My primary reason for visiting Roswell was to find UFOs, Aliens, and blinking lights in the starlit backdrop of an April New Mexico sky. I am quite sure I spotted a few aliens albeit not of the extra-terrestrial variety. However, I did spy spooky shaped streetlights and a McDonald’s bearing a striking resemblance to a silvery disc embedded and crumpled into a rocky outcropping after an out-of-control plummet through earth’s lower atmosphere.
While the search for Aliens left me cold, tromping though Roswell’s South Park Cemetery lofted my spirits considerably higher than the ability of any weather balloon displayed at the local UFO Museum.
South Park Cemetery was only my second encounter with true southwestern influenced Roman Catholic mourning decorations. I was entranced as colorful ornamentation dazzled me under the brilliant desert sun. Royal blues, baby blues, desert pinks, and brilliant reds adorne every corner of the South Park Cemetery. I love the characterization of Mary trodding on the serpent that is so prevalent in South Park Cemetery.
I truly anticipated watching a famous New Mexico sunset from South Park Cemetery but, unfortunately, management close their office doors around 5:00 PM. The caretakers did not shoo me away and the gates were left open but I was on my way before anyone asked me to do so.
Awww well, I spent a good 90 minutes exploring the tombstones and counting all the Mary and Jesus statues. Besides, the darkening sky meant my gaze would soon turn away from ground level tombstone observations and, instead, turn to the nighttime ethereal sphere where I hoped to catch a glimpse of blinking lights and little green men beckoning me to join them above.
Nearby Attraction: UFO Museum & Research Center