World's toughest job ad

• The ad was fake, but it reminds people how hard one important person's job is


• Hundreds of thousands of people saw the ad, but only 24 expressed interest in being hired


• People brought in to help evaluate the description were surprised to hear the real job title


• The video for the Mother's Day campaign has been seen more than 4 million times

(CNN) -- The job ad listed the many unusual requirements for director of operations -- and still, a few dozen people answered it and set up video interviews:

-- Must be able to work 135-plus hours a week, it said.

-- Must working standing up for most hours, often overnight.

-- No breaks.

-- Eating depends on when the "associate" eats.

-- Able to manage 10 to 15 projects at one time. (There are many, many more tough demands on time, emotions and mental skills.)

-- And the work for Rehtom Inc. (there's the first clue) is pro bono. Yes, for free.

The job sounds impossible. But the people behind the ad say billions of people do it every day.

If you go to the online version of the job ad, there is a link that goes to a video for #WorldsToughestJob, a Mother's Day campaign on the American Greetings Card Store.

The video is a reminder that a mother's "impact is endless. And so is her job description," American Greetings says on the website.

As you might guess, when the interviewer discusses the unique requirements for the job, many a head is shaken and words like "crazy" and "insane" are dispersed.

Eventually, there is the reveal of the true job title -- mom -- and the sentimental among us have to brush away the tears as the tributes to moms flow.

The video had been viewed through YouTube more than 4 million times since it was posted Monday.

Andrea Mileskiewicz, an associate creative director for Boston-based Mullen, the advertising agency behind the spot, said that because Mother's Day is such an important day for American Greetings, her team went in with big goals.

"The topic of mom is so heartfelt and so relatable, and we just wanted to make a video that inspired meaningful connections," she said. "We're incredibly pleased with how people are connecting with it."

She shared some details about how the ad came to be. Mileskiewicz went home to Michigan where she spent time with her brother, his wife and their newborn, the couple's second child.

And, she said, it really hit home when she witnessed how hard being a mother was for her sister-in-law.

When she went back to Boston, the planning for the Mother's Day campaign was just beginning. She pitched the idea that many people talk about how hard being a mother is, but actually showing it would be a different take on a holiday campaign.

Mileskiewicz said as the concept took shape, a team of moms from the two companies weighed in to give it its humor and authenticity.

"They took the idea to what it's become," she said.

So Mullen placed an ad in newspapers and online. Craigslist ads linked to a fictitious job description page. Hundreds of thousands of people saw the ad online or in the papers, but only 24 answered it.

That kind of proves the point that people think the job is too tough, Mileskiewicz said.

Then the Mullen team set up interviews with people who were told they would be helping evaluate the job ad by video conference.

The man who described the ad to them actually was an improv actor.

Some of the test group came to an office in New York while others used a webcam from home, Mileskiewicz said.

Only one person actually started to see the ruse while there. The others sat through about 15 minutes of interviewing before they were let in on the real message.

"Everyone [who] came in had no idea had no idea what they were reacting to," Mileskiewicz said. "All of those reactions are completely authentic."

So, will there be something similar for Father's Day?

Mileskiewicz: "All I can say is fathers are just as important, and it's something we're already excited about. So stayed tuned."

Pop art condoms saving lives

The Center for African Family Studies (CAFS) has joined forces with Kenyan artist Michael Soi to create eye-catching condom wrappers to promote safe sex.

The group hopes to create a range of affordable condoms designed specifically for Kenyan youth.

CAFS says that condoms currently available are either low quality or too expensive for young people.

Soi, pictured here in his studio, says he was more than happy to collaborate in the effort. "I wanted to try to chip in and create something that would help fight a good fight."

According to CAFS, many young people in Kenya are aware of the dangers of unprotected sex, but the stigma attached to purchasing condoms when unmarried leaves many willing to take risks.

• Kenyan youth face social stigmas purchasing condoms, according to the Center for African Family Studies in Nairobi


• The NGO has launched a crowdfunding campaign to start a line of pop art condoms


• They say putting art on packaging disguises condoms and encourages safe sex

African Voices is a weekly show that highlights Africa's most engaging personalities, exploring the lives and passions of people who rarely open themselves up to the camera. Follow the team on Twitter.

(CNN) -- Packaging can change how people see things. And when it comes to sex, it could maybe help save lives too.

The Center for African Family Studies (CAFS), a Nairobi-based international NGO, has teamed up with Kenyan artist Michael Soi to create an eye-catching condom line with pop art-inspired packaging to promote safe sex and raise awareness about HIV/AIDS.

The group has turned to crowdsourcing website Indiegogo to raise funds for its campaign, which aims to encourage condom usage among local youth in a country where an estimated 1.6 million people struggle with HIV/AIDS.

"They were giving out free condoms when I went to the HIV conference in Cape Town recently," says CAFS director of operations Jonathan Spangler. "These condoms were brightly colored, like nothing seen in Kenya -- glow in the dark, different flavors, different prints. We put a picture of them on Facebook and we had youth calling us up asking where they could purchase them," he adds.

Most people aren't very open to the idea that very young people might walk into a shop just to buy condoms.

Genevieve Imbali, communications and marketing officer, CAFS

"We've never had that sort of reaction to CAFS programs. So we said why don't we try produce our own condom line because there seems to be a market. We want to innovate and create new programming that is sustainable and even generates income for the youth," he adds..

Stigma vs. safety

HIV/AIDS continues to be one of the most prominent public health obstacles many African countries face today. In recent years, the disease -- which had reached epidemic proportions -- has started to decline in Kenya as a result of stronger public awareness campaigns and the impact of local education programs.

While the outlook is positive, campaigners say more needs to be done to continue to reduce the threat of HIV/AIDS in the country -- a start could be made by tackling the stigma surrounding the purchase of condoms.

"Most people are actually very afraid of going to vendors in supermarkets and chemists to buy condoms because we are a fairly reserved society," explains Genevieve Imbali, communications and marketing officer at CAFS.

"Most people aren't very open to the idea that very young people might walk into a shop just to buy condoms because nobody wants to be known to be having sex ... There is so much stigma associated with condom purchase in the country."

Eye-catching designs

To address this, the bright packaging of CAFS' colored condoms is specifically designed to disguise the product inside.

It's important to try and play a part and make sure that people will not go through the same mistakes as what my generation has gone through.

Michael Soi, artist

Imbali explains that by making condoms less obvious, more people will be willing to buy them. She also says that the condoms currently available in the country are either too expensive or low quality -- issues, she claims, will be tackled with the CAFS condom line.

"For the condoms that are given out for free at schools, the youth still do not take them," argues Imbali. "They look at them and think: 'You know what, you are giving this for free but they are not good quality.' So they'd probably just have unprotected sex rather than use the ones that are easily accessible."

Collaborating with artists

But getting an artist to agree to provide designs for the packaging became a struggle. Many didn't want their work associated with sex and CAFS hit a roadblock -- until they met with Michael Soi.

The Nairobi-based artist is well-known for his bold, but often controversial, themes placed within his paintings. Unafraid to shy away from taboo subjects like sex and interracial relationships, Soi was more than happy to collaborate with the NGO.

"I felt like everybody is basically trying to deal with this whole issue -- HIV, unwanted pregnancies -- and when I talk about everybody I mean the church is doing whatever they can, the government is doing whatever they can," says Soi.

"I felt the project was a good thing. I wanted to try to chip in and create something that would help fight a good fight," he says.

Soi explains that sex isn't discussed openly and that as a result many young people learn about the dangers of unprotected sex the hard way -- through experience. However, he does believe awareness is increasing and he hopes his work will continue to change attitudes surrounding sex in Kenya.

"I think it's important to try and play a part and make sure that people will not go through the same mistakes as what my generation has gone through."

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The plane that 'flies forever'

Solar Impulse is a single-seater aircraft designed to have "virtually unlimited autonomy," aiming to become the first sun-powered plane to circle the globe.

The plane is the brainchild of Swiss pilots Bertrand Piccard (right) and Andre Borschberg (left). The aviation pioneers will attempt to record the longest flight in aviation history, flying for 120 hours non-stop.

The top surface of the plane's wings is covered with 17,000 solar cells that supply four electric motors with renewable energy. Its batteries can store enough solar daytime energy to keep the plane moving throughout the night.

The plane's wings stretch for a massive 72 meters, while its weight stands at just 2,300 kilograms.

The plane's 3.8 m3 cockpit has been designed to ensure that a pilot can live there for a week.

Solar Impulse 2 is the upgraded version of a prototype (pictured here) that wrote history in 2010 by becoming the first solar aircraft capable of flying overnight.

Solar Impulse 1, pictured here over Lake Geneva, broke several records, including the world's first fully solar-powered intercontinental flight from Switzerland to Morocco in 2012.

An aviation enthusiast, Borschberg is an engineer by education and an MIT graduate in management science who has been involved in several startups and technology projects over the years.

Hailing from a long family of scientists and explorers, Piccard, who is also a doctor and a psychiatrist, is the first man to fly around the world non-stop in a balloon.

His grandfather, Auguste Piccard, was a professor of physics who helped pave the way for high-altitude navigation by inventing the pressurized cabin and becoming the first person to reach the stratosphere in a balloon.

Piccard's father, Jacques, was the first man to dive to the bottom of the Marianas Trench -- 10,916 meters -- the deepest point of the world's oceans.

Solar Impulse 2, which was unveiled last week in Payerne, Switzerland, is expected to begin its journey in March 2015.

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• Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg have unveiled Solar Impulse 2


• The solar-powered aircraft will attempt to circle the globe next year


• It will have to fly non-stop for five days and nights crossing the Pacific and the Atlantic


• The aviation pioneers want to raise awareness about clean energy

On The Move explores the world of future personal transport looking at the latest trends and tech innovations that shape global travel.

(CNN) -- Their CVs combined look like the envy of all bona fide air adventurers. Pioneering ultralight aircraft? Been there. Setting world records by circling the globe nonstop in a balloon? Done that. Commanding the first ever 24-hour flight on a plane powered just by the sun? Yep, you've guessed it.

And now, following 12 years of complex designs and intense training, aviation pioneers Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg are set to conquer new heights, taking up the challenge of the first solar flight around the globe.

The Swiss duo unveiled last week Solar Impulse 2, a revolutionary aircraft designed to achieve the longest ever flight in the history of aviation in terms of duration for a single pilot. It will attempt to fly non-stop for 120 hours (yes, that's five successive days and nights) over oceans and continents without a drop of fuel.

Made of carbon fiber, Solar Impulse 2 is the evolution of a prototype that has smashed several aviation records in recent years, including the first fully solar-powered overnight flight lasting 26 hours in 2010.

During the day, the solar cells built into the wing recharge lithium batteries, allowing the plane to fly at night.

The upgraded plane has a huge wingspan of 72 meters, wider than a standard Boeing 747, and weighs only 2,300 kilos -- that's about as heavy as a family car. Its wings are covered with a skin of 17,000 solar cells that supply four electric motors with renewable energy, while its custom-made lithium batteries are able to store enough solar energy throughout the day to keep the ultralight plane flying at night.

Where does pilot go to the bathroom?

Can solar power fuel future flight?

"What we have now is the first airplane in the world which has unlimited endurance," says 62-year-old Borschberg, a father of three, who was the one in the cockpit in 2010's record-breaking flight. "It can fly a day and a night, it can fly a week, it can fly a month -- theoretically it can fly a year," he adds. "It's the most energy efficient airplane ever built."

20-minute sleeping

Inside the airplane's tiny cockpit, measuring about one and a half the interior volume of a 2013 Mini Cooper, every detail has been calculated to achieve maximum energy efficiency while ensuring the pilot can live there for several days. Its structure is surrounded by a high-density foam to protect the pilot from temperatures ranging from -40°C +40°C in the absence of heating and air conditioning.

There is enough space for food, water and oxygen supplies, while a multipurpose seat, which comes packed with a parachute and a life-raft, functions as a toilet. It also reclines to allow the captain to perform physical exercises to keep blood circulation going as well as take a nap -- but only for up to 20 minutes.

"We've learned to do what we call polyphasic sleep," says Borschberg, referring to the practice of sleeping several times over a day. "You need to know how to rest, how to eat, when to go to the toilet and how to keep the body functioning. Of course, we've also prepared for the worst -- how to jump out if it's necessary, how to survive in the ocean with a small life raft and how to get rescued."

Borschberg flying Solar Impulse 1 above Payerne's Swiss airbase on July 8, 2010.

FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP/Getty Images/file

To achieve all that, Piccard and Borschberg have spent countless days and nights inside flight simulators over the last few years. But while technical training is crucial, Piccard says preparing yourself mentally is as important.

"You have to be ready in your head to really visualize all the solutions," says Piccard. "All the positive emotions around the flight that will last five to six days alone over the ocean, and also visualize how to enjoy it -- otherwise it's very, very difficult."

It runs in the family

If there's someone who knows about difficult, if not impossible, undertakings, then that's Piccard, a third-generation adventurer. His grandfather was the first man to make it to the stratosphere in a balloon while his father was the first to reach the deepest point of the Earth's oceans, the Mariana Trench at nearly 11,000 meters.

Following in their footsteps, Piccard developed a passion for aviation early on. Starting out as a teenager, he soon became one of the pioneers of ultralight flying and won several hang-glider aerobatics competitions.

In March 1999, he completed the first non-stop round-the-world balloon flight with Brian Jones from the UK, while four years later he joined forces with Borschberg, an aviator, entrepreneur and mechanical engineer, to embark on their lofty mission to build a solar aircraft that could circle the world with no polluting emissions.

"In my family tradition there has always been the scientific exploration and the protection of the environment -- so this is what drives me," says 56-year-old Piccard, who is also a doctor, psychiatrist, and a father of three. "(To) have an interesting and exciting life but also have a useful life for others," he adds.

Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg.

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images/file

Indeed, more than just setting new records, it's this desire to chart a sustainable path for future generations that seems to motivate the Solar Impulse founders -- when asked whether he was at all afraid of undertaking once again something that's never been done before , Piccard is unequivocal.

"To be really honest," he says decisively, "I am very afraid of living in a world that burns one million tons of oil every hour -- without even counting gas and coal; a world that is destroying the planet and the environment," he continues. "I am much less afraid to fly in a solar-powered airplane because solar power is one of the solutions for the future.

With clean technology, with renewable energy we can achieve incredible things without any fuel at all.

Bertrand Piccard, Solar Impulse

A future without fuel

Following last week's unveiling, Piccard and Borschberg are now set to begin test flights in mid-May before embarking on their 35,000-kilometer journey in March 2015. Starting from the Gulf region in the Middle East, the two pilots will then fly over India, Myanmar and China, cross the Pacific, the United States and the Atlantic with the aim of returning to their departure point.

With a sluggish top speed of just 88 miles per hour, each ocean crossing will last five to six days, taking the total flight time up to 20-25 days over the course of a few months. "Because it's a single pilot and the plane flies slowly, we're going to land on every continent and switch the pilot," explains Piccard. "So one of us will make the Pacific, one will make the Atlantic; one will cross China the other one will cross America and so on."

Each stop on their itinerary will last for several days as the Solar Impulse team wants to organize public events to raise awareness about a more sustainable way of life.

"This is really the message we want to spread," says Piccard. "With clean technology, with renewable energy we can achieve incredible things without any fuel at all."

READ THIS: Is your flying car finally here?

Native American culture, live

A settlement of adobe dwellings dating to the late 13th century, the pueblo is still a living community. The National Historic Landmark is open to the public for guided tours, shopping and fry bread eating

The Indian taco with shredded bison is a favorite at Tocabe: An American Indian Eatery in Denver. "We're trying to showcase American Indian cuisine in the 21st century," co-owner Matt Chandra says. "This is food that speaks to tradition but also shows that it can progress."

Monument Valley's scenic drive takes in Mitten Buttes, Merrick Buttes and other iconic formations. Navajo guides (compulsory if you want to get off the road) can take you into some of the park's 92,000 acres.

Fully experiencing Santa Fe's rich American Indian culture requires many return trips. Shops like Shiprock Gallery (pictured) and many galleries along Canyon Road are a gateway to a life-altering addiction to Native arts.

Billed as the world's largest Native American cultural event, the Gathering of Nations is a tribal extravaganza. Where else but North America's most prominent powwow can you find the crowning of Miss Indian World and more than 700 tribes coming together?

A trail leads visitors to the Spruce Tree House ruins in Mesa Verde National Park. The park's stone and adobe cliff dwellings were built by Ancestral Puebloans from the 1190s to the late 1270s.

Arizona is home to 22 federally recognized tribes, and Phoenix is home to almost 45,000 indigenous people and a number of acclaimed Native American restaurants. The Heard Museum is one of the area's best attractions for learning about American Indian culture.

"This is the biggest and the best venue for we Native American artists," says Apache sculptor Upton Greyshoes Ethelbah (pictured). An estimated 80,000 to 100,000 collectors come for the two-day show each August.

One of the most famous battles in U.S. history is remembered at the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, where the Sioux and Cheyenne famously defeated the U.S. Army's 7th Cavalry.

The Denver Museum puts on the Friendship Powwow and American Indian Cultural Celebration (pictured), which celebrates its 25th year in September 2014. There are American Indian dancers, drum groups and artists.

"Our world-class collection covers cultures from North, Central and South America and totals more than 800,000 items," says Kevin Gover (Pawnee), director of the museum in Washington, D.C.

At Tillicum Village near Seattle you can take in a Northwest Coast Indian dance performance with a traditional salmon bake dinner.

In the Osage Hills, 10 minutes from downtown Tulsa, the Gilcrease Museum houses the world's most comprehensive collection of art and artifacts of the American West and an unparalleled collection of Native American art and artifacts.

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• Phoenix has a number of highly regarded Native American restaurants


• The Gathering of Nations in New Mexico is billed as the world's largest Native American cultural event


• World's largest private collection of American Indian artifacts is in New York City


• Totem poles are important features in the Pacific Northwest around the Salish Sea

(CNN) -- Think Native American culture has been co-opted by casinos, twisted by inaccurate films, relegated to the rez or buried with arrowheads?

No chance.

American Indian culture is alive and thriving in modern galleries, powwows, museum exhibits, film festivals and restaurants.

Here are some of the best places in the United States to experience Native America (arranged in a roughly east-to-west geographic order).

The National Museum of the American Indian George Gustav Heye Center (New York)

The George Gustav Heye Center in New York is part of the National Museum of the American Indian.

"The Heye Center began as the personal collection of George Gustav Heye, a wealthy investment banker who collected nearly a million items that became the largest collection of American Indian items in the world," says NMAI director Kevin Gover (Pawnee).

Heye's will stipulates that his collection always be made available to the people of New York, and since 1994, it's been on view for all to see in Lower Manhattan across from Battery Park, in the historic Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House.

Highlights of the collection include 10 headdresses from different Native tribes and duck decoys from Lovelock Cave, Nevada (at ca. 400 B.C.-A.D. 100, they're the oldest known in the world).

Nursing moms will especially appreciate the Yup'ik jacket that holds junior on Mom's back till feeding time, when the jacket can be ingeniously turned forward.

Elsewhere in New York City, which, by the way, has the largest indigenous population of any city in the country, the Queens County Farm Museum holds the Thunderbird American Indian Mid-Summer Pow Wow, the city's largest and oldest (July 25-27, 2014).

MORE: 10 easy ways to experience Navajo America

National Museum of the American Indian (Washington, D.C.)

The National Museum of the American Indian is the Smithsonian Institution's great national repository of American Indian art and culture on the National Mall.

Totem pole by Tsimshian carver David R. Boxley at the National Museum of American Indian.

"Our world-class collection covers cultures from North, Central and South America and totals more than 800,000 items," says museum director Kevin Gover. "Our Mitsitam Native Foods Cafe was the first Zagat-rated museum cafe in Washington and has a devoted following."

The museum presents a full calendar of public programs, including concerts, festivals, symposiums and theater, along with one-of-a-kind temporary exhibitions featuring the likes of esteemed Native artists such as Fritz Scholder, George Morrison, Brian Jungen and Allan Houser.

It's Native inside and out: the design of the grounds has reintroduced a landscape indigenous to the Washington area before "contact."

Oklahoma

You might know it as the Sooner State, but the state name Oklahoma is Indian, from the Choctaw words "okla" and "humma," meaning "red people."

The entire state is rich with American Indian culture.

Makes sense: Oklahoma has 39 federally recognized tribes and the second greatest percentage of Native Americans in the country.

If you know about the forced removal of the Cherokee in 1838-1839 along the Trail of Tears (now a National Historic Trail) to reservations in Indian Territory in what is now southeastern Oklahoma, you'll appreciate Tahlequah , the capital of the Cherokee Nation.

At the Cherokee Heritage Center there's a re-created ancient Cherokee village and a permanent Trail of Tears exhibit.

You can tour the Tahlequah Original Historic Townsite District , where the street signs are written in English and Cherokee.

More Cherokee-related museums include the John Ross Museum , the John Hair Museum and Cultural Center and the Cherokee Supreme Court Museum .

In Muscogee, you can learn about the art, culture and history of the Five Civilized Tribes (the term refers to the tribes considered most able to assimilate: the Cherokee, the Choctaw, Muscogee/Creek, Chickasaw and Seminole) at the Five Civilized Tribes Museum .

In the Osage Hills, 10 minutes from downtown Tulsa, the acclaimed Gilcrease Museum houses the world's largest, most comprehensive collection of art and artifacts of the American West and an unparalleled collection of Native American art and artifacts.

You'll want to allow time for the museum and its acres of gardens.

Painted drum at the Red Earth Festival.

In Oklahoma City, lots of the almost 40,000 indigenous residents turn out for the three-day Red Earth Festival every June (in 2014, June 5-7).

It kicks off with a parade and keeps right on kicking with dancing, singing, storytelling, poetry, music and art.

In Shawnee, The Jim Thorpe Native American Games bring together athletes representing 70 different tribes from across the country.

The Games honor Jim Thorpe (Sac and Fox), the athletic legend who was born in Indian Territory near the town of Prague, Oklahoma, and went on to become a pro baseball player, pro football player and an Olympic Gold medalist in record-setting wins of the pentathlon and decathlon in the 1912 Olympics.

Inaugurated in 2012 to honor the man often called The Greatest Athlete of the 20th Century, the Native Games host thousands of athletes competing in 10 sports.

The 2014 Games will be held in Shawnee June 8-14.

And coming to Oklahoma City in 2017, the $10 million American Indian Cultural Center and Museum .

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Santa Fe, New Mexico

Experiencing Santa Fe's rich American Indian culture requires more than a couple of days -- and many return trips.

American Indian vendors line the historic Plaza, selling authentic silver and turquoise jewelry and other Native crafts.

Galleries like Shiprock on the Plaza, Blue Rain on Lincoln and the many along Canyon Road are a gateway to a life-altering addiction to Native arts, from painting and sculpture, to textiles, pottery and jewelry.

The city is also filled with world-class museums: The Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian , Museum of Indian Arts and Culture and Museum of Contemporary Native Arts .

Artist Upton Greyshoes Ethelbah at his booth during the Santa Fe Indian Market.

For a one-fell-swoop approach, you can hit Santa Fe during August's world-renowned Indian Market, when the parking is horrible but the historic center overflows with booths devoted to Native arts and eats.

"This is the biggest and the best venue for we Native American artists," says sculptor Upton Greyshoes Ethelbah (Apache). "Collectors arrive for the two-day show by the tens of thousands (estimates range from 80,000 to 100,000).

"Visitors to the Santa Fe Indian Market are treated to the best diverse Native American art in the country, with over 10 different classifications, from stone and bronze sculpture, which is my specialty, to pottery, beadwork, jewelry, painting, weaving and even filmmaking."

The Indian Market is an opportunity to share cultures not only with visitors unfamiliar with Native differences, but among different tribes as well.

"There are over 562 different tribal groups in the U. S. with different languages, ceremonies and traditions," he says. "Everyone benefits by experiencing the great variation of artwork that emerges from these many tribes and nations. Virtually every individual item offered to the collector by over a thousand Indian artists originates in tribal tradition or symbology, and artists are eager to share with the collector the inspiration and the historical or spiritual meaning of their work."

The Inn and Spa at Loretto is an architectural re-creation of the famed Taos Pueblo.

As soon as you see it, you'll know why it's one of the most photographed buildings in the country.

MORE: 9 least explored places on earth

Gathering of Nations (Albuquerque, New Mexico)

The fourth weekend of April, Native America flocks to Albuquerque for the Gathering of Nations .

Billed as the world's largest Native American cultural event, it's a tribal extravaganza in all its flying fringe and bodacious beading.

Where else but North America's most prominent powwow are you going to find the crowning of Miss Indian World and more than 700 tribes doing their thing?

"The Gathering of Nations strives to be a positive cultural experience that is exhilarating for everyone," says Derek Mathews, founder of the event, which marked its 31st year in 2014. "The powwow features thousands of dancers performing different styles from many regions and tribes, offers the finest in Native American arts and crafts in the Indian Traders Market, a delicious variety of Native American and Southwest cuisine and the best in contemporary entertainment performances."

The Grand Entry is special -- thousands of Native American dancers simultaneously enter the University of New Mexico's arena in full regalia to the beating of hundreds of drums.

Between Albuquerque and Santa Fe, the Hyatt Regency Tamaya Resort and Spa is located on the sacred lands of the Santa Ana Pueblo.

The resort offers golf, pools, spa, restaurants and all the usual upscale amenities but distinguishes itself with American Indian cultural experiences.

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There are Pueblo bread-baking demonstrations by tribal members using a traditional oven called a huruna, flute and tribal dance performances on certain weekends, a cultural museum with personal tours hosted by a tribal member, hiking and riding (horses or bikes) through cottonwoods along the Rio Grande on trails used by the Tamayame people for centuries and creation stories told under the stars by a Native American storyteller (followed by s'mores).

In the city, you can stay at the funky, artsy Nativo Lodge (American Indian meets modern meets retro boutique hotel/motel) and make an extra day of the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center and Petroglyph National Monument .

Taos, New Mexico

Taos is crazy with galleries and museums highlighting Native American culture.

The Millicent Rogers Museum is one of the best -- it houses important collections of Native American arts, including pottery and jewelry.

Just outside of town is the Taos Pueblo -- a settlement of adobe dwellings and ceremonial buildings that dates to the late 13th century, the pueblo is still a living community.

It's both a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a National Historic Landmark and open to the public for guided walking tours, shopping and fry bread eating. (Check ahead for hours and entry fee.)

The Rio Grande Gorge is located just outside of Taos.

You can cross the famous long-span bridge over the incredible 600-foot-deep gorge.

Shiprock, New Mexico/Monument Valley

With more than 17 million acres, the Navajo Nation encompasses the entire northeast quarter of Arizona, and spills into New Mexico and Utah.

Shiprock, which is much easier to pronounce than its Navajo name, Tsé Bitʼaʼí, is located in the northwest corner of New Mexico.

The "rock with wings" or "winged rock," which is said to have brought tribes here from the north, rises 1,583 feet from the plain and looks every foot the sacred and mythological heavyweight it is in Navajo culture.

The approach is practically a religious experience.

From Shiprock, it's two-and-a half-hour drive to Monument Valley , on the Arizona-Utah border.

One of the world's most famous film locations for its miles and miles of mesas, buttes and rock spires sculpted by eons of water and wind, Monument Valley is also a tribal park of the Navajo Nation.

The 17-mile scenic drive takes in Mitten Buttes, Merrick Buttes and other iconic formations. Navajo guides (compulsory if you want to get off the road) can take you into some of the park's 92,000 acres.

At the Navajo-staffed The View Hotel you can watch the sun rise over the Mittens.

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Phoenix

Arizona is home to 22 federally recognized tribes, and Native history and landmarks are found throughout the state, from "Sky Island" mountains and rock formations in Chiracahua National Monument to urban centers like Phoenix, which is home to almost 45,000 indigenous people.

Haven't heard of The Heard? As in the Heard Museum ?

It's only one of the Phoenix area's earliest and best cultural attractions, and a terrific destination for learning about American Indian arts and cultures.

"The Heard Museum offers a unique and memorable visitor experience with 11 galleries that present the best of American Indian traditional and contemporary art," says museum director of curation and education Ann Marshall. "Within a year, six to eight new exhibits are presented, so return visits always bring something new.

The museum's annual Indian Fair and Market in March (Arizona's largest) features more than 700 Native artists.

Just outside of downtown Phoenix, the Pueblo Grande Museum and Archaeological Park sits on a 1,500-year-old site, which includes a short trail through a prehistoric Hohokam archaeological village complete with a partially excavated platform mound, ball court and replicated prehistoric houses.

In December, an Indian Market features music and dance performances, artist demonstrations, children's crafts and, naturally, fry bread.

Arizona is home to a number of highly regarded American Indian restaurants.

As a 2013 Boston Globe story noted, "Talented [Native] chefs are returning to local, old-fashioned ingredients (think tepary beans, Saguaro cactus seeds, sumac and chollo buds) and adding creative twists to the traditional dishes of indigenous peoples, spurring a hot, new culinary trend."

The Globe's three top recommendations for American Indian dining in Phoenix: the Fry Bread House , which, despite being "no-frills," was "one of only five restaurants nationwide to win the 2012 James Beard American Classics Award, and the only Native American restaurant ever to receive it"; the "five-star, five diamond" KAI ; and the "health-focused" Desert Rain Café .

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Mesa Verde (Colorado)

The ancestral Puebloans who lived at Mesa Verde from A.D. 600 to 1300 left behind some of the best-preserved sites in the country.

An interpretive tour of their ancient cliff dwellings and mesa-top sites is the way to get the most out of this stunning setting.

Afterward, you can get a nice meal with an incomparable view at the lodge's Metate Room restaurant.

With rooms starting at $106, the Far View Lodge inside the national park has spectacular vistas and stargazing opportunities.

Bison ribs with blackberry barbecue sauce at Tocabe: An American Indian Eatery in Denver.

Denver, Colorado

The Denver Art Museum is internationally known for its holdings of American Indian art, with permanent collections and exhibitions showing everything from ancient ceramics to 19th-century Arapaho beaded garments to contemporary glasswork.

The museum puts on the Friendship Powwow and American Indian Cultural Celebration, which celebrates its 25th year in September 2014.

There are American Indian dancers, drum groups, artists, vendors, and, need we say it, fry bread.

The Mile High City is also home to the Denver March Powwow -- second largest indoor powwow after Albuquerque's Gathering of Nations -- celebrating its 40th year March 20-22, 2015, at the Denver Coliseum.

Who cooks all the Indian tacos at the Denver March Powwow?

It just might be Tocabe: An American Indian Eatery -- you can try their tacos anytime at Tocabe's Denver restaurant.

Partners Ben Jacobs and Matt Chandra call it "fast, casual," sort of the community-minded Chipotle of Native American food.

The shredded bison American Indian taco is a fan favorite.

Bison ribs is another signature dish.

"We're trying to showcase American Indian cuisine in the 21st century," Chandra says. "This is food that speaks to tradition but also shows that it can progress and have the ability to adapt and become a part of mainstream cuisine."

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Crow Fair (Montana)

Parade cars draped in serape blankets and 1,500 tepees under Montana's Big Sky -- it could only be Crow Fair.

Native American beadwork in Montana.

Every third week of August, Crow Agency (60 miles south of Billings off I-90) becomes the Tepee Capital of the World when it hosts the largest modern-day American Indian encampment in the nation, and the largest gathering of the year for the Apsaalooke Nation.

Daily parades, evening powwows, All Indian rodeo, Indian relay horse races, the closing Dance Through Camp -- the Crow Fair is a week of incredible displays of Native American culture.

Attractions in the area include Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument (where the Sioux and Cheyenne famously defeated the U.S. Army's 7th Cavalry); Custer Battlefield Museum ; and Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area (must-do: Devil's Canyon Overlook).

American Indian Film Festival (San Francisco)

Seeing American Indian life through the lens of Native filmmakers is one of the best ways to understand the modern Native experience.

One of the best places to do that (aside from the indie film category on Netflix) is the American Indian Film Festival in San Francisco.

It's the mission of the American Indian Film Institute to empower American Indian media artists, and the AIFI's annual film festival has been bringing Native stories to a growing audience for nearly 40 years.

"There are other American Indian film festivals around the country," says festival founder and president Michael Smith. "But the AIFI festival in San Francisco is the longest-running and has the most content. Last year, there were more than 85 films."

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The 39th annual American Indian Film Festival takes place November 1-9, 2014.

If you're lucky, you might catch filmmaker Chris Eyre (Cheyenne, Arapaho), an AIFI and Sundance favorite since his debut film, "Smoke Signals," won honors at both festivals in 1998.

It's hard to imagine from modern American Indian film subjects and the festival's Bay Area setting that the lands south of the Golden Gate Bridge were once home to the Ohlone, or Costanoan, tribe, and north of the bridge, especially in what's now Marin County, to the Miwok tribe.

For a small taste of what the region was like when American Indians inhabited it centuries before high-tech modernity, you can visit the Marin Museum of the American Indian in Novato's Miwok Park.

It's on the site of an actual Miwok village, in a peaceful and pristine setting that's about as far from the influence of Silicon Valley as you can get in these parts.

The Salish Sea (Pacific Northwest)

As much as it might now be about coffee and grunge culture, the Pacific Northwest is also formline art, totem pole, longhouse and dugout canoe country.

Puget Sound, the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Strait of Georgia are all part of the Salish Sea.

You could do all sorts of things in the region to get a feel for the richness of its tribal past.

Tillicum Village on Blake Island State Park in Washington.

Blake Island has its Tillicum Village , where you can take in a Northwest Coast Indian dance performance with a traditional salmon bake dinner.

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You can pay your respects at Chief Seattle's gravesite and learn about the longhouse tradition in Suquamish, Washington, on the Port Madison Indian Reservation, where the great chief lived and died.

And you can immerse yourself in the history and culture of the Puget Sound Salish Tribes (particularly the Suquamish) at the new and niftily designed Suquamish Museum and Cultural Center .

Just across the water/border in Vancouver, Canada, you can get intensely ethnographic at University of British Columbia's Museum of Anthropology with its a vast collection of Aboriginal art and artifacts, including traditional canoes, masks, jewelry, carvings, longhouse replicas and totem poles.

Not to be outdone, the Royal BC Museum in Victoria on nearby Vancouver Island has one of the most comprehensive collections of First Nations cultural material, from ceremonial and utilitarian objects to artistic masterworks.

Back in Vancouver's Stanley Park , there are the much-visited totem poles, tribal dance performances, Aboriginal foods and storytelling, a Spirit Catcher Train through the forest and activities at the Klahowya Aboriginal Village .

There's more to experience at Capilano Suspension Bridge Park , where you can top off First Nations cedar chiseling demonstrations, Totem Park, and the displays and weaving and beadwork demonstrations at Kia'palano First Nations cultural center with views of the Pacific Northwest rainforest from the bridge over the Capilano River.

We didn't come close to hitting them all. Have you got a favorite Native American location or experience? Share it in the comments section.

Dallas-based Dana Joseph is the editorial director of Cowboys & Indians magazine.