Travel Inspiration: Searching for Aliens with ‘Paul’

July 23, 2011

With Comic-Con in full swing there seemed like no better time than now to explore the road trip two British geeks take from San Diego (after attending the 2010 Comic-Con) to the Southwest’s most famous alien landmarks where they encounter a fugitive alien named Paul.

Most of the landmarks the pair visit in Paul are real places around Rachel, NV, home of Area 51. Here’s a look at a few, and how to get there:

Area 51

Area 51 is a military airfield about 80 miles north of Las Vegas on the shore of Groom Lake in Nevada. Because of the secretive nature of the base, which develops experimental aircraft, along with reports of UFO sightings in the area, Area 51 has become a mecca for those in search of UFOs and aliens.

There are plenty of conspiracy theories surrounding Area 51, including the idea that the government uses the base to secretly studying aliens and UFOs that have crash landed in the U.S.

You can drive by Area 51, but that’s about as close as you can get. The base is located on Groom Lake Rd, off of Nevada Highway 375 just outside of Rachel, NV. You can find exact directions here.

Alien Drop Box

Also located on Nevada Highway 375, aka The Extraterrestrial Highway, is the Black Mailbox, or the Alien Dropbox as they call it in the movie.

The mailbox belongs to a rancher who has property near Area 51 and has become a gathering place for the alien-curious to hang out at night and look for strange sightings.

The original black mailbox has been replaced by a white one which you can find between marker 29 and 30.

Also be on the lookout for a large tin alien in front of the Alien Research Center near Route 375 and US-93.

Little A’Le’Inn

In the movie Jane Lynch plays the owner of the Little A’Le’Inn but in real-life it’s a woman named Pat that keeps this alien-themed restaurant, bar & motel going. Pat gives alien-chasers a place to eat, chill out and pick up supplies, along with a few alien tchotchkes.

Little A’Le’Inn is located at HC61 Box 45 in Rachel, NV and is open 7 days a week, 8AM-10PM, (except for Christmas Day when they are closed), and the kitchen is open until 7PM.

If you haven’t seen it yet, you can check out Paul on DVD on Aug. 9.