After leaving Alamogordo, New Mexico, the first tourist attraction along US Highway 82 is The Old Apple Barn in the community of High Rolls. The Barn is a restored apple processing plant from the 1940s and now contains a bistro, fudge factory, ice cream bar with classic sodas, and a pie bakery. Apple Boy stands next to the Barn greeting visitors, inviting everyone to come in for some "vintage styled items from days gone by."
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| Picture by Kolohe |
Cloudcroft (population 750) sits at an elevation of 8,676 feet, so we were not surprised to find snow on the ground when we arrived. This is a major tourist destination during the summer months and many people have cabins in the area. There is also a small ski area located just outside of town.
As we were driving through Mayhill, Kolohe noted a bakery with some "cute little bears" climbing a post in front of the building. Kolohe helped the economy by purchasing a large bag of baked goods, and other homemade items.
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| Picture by Kolohe |
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| Picture by Kolohe |
Driving into Artesia (population 12,875), it is obvious that oil and gas production drives the local economy. The Navajo refinery, New Mexico's largest oil refiner, is located in Artesia.
There are many expensive sculptures located throughout the city that recognize oil drilling and the area's western heritage.
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| Picture by Kolohe |
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| Picture by Kolohe |
The Derrick Floor is an elaborate sculptures of men working on an oil derrick. There are a number of placards located around the sculpture that describe the various parts of the derrick and explain what jobs the "Roughneck Crew" are doing as they move about the platform.  |
| Picture by Kolohe |
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| Picture by Kolohe |
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| Picture by Kolohe |
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| Picture by Kolohe |
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| Picture by Kolohe |
The Partnership sculpture depicts Mack Chase and Johnny Gray when they decide to go into the oil business together in 1972. They are leaning on the hood of an old Ford pickup.
Artesia's western heritage is recognized in several sculptures that are located in the downtown area. Unfortunately, I did not record the names of the sculptures.
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| Picture by Kolohe |
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| Picture by Kolohe |
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| Picture by Kolohe |
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| The Rustler - Picture by Kolohe |
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| Picture by Kolohe |
The Artesia high school sports teams are known at the Bulldogs; thus, the bulldog statue.
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| Picture by Kolohe |
A really large statue is located by the library, depicting students reading books.
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| Picture by Kolohe |
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| Picture by Kolohe |
In addition to the statues, there are murals on some of buildings' exterior walls.
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| Picture by Kolohe |
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| Picture by Kolohe |
Roswell (population 48,422) is the fifth-most populous city in New Mexico and a major tourist destination for visitors from around the galaxy. The tourist industry is based on ufology, which skeptics view as an example of pseudoscience.
Ufology became popular after the 1947 Roswell Incident, when strange debris was discovered near Roswell from an unidentifiable source. US Army Air Force soldiers picked up the debris and said it was just a high-altitude weather balloon that had crashed. However, people that saw the crash site claim that there were a number of things found at the site indicating it was more than just a weather balloon. It was surmised that the debris was probably from a flying saucer.
Newspapers and magazines reporters started asking questions and wanted more information, which the military would not release. This started a lot of ufology around the world.
The City of Roswell decided to capitalize on the ufology, which has been a major economic contributor for the City. A substantial portion of the downtown area now has some connection to ufology.
Regardless of what people believe, Roswell is a fun place to visit.
On the outskirts of town we found a flying saucer that made an unexpected landing in a farmer's field. Apparently, the pilot had just traded in his old reliable saucer that had an anti-gravity propulsion system for a new electric saucer (ES) that ran on batteries. He was trying to make it to the nearest charging station in Roswell, but ran out of electrons just short of town. Fortunately, the farmer had some jumper cables in his 1952 Chevrolet pickup and offered to give the pilot's ship a charge.
The first stop most people make in Roswell is the town's visitor center. Docents working in the center are very friendly and give out free maps to City attractions.
While we were in the center gathering supplies, two aliens wanted their taken picture with me to send home to their grandaliens. The docents also informed us the county courthouse was directly across the street if we needed to purchase any out-of-galaxy registrations or get marriage licenses.
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| Picture by Kolohe |
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| Picture by Visitor Center Staff |
Walking down Main Street, we encountered, or saw pictures of, aliens from many different galaxies. Some aliens have taken up residency in Roswell and have been hired to do advertising jobs.
The United States military has several satellite facilities in Roswell - one from Washington, D.C., and one from the Groom Lake facility in Nevada (Area 51).
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| Picture by Kolohe |
McDonalds Restaurant is a favorite stopping place for aliens, but one alien said that Earth food did not agree with him and he wanted to go home and have some Haggisgotou.
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| Picture by Kolohe |
The Invasion Station and Alien Zone stores specialize in alien products and souvenirs.
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| Picture by Kolohe |
To make aliens feel welcome, streetlight globes have alien faces.
Spaceport Roswell is new since my last visit, and offers a number of virtual reality tours. Since they have a "time-shift transporter," we signed up for a historic tour of the 1947 Roswell Incident. No pictures were allowed while we were on the virtual reality tour.
After the tour we visited Bricktown, which used over 750,000 LEGO bricks to make objects. At the end of the tour there was a large room with buckets full of LEGOs, so visitors could build their own creations. Bricktown was located in the Spaceport building.
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| Picture by Kolohe |
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| Picture by Kolohe |
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| Picture by Kolohe |
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| Picture by Kolohe |
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| Picture by Kolohe |
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| Picture by Kolohe |
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| Picture by Kolohe |
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| Picture by Kolohe |
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| Picture by Kolohe |
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| Picture by Kolohe |
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| Picture by Kolohe |
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| Picture by Kolohe |
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| Picture by Kolohe |
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| Picture by Kolohe |
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| Picture by Kolohe |
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| Picture by Kolohe |
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| Picture by Kolohe |
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| Picture by Kolohe |
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| Picture by Kolohe |
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