HEARTH​AND​CARAVAN​​​​

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The Grand Canyon is one of those places that conjures up mixed emotions. You've got the "It's just a hole in the ground" crowd, and then you've got the "WOW" crowd. We fall directly in the "WOW" crowd. It was 114 degrees when we were there, we walked a ton, climbed a bunch of steps and although we were direly thirsty and half of us were cramping up, I wouldn't trade it. Every once in a while, you get the privilege of being in a natural sanctuary, a place where you feel it's only appropriate to be silent, or possibly whisper a praise and you can stand there in awe for even just a moment. In my experience that's becoming increasingly rare, and I'm grateful for a moment just like that.:

1) Take water with you. Even when you get out of your car. We made a rookie mistake, and left our water in the car! It's the desert y'all. Take some water.
2) Plan to spend some time there. We only stopped at the first vantage point, even though there were many, We could have spent much longer there, but to be honest, we were wiped out from the heat (and our silly mistake mentioned above)
3) Even if you're going with your family, try to steal just a moment by yourself in this place. Take turns with the spouse holding onto the kid most likely to run towards a canyon, and sneak a moment in a place where peace echoes. And try not to feel like the moment was ruined when someone shouts ECHO (echo, echo...) into said canyon. And by someone, I mean your children. ;)

We've been curious about Roswell for a long time. I mean, who isn't? Possible alien crash landing? Area 51? And tell me y'all have watched the show Roswell... If not, add it to the list and binge watch it on Netflix ASAP!

We were super excited to visit the International UFO Museum and Research Center in Roswell, New Mexico. This is mostly due to the fact that I watched the show Roswell and knew that I should definitely go there! I had to convince at least one of our children that NEW Mexico is in the United States and that people speak English here. The museum was full of information, pictures, and displays of aliens. It was a really fun place to visit. It's not a giant museum, all on one level, and we spent about an hour, hour and a half, there exploring and looking through. We did not read everything there, but enjoyed it just the same. 

EXPERT TIP: Play the license plate game in the parking lot of the museum! There were people from so many states and different countries there. It was definitely an attraction!

While in Roswell, most of the Alien fun is located on one central street, so make sure to walk up and down and take pictures with all the alien storefronts, and drop in to get a couple souvenirs. There was also a cool gemstone store on the corner where we picked up a lodestone, and a couple other treasures. The kids really enjoyed that store and got to see some bio luminescent rocks there which was really fun. 

We allotted about 3-4 hours in Roswell, and I think we stayed around 2.5-3 hours total. All in all, it was great to see in person, and I'm very glad it was on our list of places to stop.  It was so fun to be able to celebrate Father's Day with my husband and children in a place that he has wanted to visit since he was a teenager. Would we ever go back? Maybe. While I feel like we got the gist of the town, there is always more to see, and New Mexico is a beautiful state. It's actually on the short list of places to make a second visit to, so it's very possible we could see our way through this quirky city again.