There’s something about New Mexico. If you’ve been there, then maybe you understand why it deserves its “Land of Enchantment” moniker. The place feels mystical and magical. It has endless miles of desert, which are quite spooky at night, if you’re driving on the highway, with the next town dozens upon dozens of miles away. I’ve never quite encountered darkness like that, an endless, inky expanse, until the orange lights of the next dustbowl town. It also has dips and curves of mountains that overlook said deserts, and other places where the terrain just flattens out.

I had the pleasure of visiting the state, including two of its National Parks (White Sands and Carlsbad Caverns). The parks are just as extraordinary as the rest of the state. The White Sands in particular feel like some strange anomaly that cause you to lose all sense of perception. The trip concluded with the Roswell UFO Festival, and if I wasn’t a believer in the incident prior to the festival, I at least become open-minded after. Roswell isn’t a huge town, with a population of just shy of 50,000, but it really leans on whatever happened that summer of 1947. Weather balloon? Military craft? UFO? Who knows! But everywhere in the town, and I mean everywhere, celebrates the lore. The McDonald’s is shaped like a UFO. Countless gift shops sell alien Ts.

If you get a chance to visit New Mexico, do it, and if you want more info about the UFO Festival, check out my articles for 1428 Elm by clicking here, complete with more pictures.