Inside the restaurant the waitress sat me in a booth opposite two Mexican ladies with a couple of kids. The kids were both pretty well behaved but since they were around 3 to 5 years old they were active as hell. IHOP evidently feeds kids free most days and apparently all of Roswell knows about it so the place was a zoo.
*OK, maybe you should skip this but at night I wash my socks and hang them on Green Girl's handlebars to dry. It works better than leaving them in the room where the air conditioner is running. So far no one's been inclinded to steal them...
I actually got a kick out of watching the two kids mess with each other when mom wasn’t looking; thumb gouges in the eye and fists banging not too hard on the cheeks. The boy had evidently been served a full-sized adult platter of food and from the looks of it he’d had lots of fun doing creative things with his spoon. Right after I arrived his mom asked the waitress if he could have another egg so the gal brought two just in case one wouldn’t do.
Mom set the plate in front of him and went on with her conversation with the other gal who was probably Grandma. She didn’t bother to cut up his eggs; instead just left him to his own devices which he seemed accustomed to. Maybe that’s a good thing as he’ll soon learn to be self reliant. He couldn’t quite manage to cut up the eggs into bite-sized pieces and since they were fixed over-easy he was having a helluva time making progress but he managed.
The fun part was when he got a huge glob of runny yolk on his face and tried to wipe it off with his bare arm. When that didn’t work he tried his other arm, both times pausing to look at the respective arm for evidence of success. The whole thing was hysterical and Mommy finally noticed and did the napkin thing. When that was over he and his little sister engaged in a knock-down-drag-out mêlée that began in the booth seat and progressed to the grand finale under the table. I would have taken pics of the whole thing but it seemed too intrusive so I just sat and watched the show.
Afterwards it was time to go look for alien things and I started with a couple of souvenir shops on the main drag. Everyone, and I mean everyone in this town has their finger in the alien money pot and it’s fun just to hang out and watch. 
I took in a couple of shops, picked up the requisite ‘fridge magnet and a couple of stickers for Green Girl’s windshield. In one shop I was teetering on buying a T-shirt with all the alien stuff on it so I asked if there was a dressing room to try it on. “Sure thing Honey” the sales gal said, and led me to one towards the rear of the store. I've noticed that the closer I get to 70 the more women tend to call me Honey. Crap.
Anyway I have to admit I’m not usually shy but an octagon-shaped dressing room with mirrors on all walls and no door – that’s right, no freaking door – that faces out into the rest of the store was a bit unnerving. What the heck, these people will never see me again I thought so off with my upper outfit and on with the alien shirt. Good thing I tried it on, and an equally good thing for all the mirrors, I looked absolutely silly in it. I think I need to stay on my diet for awhile longer so I went for another set of stickers…
This is one of those museums that allows picture taking everywhere except in the gift shop so I took full advantage of it.
The place is phenomenal, they’ve acquired tons of artifacts, photos, journals, original art & sketches, mock-ups of flying saucers; you name it and its there.
There’s a full-size diorama of the original command center complete with an operational recording of the radio broadcast. Press a button and bingo; you’re transported back in time to July 8th, 1947. How cool is that?
A lot of the original artwork is pretty well done too, some by professionals and others by gifted armatures.
School kids have also contributed a lot of very imaginative work including a really big mural sized painting in the research library.
The research library is another part of the museum that’s really worth visiting; they have a wealth of material you can access including copies of original documents from civilians and the USAF.
It’s obvious a tremendous amount of time, money, and intelligent planning has gone into the museum, these folks take this matter seriously and it shows. The interesting part is they make an honest effort to portray all sides of the issue, whether it’s true or a hoax and leave it up to the visitors to decide. I came away impressed by the divergent opinions presented and like most things of this nature there will always be unanswered questions to ponder.
Great photos! Love the stickers, I wish I had some.
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