Andy’s travel nurse contract was over April 27th, ending our time in New Mexico. We have been sharing the places we visited with you and would like to share a few more as we wrap up our New Mexico posts.
While in New Mexico, we often visited places on or near one of the 19 Pueblos. Our RV park was located near the Santa Ana Pueblo. This Pueblo has many tribal enterprises, including the Santa Ana Star Casino, Hyatt Regency Tamaya Resort, and the Santa Ana Garden Center.
We wanted to learn more about the native people and decided to visit the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center. The Cultural Center is the best place to learn the history and culture of the 19 Pueblo Tribes in New Mexico. The center also contains artwork and poetry samples from the pueblos.
We photographed artwork while touring the museum, however, due to copyright laws, we are not able to post those to our blog.
A demonstration of traditional dances takes place in the courtyard most Sundays. We attended a performance and found it interesting, as well as entertaining. Afterward, the dancers posed for pictures. There is a schedule on their website with the performance dates, times and names of the featured tribe.
If you are going to the Albuquerque area, we recommend you put the Pueblo Cultural Center near the top of your list of places to visit. We waited until the end of our stay to visit and wish we had gone sooner.
Los Alamos
The day we drove to Bandelier National Monument, we stopped in Los Alamos on the way back to Rio Rancho. After locating the Visitor Center, we went inside to pick up information on the downtown walking tour. The attendant was helpful and knowledgeable about the town before, during and after the Manhattan Project. Since we were short on time, we declined to watch the movie.
Heading outside, the first stops on the map were Ashley Pond and the Ice House Memorial.
From there we walked across the street to the sculptures.
After that, it got frustrating. At the Fuller Lodge, guests were gathering for an outside wedding. The Los Alamos History Museum was closed. We became lost following the map because several street names were missing and we had to use our phones to navigate.
One of the buildings on the map has been repurposed and another no longer exists. The WAC Dormitory is a Christian Science Reading Room and the Los Alamos Performing Arts Center is located on the spot that was the WWII Cafeteria. There was no signage on or in front of these buildings regarding their role in the Manhattan Project. This information is found on the backside of the map.
We stuck with it and walked the entire route, ending at the Bradbury Science Museum – – as it was closing. If you are going to visit Los Alamos, we recommend you start your day at the Museum. Afterward, if you have time, you can take the walking tour. We don’t recommend going past the Hans Bethe House.
Our home in Rio Rancho was the Stagecoach Stop RV Park. We had full hook-up, cable TV, wi-fi and a fantastic view of the Sandia Mountains.
In addition to the many weekend and nightly travelers, the park is home to a small community of long-term (like us) residents. Several of those residents have been long-term for years.
There is one long-term resident I will not soon forget. Due to unfortunate circumstances, she and her husband had been living there for three years. She knows most everyone in the park and was one of the first people we met. At Easter, she cooked enough food to share with others, including a traveler in a van without the means to cook.
She told me how she and another long-term resident had assisted in designing the dog park. The last week we were there, she was freshening it up for spring, and with the help of some children, painting flowers on the tires.
I believe the management is the reason people enjoy their stay. They are warm, friendly and genuine. If our travels take us back to the Albuquerque area, we hope to stay there again.
As we did in El Paso, we found a church to attend during our stay in Rio Rancho. We did not know about Life Church before we walked into services. After the music was finished, Pastor Keith Phifer walked on stage and gave a few announcements. He then left. A large screen came on and we watched a video message from Senior Pastor Craig Groeschel. “Ok,” we said, “this is different.”
We enjoyed the teaching, the friendly people, and the atmosphere. We continued to attend Life Church during our stay in Rio Rancho. After we moved on, we started watching services online. When we didn’t have internet, we went to the local library, downloaded the message, and watched it on our TV in the RV.
Life Church has become our second church home. It is also where we met Dale and Ingi Russell. The second Sunday we attended, they sat directly in front of us. Because they looked familiar, Andy asked if they had lived previously in Kansas City. They had. We then asked if they attended Restore Community Church (our Kansas City church home). They had.
After service, we chatted, went to brunch at the Range Café and visited their home. They went to Tent Rocks with us, shared several meals and became our friends. We look forward to seeing them again.
There are many more reasons we liked living in Rio Rancho, New Mexico. The Sandia Mountains, the blue sky, the climate and the sites within a short driving distance. If the opportunity arises, and the timing is right, we would happily spend another 13 weeks there.