End of Summer Road Trip 2014 (part 1)

As summer is winding down quickly here in Colorado, it was about time for me to cross a couple of items off of my road trip bucket list. So, after a night of drunken planning (or a lack thereof) one of my friends and I packed some camping gear and the dogs in the back of my little yellow Subaru AKA Bumblebee and headed off towards the San Luis Valley.

I know it sounds odd, but I have wanted to camp at the UFO Watchtower for a really, really, really long time. For anyone not familiar with the UFO Watchtower:

"Have you ever wondered what a real UFO looks like? Have you ever wondered if there is life on other planets? Judy Messoline of Hooper, Colorado, has wondered the same thing.
Judy's favorite TV shows were "Sightings" & "X~Files". After watching show after show, she realized she was hearing things like "GREAT SAND DUNES" & "SAN LUIS VALLEY" on many episodes of these programs. With this in mind, Judy had an idea! She has created the first (that I am aware of) UFO WatchTower®" - http://www.ufowatchtower.com/ 

 San Luis Valley

Entrance to the UFO Watchtower

After arriving at the UFO Watchtower we spent a little time wandering around the, for the lack of a better word, alien garden and the gift shop; and even bought myself and the other half T-shirts as he was stuck working and couldn't get away.

As you can tell, the store hours are a little hit or miss 

They use the word 'tower' pretty loosely! 

360 View of the UFO Watchtower and "Alien Garden"

I have always just though of the UFO Watchtower as one of those 'too weird to pass up' places and was determined to camp there at some point in life. Of course I didn't go there expecting much of anything besides a desolate campground in the middle of nowhere with amazing views (and a touristy gimmick) and the ability to tell people that I had camped at the UFO Watchtower, and it was everything that I had hoped for.

After unloading Bumblebee, setting up camp and finding out that the batteries to the air pump for the mattress were dead we set off the the one gas station in about a 30 mile radius in the actual town of Hooper. Since the town of Hooper basically consists of this gas station, they have no problem charging you $15 for 4 C batteries! After that adventure enjoying some beer and an amazing sunset was definitely in order. And, if you're more the weed type (since it's legal here in Colorado) about 10-15 miles north of the Watchtower there is a random dispensary sitting in the middle of nowhere, welcome to Colorado!

UFO Watchtower at Sunset (John Denver - Country Roads 

is just what happened to be playing in the background 

when I took the video)

The pictures don't even come close to doing that sunset justice! Of course after the sun goes down, it starts to get cold fast and no camping trip is complete without a campfire.

I will mention that even after spending a good part of the evening sitting on the 'observation deck' of the 'tower', there was absolutely no sign of a single UFO (not that I thought that there would be); however if you take video in the dark of the cars on the highway in the distance it does kind of look like UFOs. 

So, if you're ever looking for something odd and random to do in Colorado, it's well worth the $10 to camp there just for the reactions you will get when you tell people that you spent a night there.

To be continued...