
proclaiming “Aliens Welcome” and gift shops selling “UFO and Alien Stuff” and
little green guys with big heads and huge eyes decorating businesses. What fun!
When I discovered the UFO Museum
and Research Center, I knew we had to go there. The amount of newspaper
clippings, first-, second- and third-hand accounts of the incident was
astounding. After reading a few, my eyes started to glaze over. Did a
spaceship from another planet (or even another galaxy) really crash there? Sure
makes you wonder. Then you have to wonder why would extraterrestrials want to
visit Earth in the first place? If we aren’t capable of traveling beyond our
own moon, we sure don’t have technology they could use. Or maybe they were
tourists, checking out neighboring planets. Anyway, the museum was fun. I found
one alcove particularly interesting. It contained statements from famous people—like
Presidents Harry Truman and Jimmy Carter who believe in life elsewhere in the
universe. See, I am not alone.
Prior to that little side trip, we
saw the National Radio Astronomy Observatory Very Large Array. While Hubs wasn’t
impressed with the UFO Museum, the VLA really piqued his interest. Again, I’d
heard of it or rather one like it in the movie Contact. Finding it was a challenge. The observatory could benefit from
better signs. That being said, it was worth turning around twice.
What’s so special about—or rather
what is—the VLA? It’s 27 radio antennas that look like huge (each 82 feet in
diameter and weighs 230 tons!) satellite dishes all pointed at the sky. Now
that was impressive. The antennas collect and combine radio waves from celestial
objects (stars, planets, asteroids, etc.). Now I’m not a scientist and I don’t
understand how they do it, but just seeing the array in person was truly
awesome. How I wish we’d visited on the first Saturday of the month for a tour.
Are they listening for communication from extraterrestrials? Are they sending
out signals to the extraterrestrials?
Again, that reminded me of a movie. (If you follow my blog, you know I’m a
movie-aholic. lol) In Battleship, alien
scouts try to use an array in Hawaii to “call home” and tell their friends and
relatives to come invade Earth.
Kidding aside, I’m glad we got
off the Interstate for the first two days of our journey home. Along with Roswell
and the VLA, we saw vistas like the Salt River Canyon in Arizona, the high
desert complete with dust storms in New Mexico and the tallest grain elevators
I’ve ever seen in Texas.
Unfortunately, no aliens came out to play.
