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This was strange. Many stores in the area of the museum are UFO-themed, which isn't a surprise. This particular one, directly across the street, is a combination computer store, internet café, and religious-leaning UFO information center. Their take is there's some connection between alien abductions and the old and new testaments. Something about aliens actually being angels and abductions in the bible as far back as Genesis. Who knew?

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Another sign of the religious alien store. "Resistance is Fertile!" - heh, an odd play on a line from Star Trek ("Resistance is Futile" sayeth the Borg).

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An amusing sign inside the store.

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A look down Main Street in Roswell. Mexican restaurant. Alien gift shop. Barber. Could be Anytown, USA...

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Another look at the museum.

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Inflatable alien outside a gift store (one of at least three UFO-themed gift stores, not including the museum's store!).

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This gift store was quite a spectacle. On the other side of a dark "tunnel" were dimly lit alien "scenes". Here Alysa poses with an alien, who apparently survived the crash unscathed.

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Mitch with alien. Now here's something I just realized. The shirt I'm wearing here has an embroidered flying pig. There's just something funny about relating an alien crash site to a flying pig. (The flying pig is Buster; fans of the band moe. will know about the pig.)

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Raggedy Ann and... umm...

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Poster of a hippie alien.

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Inside another alien-themed store.

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How about a burger at the Crashsite Café? Resistance, indeed, is futile.

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Reasonably decked out in silly alien decor, this is a painting on the wall.

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More silly decorating. It's all...inexpensive, rather in keeping with the whole city of Roswell. Not ugly by any means, but obviously not a wealthy town. As a hint as to a future visit, we had lunch at an alien-themed restaurant in (of all places) Sedona, Arizona two weeks later - a much fancier place!

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The menu, with delicacies such as the Captain Kirk Burger, Alien Goo Burger, The Crispy Alien (grilled chicken), and The Abductor (grilled ham and cheese).

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Alien planter.

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Main sign of the café.

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And sitting on the restaurant's front lawn, a flying saucer of course!

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And now for something of science fact instead of science fiction. Also in Roswell is the surprisingly impressive Roswell Museum and Art Center. A large section of the museum is devoted to Robert Goddard, inventor of the rocket. Goddard was a professor at Clark University (my alma-mater) when he invented the rocket, and this is a replica of that first setup (launched in Auburn, MA in 1926).

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Inside the museum is a copy of Goddard's Roswell workshop. You see, after inventing the rocket he needed two things to improve the design - money and space. He received funding by such notables as Charles Lindbergh, and moved here to Roswell. Many items are from the real workshop. There are many tools and rocket parts not visible in this photo. I was very, very impressed.