Roswell Road Trip

By Lois Brady

If you want a bit of an out-of-the-box road trip I've got one for you.

A beautiful fall found a road trip beckoning. Many a mile has slipped beneath my car's tires and this time I wanted to see the (in)famous town in New Mexico where aliens landed their ill-fated craft in 1947. Oh, what? You don't believe that? Perhaps you'll become a believer when you visit this oddly charming, if a bit offbeat town; Roswell, New Mexico.

I left St. Louis for Roswell early in the morning with the benefit of perfect driving weather, clear and calm with a promise of Fall in the air.

It's an easy drive to Tulsa, Oklahoma. You might wonder what's in Tulsa? You may think there's nothing fun there, but hold on. What I found in Tulsa was ever so nice. I stayed a couple of nights in a gloriously beautiful B & B called Cedar Rock Inn ( www.cedarrockinn.com). A lovely couple, Sandy and Randy Dittmann, have taken an old house and created a beautiful B&B. I say spend your nights there instead of sailing through Tulsa without a thought. In addition to beautiful, comfortable rooms, Cedar Rock has other interesting spaces like a "money room" with bills embedded in the floor. I was starting to feel rich just being there. All their rooms are stunning, each having some special feature…a sauna, a terrace, a romantic, in-room whirlpool…all beautifully appointed as well. Enjoying wine by their small, picturesque lake was pretty darn nice! With owners as friendly as all get out and the food plentiful and tasty, how can you go wrong?

I was gratified to find a few fairly healthy eateries in Tulsa. Tulsa is having a downtown revival, much like many cities of its size, these days and more upscale, healthy restaurants can often be found where this type of revival is occurring.  

Try Camille's for breakfast or lunch, a breezy, light-filled place where the food is on par with the country-wide Panera restaurants. I found Camille's food healthy and tasty with abundant portions.  (camillessidewalkcafe.com).

There's Bodean's Seafood, in business for ages. The young, innovative chef continues with both the old favorites as well as offering an amazing Sesame Seared Blue Fin Tuna w/ Chilled Soba/Cilantro Salad for lunch. Fresh and delicious.

The Palace Café is one of the Nouveau American Cuisine-style eateries that you might find in cities experiencing downtown renewal.  It's in a lovely older building renovated to serve diners in an equally lovely dining area with innovative, fresh food. Tulsa is a cool city with much to recommend it. Stop there on your own Roswell adventure.

Next stop, Amarillo. Often when I've been on one of my road trips, I've thoroughly enjoyed staying at Fairfield Inn and this trip was no exception.  I stayed at the Fairfield in Amarillo and found it comfortable, affordable and clean. 

In Amarillo there are numerous places to eat and just about all of them have the word "steak" in their names. Amarillo is cattle country and since that's not my cup of protein I searched around for other options. I found a great natural foods store called Eat Rite. I did just that. Eat Rite is full of healthy food…a tasty, down to earth lunch can be had there with just a little dough. You can stock up on all your vitamins and body care items as well.  Truly, Eat Rite is one of the nicest natural foods stores and one of the biggest surprises I've ever experienced on a road trip.

For coffee in Amarillo, Roasters can't be beat. Grab a yummy croissant at Village Bakery several doors down and bring it back to enjoy with your delicious coffee at Roasters.

Dinner found me downtown at Zen 721 with its tasty fusion fare and a friendly, informed staff. It's one of those little spots where all the wait staff wear black.  At first glance you might think they're going to be snooty.  But just the opposite. Our waiter was full of great suggestions on what to do in Amarillo. 

If you stay longer than a day in Amarillo, I was told by above black-clad waiter that I must visit Duro Canyon for its pristine natural beauty. But I was in a hurry to see if I could find any aliens or to see if they could find me. Can you say abduction?

On to Roswell, land of the original little, green men. 

You may not be surprised, if you're a Star Trek or X-Files fan, to find out that the UFO Museum draws serious researchers from all over the world and it's chock full of volumes of accounts of abductions, sightings, crop circles and official blacked-out documents. I wandered around in the museum for over 2 hours, entranced.

In addition, Roswell has lots of non-alien offerings. 

There's the Bottomless Lakes State Park where several lakes top out at over 90 feet deep, the Spring Park Zoo, the antique-filled Historical House Museum, an interesting and significant architectural walking tour of elegant homes plus good restaurants and affordable places to stay.  

At the plain Jane hotel I stayed in, I mentioned to the very young Indian desk clerk that I was hungry and after getting into my room, I was unexpectedly served a home cooked, Indian meal of dal, spicy potatoes and seasoned rice. What a nice surprise! Roswell is indeed a pretty town with an alien lurking just about anywhere you might look and October…uhmmm, Halloween…is a great time to visit. You may even find a little green man of your own.