Author: Mark Alexander

Though White Sands was one of the main destinations on our itinerary, we almost didn’t stop. We’d just come over the Sacramento Mountains where we were alternately fighting rain and snow flurries, and it seemed more storms were heading in our direction from the west—something guaranteed to spoil any photographic hopes we’d had. But not knowing when we’d be this way again, at the last minute we said fuck it, and—deciding to risk the whims of the weather—made the turnoff to the National Park.

I’m so glad we did. Of all the times we’ve visited White Sands, this time I think we got some of the best pictures ever.

Just as I’d done with Anderson when he was new, I wanted some glamor shots of Rabbit in the sands…even though—much like his daddy—he’s no longer new at all.

The picnic enclosures in the park always reminded me of the sand ships from the 1980 production of Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles (starring Rock Hudson, no less)—even though I know in actuality they look nothing like them.

And that’s all folks! We overnighted in Deming, stopped in Tucson for lunch, and were back home by mid-afternoon! Total miles traveled on our little adventure: 1445.

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Another perk of having diverted through Roswell is it gave me an opportunity to rephotograph one of the hundreds of abandoned and decomposing structures along the New Mexico highways that I stopped for in 2000.

This little fixer-upper is located at 33° 20′ 24.4″ N, 105° 4′ 27.98″ W, on the north side of State Route 380/US-70 west of Roswell. 

I wanted to recapture this building since when I first stumbled upon it I’d taken most of the photos with a crappy Sony Mavica digital camera (the one that had  the 3-1/2″ floppy drive for storage) and the resolution was abysmal. Even the shots I took with my 35mm film SLR weren’t what I was hoping for. So it was time for a do-over.

Amazing what 22 years of technology—and constant exposure to the elements can do.

Bonus shots:

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In August 2000, I made a major road trip from San Francisco to Roswell, New Mexico. Why you ask? Mostly because I’d never been, and was in the thrall of the series Roswell at the time. (Even then I was much older than their target audience, but I found the series compelling, and I had to admit that Jason Behr in the role of Max Evans was dreamy….

But I digress.

Since visiting Roswell was not on our original itinerary but within the scope of our trip via a small detour, Ben and I decided to change our original plans and visit the place. He had never been there, and I wanted to do some “then and now” photos and figured this was a good chance to do so.

Of course, the only real tourist destination in Roswell is the International UFO Museum and Research Center on Main Street. It was a cheese-fest when I was there in 2000 and had no reason to believe it would be any different 22 years later.

And in case anyone was wondering, yes…the place remains just as cheesy as it was 22 years ago, although they’ve definitely upped their game as far as the displays are concerned.

Was the International UFO Museum and Research Center worth a visit if you’re passing through town, ultimately heading somewhere else? Yes. The gift shop alone is worth the “outrageous” $5.00 admission. Is it a destination worth making a trip all the way from another state? Oh hell naw. I remember thinking in 2000, “I drove all that way for this?!“

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