Alien Adventure

Alien Adventure-Roswell Roadtrip

If you've a free week and you want get a bit out of the box, I've got one for you.

Recently another road trip beckoned and I answered. This time I wanted to see the famous(?) town in New Mexico where aliens landed their ill-fated craft in 1947. Oh, what? You don't believe that? Well...visit Roswell.

I left for Roswell with perfect driving weather and had an easy drive to Tulsa, Oklahoma. You may think there's nothing fun going on there, but hold on. What I found in Tulsa was ever so nice.

I stayed a couple of nights in a gloriously beautiful B & B called Cedar Rock Inn (www.cedarrockinn.com). A lovely couple, Sandy and Randy Dittmann, have taken an old house and created a beautiful B&B to spend your night at rather than sailing through Tulsa without a thought.

Cedar Rock has a "money room" with bills embedded in the floor and all the rooms are stunning, each having some special feature...a sauna, a terrace, a romantic, in-room whirlpool...all beautifully appointed as well. Enjoying wine by their small, picturesque lake is a pretty darn nice way to pass an evening! The folks are friendly as all get out and the food was plentiful and tasty.

There are a few fairly healthy eateries in Tulsa. It's having a revival, much like many cities these days.

There's Camille's for breakfast or lunch...a breezy, light-filled eat-spot where the food is on par with the STL Bread Co. Healthy, tasty and abundant portions. (camillessidewalkcafe.com).

There's the long-standing Bodean's Seafood. The young chef there, Jim Richards, continues with the old favorites and yet served me an amazingly up-to-date Sesame Seared Blue Fin Tuna w/ Chilled Soba/Cilantro Salad for lunch.

The Palace Cafe is one of the Nouveau American Cuisine-style eateries that you'll find in many cities experiencing rebirth. It has a lovely dining area.
Tulsa is a cool city with much to recommend it. Stop over on your own Roswell adventure.

Next stop-Amarillo. There are numerous places to eat and stay here...just about all of them have the word steak in their name. Amarillo is cattle country and that's not my cup of protein so I searched around.
I found a great natural foods store called Eat Rite, completely unlike St. Louis' Eat Rite! It was full of healthy foods...a tasty, down to earth lunch is available there.

For coffee Roasters can't be beat...grab a yummy croissant at Village Bakery several doors down and bring it back to enjoy at Roasters.
Dinner in Amarillo was downtown at Zen 721. Very tasty fusion fare.

On past travels, I've enjoyed staying at Fairfield Inns. This was no exception. It's comfortable, affordable & clean. If you stay longer than a day, you must visit Duro Canyon for its pristine natural beauty.

On to Roswell, land of the little green men, or are they gray these days? You'll find them all and many others here. You may not be surprised, if you're a Star Trek or X-Files fan, to find out that the UFO Museum draws serious researchers from all over the world and it's chock full of volumes of accounts of abductions, UFO sightings, crop circles and official blacked-out documents. I wandered around there for over 2 hours, entranced.

Roswell has lots to offer and it truly is a surprisingly pretty little town. There's the Bottomless Lakes State Park where several lakes top out at over 90 feet deep, the Spring Park Zoo, the antique-filled Historical House Museum, a significant architectural walking tour of elegant homes plus, good restaurants and affordable places to stay. At the plain Jane hotel I stayed in, I mentioned being hungry and after getting into my room, I was unexpectedly served a meal of dal, spicy potatoes and seasoned rice; tasty Indian cuisine made by the family themselves. A nice surprise.

Roswell will stick with me for some reason. I guess I expected UFO everything and that's what I found. Is it just your imagination or is the truth really out there somewhere? Stay a day and see what you think.

Then drive back to lovely St. Lou in two days and do it all again, just backwards!

Happy Trails!