Hey there, welcome back to Grand Adventure! I'm your host Marc Guido, and
in this episode we are in Roswell, New Mexico hunting aliens. Now, we haven't
seen any yet. We've got our eyes out. If they're running around we're not going
to miss them, so stay tuned.
So this is Bottomless Lakes State Park. It was built in 1930 by the Civilian
Conservation Corps as the very first State Sark in the state of New Mexico.
Now, it's built to surround what are known as the Bottomless Lakes. They're
sinkhole lakes, caves that have collapsed into the underlying bedrock and filled
with water. We are in the Lea Campground, which is right on Lea Lake. There's
another campground by some smaller lakes a little further north for tenters. Now,
New Mexico State Parks are known for affordable camping, and that is the case
here. The full nightly rate is $18 per night including full hookups -- water,
electric and sewer. If you have a New Mexico State Parks Pass, which is
$250 annually for a non-resident, that takes $10 off the
price of camping, bringing it down to $8 per night. So if you do a lot of camping
in New Mexico State Parks, the State Park pass may make sense even for a
non-resident. As a matter of fact, if you're a tent camper with the New Mexico
State Parks pass it drops the price to free if you don't need those hookups.
It's a beautiful park. There's a lot of spacing between the sites, and we're
really enjoying our stay here.
So I think we got some new neighbors. Let's go out and meet them.
These guys have been at it all night long. There's two in there.
Hi. How are ya?
Are you guys, uh, finding camp alright? Comfortable?
Now, normally this park's only about a 17-mile drive from Roswell. However, earlier this month some flooding
rains washed out a bridge just north of the park, so the only way to get to
Roswell is by going south to Dexter and all the way around, almost doubling the
length of the drive. But it's a pretty drive. It's a relaxing country road, so
let's take a trip into Roswell and see what we can find.
Roswell would be just like many other small towns in the US were it not for an
obsession with UFOs and aliens. In 1947 a US Army Air Force balloon crashed on a
ranch near Roswell. Even after the US military confirmed that it was a nuclear
test surveillance balloon, conspiracy theories surrounding the event persist
even today. The citizens of Roswell have nurtured a cottage industry catering to
UFO tourists who travel to this southeastern New Mexico town because of
what's been described as, "the world's most famous most, exhaustively
investigated, and most thoroughly debunked UFO claim."
Even the town's McDonald's, currently undergoing a remodel, is shaped like a
flying saucer. But not everything in Roswell is about UFOs. The Historical
Society for Southeast New Mexico maintains a museum in the 1912 home of
James P. White, one of the area's wealthiest and most influential men of
his time. This free museum, which accepts donations, not only provides a timeline
of the area's development, but is outfitted with period furnishings, many
of which came from the White family. It's well worth a stop while you're in the
area.
Now it is definitely fall! When we got here it was in the mid 70s,. Yesterday we
had a cold front come through, and we just had a drizzle with temperatures
never getting out of the mid 40s. It's warming back up today with the sunshine,
so let's get out on the lake with the kayak.
So we truly hope that you've enjoyed coming to the Roswell area with us! Now
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