Surprising Roswell!

Aliens on the wall, standing and sitting!

Mexican Aliens!

And even Dunkin' aliens - where's Ben and Matt?

 OK there were aliens! Everywhere! But there was a whole lot more. There were two excellent museums besides the expected International UFO Museum and Research Center. I should put "Research Center" in a questionable category. And an interesting State park nearby, the Bottomless Lakes State Park. I was also impressed by the civic beautification efforts - lots of parks, benches, and sports venues. There is also the very handsome campus of the New Mexico Military Institute, a high school and junior college private school. 

At the Anderson Museum of Contemporary Art, many of the works are enormous - the studios must be very generously sized. I loved this work in the entrance. Fun life in the Southwest - a coyote is making off with their cat in the bottom corner. 

I loved this painting - great, probably
not, but I'd love to hang it in my 
home!

Two works by Donald Anderson - they reminded
me of my entry doors to Siena in the dining room.

There were many whimsical sculptures and works!

We visited the Anderson Museum of Contemporary Art our first afternoon. The reviews were so positive and they were all right. What a collection and a very beautiful facility. The museum was founded in 1994 as an offshoot of the Roswell Artist-in-Residence Program. The RAIR Foundation was initiated by Donald Anderson in 1967 and has brought artists to live and work in Roswell for one year, all subsidized. Up to five artists are chosen every year and over 300 have been part of the program. When they leave, at least one of their works is donated to the museum. Donald Anderson was the founder and President of the Anderson Oil Company and was an artist himself. 

This "space leisure" suit was worn by
Harrison Schmitt on the Apollo 17
mission.  This was in the Roswell
Museum as are the others in this
section.

Now we're at the Roswell Museum. Goddard's workshop
 has been moved here lock, stock and barrel.
There are also many of his rockets from all time periods.

One of the many cases with Native American and
 Southwest settler items.

I loved the juxtaposition of these two very 
different paintings of a group of men around a
campfire!

This illustrates the breadth of the art of display.

The second excellent museum, the Roswell Museum and Goddard Planetarium is a combination of several elements: a Planetarium, Western Memorabilia, an Art Collection and the workshop and rockets of Robert H. Goddard, one of the founding fathers of modern rocketry. He moved to Roswell in 1930 as a perfect place for his experiments and also his health, as he suffered from tuberculosis. I found his life and work fascinating and highly recommend reading the Wikipedia article about him. Scott was of course much more familiar with him! We saw the show at Planetarium and although the visuals and music were fun, they have lost the narration. A script and narrator is credited but the staff we talked to denied it's existence or at least, their having it. It makes for a confusing film. But the rest of the museum was excellent and very large - two visits would be necessary!

We of course went to the International UFO Museum and it's a theme park (for me at least - does anyone take this seriously???) The Roswell incident is a collection of events and myths surrounding the 1947 crash of a Air Force balloon. These "facts" are extensively mined through interviews with most of the residents of Roswell. I was rather horrified to hear parents discussing this stuff with their kids as if it was history! 

Ever wonder what the aliens look like - well you probably have already seen a few images!

There was actually a small section of
real information about the space 
program including this real space suit!

My favorite section was the film and TV features.

Love that surgeon is suit and mask about to 
operate - in what world???

Our last afternoon we drove out to the Bottomless Lakes State Park and explored. This was the first State Park in Arizona, instituted in 1933. It gets its name for the nine small deep lakes along the escarpment of the Pecos River Valley.  The largest lake has swimming, boat rentals and picnic areas. The smaller lakes are linked by trails and have good fishing. Unfortunately the sky was overcast and it's still the end of winter here so it was rather bleak. People must be desperate because some few were swimming. Of course it was Easter so there were a few family groups picnicking by the biggest of the lakes, where there is a beach. But it must be lovely later in the season. 

One of the nine lakes at the Bottomless Lake 
State Park

Next we're heading for Amarillo, TX where we will spend another 2 nights - that's the next post. 

The "marina", beach and facilities at the 
largest of the lakes - not a great weather day!

We had a short hike exploring the different lakes.
They aren't far apart.

Another one.

Three more photos from the Anderson Museum - this fantasy painting took up one large wall!

The "sharks" hanging from the ceiling are made from golf bags!

Really handsome furniture is featured throughout the museum in living room groups, conference tables and in one case a "Bar" which looks totally functional but is a work of art.