Two Unique RV Parks: NRA Whittington and Sand Dunes Swimming Pool

Sometimes we stop at campgrounds for unusual reasons. Mostly we're looking for nice big sites, comfortable amenities, good views, a dog park, walking trails, water, interesting towns nearby, and all that. But I found two RV parks that piqued my interest for completely different reasons. 

First, the National Rifle Association Whittington Center, near Raton, New Mexico.  

The main entrance to the NRA Whittington Center. Those are flags of all 50 US States.

There are cabins and an RV park on the property, very similar in style to a state park. It's primary function however, as you might guess from it's name, is as a comprehensive and high quality shooting range.  While both Rick and I are in support of the Second Amendment in principle, we are not gun enthusiasts by any means.  We are not NRA members, and have no particular position on the NRA.  We were mainly curious about the place. 

Entrance gate and offices

The Whittington Center is an impressive 33,300 acre property in the volcanic foothills of northern New Mexico. It is backed on one entire side by hills and mesas, giving all the ranges a safe bumper, or safety zone, or whatever you call it.

One of the many shooting ranges that we could see from our site.

The directory.

Another shooting range.

Clay pigeon range, I believe.

Another shooting range

The views in every direction are grand and there is lots of wildlife to see as well. We saw large herds of elk, deer and pronghorn. But we didn't see anyone shooting anything on any of the many ranges. We were just one of a few RVers and that was about it for activity at the Whittington.  

Our pull-through site with great views

"Home, home on the range"

Another view from our site

They offer multi day classes in many kinds of shooting skills, and access to the ranges for NRA members. I don't think we'd come back to this location just for the RV Park, but sport shooters or gun enthusiasts might find it an ideal spot. 

Our next stop was the Sand Dunes Swimming Pool and RV Park, a very remote location 23 miles from Alamosa, CO. We came for the hot pools. They have a very nice campground with three sections for partial hook-ups (water & electric), dry camping and tent sites. 

The laundry/bath house was near new and super clean, with two full, very comfortable, warm, private  bathrooms with showers.

Everywhere there is evidence of the hot springs that feed the pool. The place is surrounded by wetlands created by the springs, with abundant small wildlife living on and in the water. The water that comes from the water spigot at the RV site is hot. All the grass and trees are irrigated by the fresh warm run-off from the pools. 

Oh, and the whole place is very dog friendly. Dogs are even allowed in the pool and picnic areas without a leash, and can swim in the warm run off streams (below), though not in the pools themselves. Big extra points for all that.

Again, we were practically the only folks in the campground for most of the week.  Not so at the pool though!  It was hopping with the local folks, from morning 'til night every day of the week. Bus loads of kids came from the local schools for lessons. Mature folks came to swim laps and exercise. Families with kids of all ages came in the evenings and on weekends. We did find a nice quiet time between the adult lap swim and the open swim, between 9-10 AM most mornings.

The main pool was olympic-sized and divided width-ways into three sections for diving, lap swimming and shallow playing. 

The water was kept at about 100 degrees. It comes out of the earth at about 108 I believe, and is cooled by various sprinkling methods throughout the day, depending on the air temperature. 

The run-off from the constantly filling pool is used for a little stream, waterfall and water slide.

There are also various recreational facilities, such as basketball and volley ball courts, and plenty of lounge chairs and picnic tables.

In this protected area there is a large therapy pool with jets, a good restaurant... 

...and a wading pool for kids.  There's even a swim suit spinner. (Ever seen one of those? That's it just off the right side of the above picture - about the size of a drinking fountain.)

They just opened an adults-only section called The Greenhouse, with four hot tub of various sizes and shapes, a sauna, and a refreshment bar (non-alcohlic at the moment). Everything about the whole place was clean, freshly painted, well maintained and demonstrating thoughtfulness for their customers. The pools are open year round and must be a real blessing for cold locals in the midwinter months.

As an extra added bonus, there were great views of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and the Great Sand Dunes National Park, with dramatic skies reflected in the surrounding ponds almost every day. 

The Sangre de Cristos reflected in the nearby warm ponds of the protected wildlife areas.

Virga over the Sangre de Cristos

I really like finding some variety in the ongoing stream of RV parks we live in. I've heard of a dog resort RV park called Four Paws Kingdom Campground in Rutherfordton, NC. What a great idea! How about an animal rescue place? Or a zoo? Or a zip-line, sky-diving and climbing wall center? Or a craft or photography school? A riding stable? A snorkeling RV park?

Does anyone know about other unique RV parks? We'd love to hear. 

The Gathering of Nations: People at Their Best

My friend Robyn, who lives in Albuquerque, and I attended the Gathering of Nations, the largest powwow in North America.  There were reportedly over 3,000 dancers and musicians present.

The Grand Entrance

A powwow is a gathering of Native or First Nation people from one or multiple tribes to meet, dance, drum, sing, trade and celebrate.  This Gathering of Nations was attended by as many as 500 tribes from Florida to Alaska, including Canada. It is held annually in April in "The Pit," the athletic arena at University of New Mexico in Albuquerque.

 The young women's Fancy Shawl dance competition

The arena is huge and was filled to capacity with people of all ages, mostly in family groups, and mostly Native Americans. The great majority of them were involved in the festivities in some way. The bleachers were filled with families in all stages of dress for the dancing, with pieces of their regalia in suitcases, on hangers and a few in very special wooden boxes.  Some were putting on make-up of various sorts. Their actions reminded me a lot of the dance recitals I used to participate in as a child, or of a beauty pageant or a horse show, except for one major difference: the mood. 

Although this is a competition for many of the participants, I didn't sense any anxiety or nervousness. I didn't see young people with the jitters, trying to shake off their stage fright or nerves. I saw no parents yelling impatiently at their kids. I did sense good natured and contained excitement, but mostly I sensed and saw pride, joy, camaraderie, respect, appreciation, strength, confidence, and  bonds among friends and the broad extended family.  I'd say the mood reminded me of a huge family Thanksgiving: the kind of excitement that doesn't have to do with presents, but with company and tradition. 

Within the immense crowd there was honoring of individuals, such as the elder gentleman who led in the Grand Entrance, and the "head" man, woman, boy and girl dancers, last year's Miss Indian World and all the contestants for this year's honor.

The MC's made many comments about the youth of the community, commending them, encouraging them, appreciating their skills and the importance of their place. There were quite a few adolescents involved in the dancing and drumming.  Around the edges of the arena there were young men "strutting" their stuff in full costume, but with ball caps on their heads. I wish I had gotten a picture of that.

All in all, my overriding impression was of a massive number of people at their very best. There was no misbehavior, no rough-housing, no carousing, like there might be at a ballgame or maybe a rodeo. There were active roles for elders and children, and a place for young people to feel beautiful and proud. I felt safe, welcomed, but not particularly attended to. It was not about the tourists - it was about the community.

I thought I'd just close with a few more images of the people who surely must have been sharing their best as individuals in the company of their friends and family. 

Yá’át’ééh!

Blowing Glass in Santa Fe

Here in Santa Fe it's all about the arts. Galleries and museums seem to be on every corner, at least those corners where there isn't a restaurant or a government building. (Santa Fe is the capital of New Mexico so all it's administrative functions are housed here, in adobe buildings of course.)  Our new friend Kate, a fellow RVer staying next to us here at Santa Fe Skies RV Park, found a participatory art experience in town and we all joined in on the fun.

Ristra of blown glass chiles at Prairie Dog Glass

Kate, her husband John, Rick and I piled in our car and headed to Prairie Dog Glass for an active tutorial in glass blowing. The hour long class was $175 for all four of us. Each student gets to select a small glass design as a finished product to take home with them.  Prairie Dog Glass doesn't have a website, but it is located at the Jackalope Market, 2820 Cerrillos Rd. in Santa Fe. 

I'm going to try to explain the process and illustrate it with pictures of all four of us working on our glass pieces, so it may seem we were all working simultaneously. In reality, brave Kate went first and completed her piece, then we all followed one at a time. Our teacher Richard walked us through every step along the way.

The process starts by dipping the four foot hollow pipe into an oven filled with white-hot molten glass...

...and pulling a glob of it out on the end of the pipe.

The the glob is rolled on a metal table to smooth it out.

Smoothing the hot glass glob

Then you dip the hot glob into a dish of colored glass bits to add whatever color combination you choose.

John adding white to his Seattle Seahawks themed paperweight

My glass chile pepper gets a coating of red color

Rick remelting his glass

After adding the color crystals, the glob goes back in the fire to melt the color into the glass, softening it again in preparation for shaping the form of the finished piece.

I'm wetting down the newspaper pad between rollings

Forming happens in a series of steps, depending on the final product. For Kate's vase and my chile pepper, the forming happened by rolling the hot glass glob on a mat of wet newspaper until it was elongated. Then we blew the right amount of air into it to create the air space inside.

Because Kate went first, every step along the way was a big surprise.

For John's and Rick's designs, the forming entailed pulling the glass glob into a spikey shape to create the swirls inside the paperweight...

...dipping it again in the molten glass, and then rolling it in a wet wooden bowl to create the round shape.

The paperweight gets finished with a final blast of fire before squashing it into a flatter globe.

Kate's vase took a few more shaping steps and more blowing to create a large hollow shape, breaking the shape off the pipe and then reattaching it to create an opening at the other end. 

Richard performed the finishing step of the vase, a quick and dramatic swing of the pipe and the hot glass, that created the rippled fluting of the vase mouth.  We were all in awe of the process and Richard's skills.

We were all pretty happy with our finished products too.

Now what are we going to do with them!  : )