US 285 north of Carlsbad

After breakfast, we headed north on US 285. We were slowed down on the trip by a small caravan including two very large flat bed trucks with carrying windmill blades. On the truck beds they looked like they were a mile long, but after googling windmill blades I found they were 170 feet long. (It still looked like a mile.) It’s amazing how large those things really are when you see them up close.

Aliens in the UFO Museum in Roswell

Since Roswell is on the way to Santa Fe, we of course had to stop at the International UFO Museum. There were a couple of new exhibits since our last visit 2 years ago, but the rest of it was pretty much the same. There was an interesting exhibit about the Mayan astronaut and the scientifically advanced Mayans. Peggy was impressed with the fact that the Mayans performed successful brain surgery. One often wonders just what happened in Roswell on that July day in 1947. Something happened, although I doubt it had anything to do with aliens from outer space. Still, the question remains, what really did happen?

After the UFO museum we were starved and set out looking for food. We passed up a Subway as we figured we would probably be hitting those up numerous times before we got home. As it was, we lucked out and found a delightful little coffee shop, Stella’s, where we enjoyed a caramel frostee and a Pilgrim Salad – turkey, cranberries, and nuts on a bed of fresh greens. Both were wonderful.

Snow capped peaks on Sandia Mountains in distance.

We left Roswell and continued north on US 285 and the remainder of the trip to Santa Fe was uneventful. Driving in US 285 reminded Peggy a little bit of traveling in the Australian Outback – flat semi-desert with little vegetation and a straight road for miles. After checking into our motel we set out for food and had a wonderful dinner at a small Italian restaurant, Cafe Grazie.

We finally headed back to our lodging for a good night’s sleep. Tomorrow, we’ll explore the Old Town Santa Fe and if time permits, we might take the tram up to Sandia Peak.