... and then we were probed by aliens. The final installment of our journey.

Well it's about time I wrapped up this vacation series. Stick a fork in it, it's done. Our final stop on the long road that would go down in the family history books was Roswell, New Mexico. I absolutely loved our trip to Roswell 15 years ago when the International UFO museum was just a small little space in an old corner storefront with fake aliens on lab tables and a research library that Fox Mulder would be proud of. Today it's a thriving big space in an old movie theater with fake aliens on lab tables and a research library that Fox Mulder would be proud of -- but it's also got a bigger junk shop. Not to mention the sign that says "the proceeds from the sale of all items goes to making the International UFO Museum bigger and better," or something like that. So we can feel good that the money we spend on the little green slimy "grow your own alien" eggs is going to a good cause.

Myself, I purchased a souvenir spoon and a T-shirt with an alien face on it and bought the kids an assortment of water bottles, pencils and bouncy alien balls with alien slime inside. We did our part for the good of the museum.

After we toured the prestigious International UFO Museum we made our way down the street to the less than perfect but quite campy Area 51 Museum. We paid a mere $3 a person (the kids were free) to look through what can only be described as a year round Halloween Haunted house without the drunk teenagers and cheap soundtrack. A retro diner with badly worn alien props greeted us next to a recycled McDonald's play area with alien faces painted on the side.

We took advantage of having the place to ourselves and set about posing with the adorable alien creatures.

There were aliens sitting on outhouse potties, aliens barbecuing in a backyard setting, aliens serving beer behind a bar, aliens talking on the phone, aliens crashing a motorcycle into a light pole. Those aliens totally had run of the place. And what was so great about this place was they had a groovy junk shop too and their prices were cheaper than the official museum down the road. Darn it, I'd already spent my cash at that place! Oh well, I thought I might as well help out the local economy even more and get more silly T-shirts.

We were all set with our moolah and hit the McDonald's down the street before hitting the road. It was a fun end to a long week of travel. The road to home was still more than 10 hours long. And we hit a snag in the home stretch with a blow-out just east of Comfort near midnight. But by the time we made it home, the kids were asleep and easily moved into their beds. They would wake the next morning with pleasant memories of the long road and an appreciation for just how big and great our country is. I hope it's not another 15 years before our return to some of the places we saw, but the truth is that there's so much more to see. Who knows what next summer may bring. Am I being called west again or east this time? I hear the Great Lakes are lovely in summer. Then there's that big mouse in Florida who loves to call our names. We'll see.

Lisa On Location Photography