Aero Pines Park; Not Just Another Pretty Place!

BULL RIDING is one recreation available at Aero Pines.

CARRIAGE RIDES are one of the many activities at Aero Pines.

The eight sims of Aero Pines Park and Recreation Area, Equus (192, 173, 22), provide SL residents with a plethora of fun outdoor activities in an environment of beautiful vistas: trails, waterways, caverns, canyons, forests, beaches, and more.

Aero Pines owner, Cindy Bolero, has evolved Aero Pines into a solid theme that fits the subscribers in the Aero Pines land group, as well as providing a destination for good wholesome experiences for visitors.

Bolero explains the focus of Aero Pines, "Since 2006, our focus has been to provide trails and ranch lands to compliment our equestrian center.  Adventurous motorcycling roads are another objective, as well as public areas such as airstrips, marinas, beaches, stables, etc.  As we acquired more regions, we experimented with terrains to challenge recreation and aviation enthusiasts, such as our canyon gorge."

Equally as important is the focus of preserving the rural theme and ranch lands.  Bolero elaborated on this, "These are not rental sims. The average resident land sponsor has been with me one to three years.  Residency requires an interview process and compliance to our strict script and prim conservation efforts.  It's all about the extended views and toys. One of our main goals is providing the ability to ride, drive and fly in a scenic area with the least lag possible."

Bolero's inspiration for Aero Pines takes her back to her childhood.  She reflected, "Aero Pines is named after my childhood summer home in the California Sierra foothills. My parents are pilots and had a house at Aero Pines Airpark, which is a cluster of homes surrounding an airstrip.

"My summer and winter activities there included riding my horse, off-roading, swimming in the creeks, jet-skiing, snowmobiling,  motorcycling, and playing guitar and dancing to bands in the taverns.  Most of the locals are firefighters, truckers, loggers, ranchers, artists and musicians, much like the residents of our Virtual Aero Pines Park. Since I grew up with airplanes and horses, aviation and horses have always been a part of our virtual land group's activities and builds."

In early 2009, a RP group, Crash Fire Rescue (CFR), found Bolero's landscapes to be an ideal place to carry out their activities and training simulations. Bolero spoke of the challenges in supporting their activities, "It was a challenge at first, mingling heavy vehicle use on sims designed only for horseback riding, biking, and flying.  Over time, we worked it out, and they have become some of our major land sponsors and maintenance support via their Park Ranger Unit. CFR is also part of my professional SL Solutions Provider/Developer Team where they assist with some of the various projects, clients and events."

The gorgeous vistas of Aero Pines were a labor of love for Bolero.  She spoke of the terraforming effort, "My land partner and RL friend/colleague, Moto Gamba, has a knack for sculpting terrains into his visions for use and appeal. He taught me how to sculpt land by hand without 3rd party tools or mapping software.

"We build on each other's ideas or projects for terrains and builds. He starts with a basic idea for a build such as a mountain with roads, an airfield, marina, or beach area, then we apply simple structures such as a hangar, tiki bar, docks etc. Then we add rural character to a sim by terrraforming winding hilly road beds, carving horse trails, followed by planting hundreds of trees. This process takes hundreds of man-hours when dealing with so many connected sims.

After those foundations are laid, the Aero Pines Dept of Transportation, another CFR division, offer support with finish work, solutions, and modifications to the road beds, airstrips, and other public access areas. They do a mix of executing task loads, with engaging RP.  They have an impressive fleet of service vehicles, heavy equipment, scripted tools, and experienced crew that work as a tight team. Visitors delight in coming upon a road crew so well equipped, efficient, and polite. This practice and proficiency comes in handy when we are contracted for hazardous occupation training simulations."

Speaking of some of the other key players at Aero Pines, Bolero said, "Bethlee Spad serves as a key team member for implementing ideas and builds. She brainstorms right along with us, contributing to major problem solving and quickly assembles prototypes. Bethlee is also event support no matter what the theme is. From equestrian events, to air squadrons and firefighting, and ballet, she does it all. She is also an important and talented stage crew member for our big rock and country music shows. Electron Cleanslate and Elyza McGinnis are also appreciated and dedicated support for events and public relations."

Bolero's team always plans interesting and unique events at Aero Pines.  Over the holidays, they held a winter skating party featuring a special interactive Nutcracker Ballet experience.  While the Nutcracker video was shown on large screens surrounding the skating venue, those in attendance were treated to the added pleasure of dancing along with the video via animated dancing poses of the Sugar Plum Fairy created by the talented animator/scripter Cuxworld Constantine.

Approximately three events are scheduled each month.  Bolero says of their events, "They are not like any other events in SL. I don't park people on dance floors or seats. I engage them in action and adventure. When we do a concert show, it's usually preceded by a rodeo, trail ride or motorcycle run. Our shows are more than just an avatar band in costume playing scripted instruments and the usual light and pyro show. You'll have to come see what makes our shows unique."

Every three months, they have a rodeo featuring barrel racing and bull riding, followed by a country music concert. A Sweethearts Rodeo was just held in February as a Valentine celebration.  In the spring, a motorcycle rally and rock/blues festival is planned that will span several days and will include poker runs, a bike show, and other showcases.

Bolero spoke of a special concept at Aero Pines, "For our "Interactive Movie Adventure", all our regions become a movie set and participants get to play along. If the movie has a military theme, the participants show up in camouflage gear, get to fire weapons, blow things up, fly military aircraft and drive around in tanks.  Jumbo screens are outside the sims and the same audio is everywhere.  No matter where you go in the regions, you are part of the movie."  Often times, she said, the events are spontaneous.  She mentioned an example, "With only a two day notice, I streamed live video from real life air show to a virtual airport."

Summing it up, Bolero said, "Every one of our events is very expensive, often over 100USD in expenses, not to mention the hours of labor. We rarely ask for tips and donations and rarely is there any commercialism involved. We just like doing innovative things and engaging those that are interest in what we have to offer."

To find out more about Aero Pines, contact Cindy Bolero.  Be sure to check out the following links:                       http://www.avatarsunited.com/groups/aero-pines-park, their blog at http://BoleroGroup.net, Bolero's professional website http://solutionproviders.secondlife.com/provider/show/id/642 or http://tinyurl.com/yfetm9g , and Aero Pines videos at http://Livestream.com/CindyBolero.