Yosemite

With the Second Life Birthday and the Relay For Life Weekend behind her, Gemma Cleanslate has been once again going around places across Second Life. One such place is Yosemite National Park. Owned and landscaped by Jadyn Firehawk, there is much natural scenery in the form of mountains, forest, and rivers. But that is not all. The area also has it's artistic side, with a Japanese garden, and the "Little Yosemite Art Forest."

Read Gemma's story in Places.

Grand Canyon National Park

Grey Lupindo reports on a recent trip to a real-life location brought to Second Life: the Grand Canyon National Park. Here, one can do just about all there is at the real canyon. There are balloon rides, river rafting, horseback riding, hiking, watching from the skywalk, and more.

Read Grey's story in Places.

Virtual Yosemite

Xymbers Slade recently stopped at Virtual Yosemitie, an inworld depiction of the real-life American national park. Made by Sominel Edelman, the place is described as "an example of a whole new generation of sculpted off-sim environments." Xymbers himself was impressed with the place, "one of the best sims I've seen on the grid in a long long time."

Read Xymbers' article in Places.

Tortuga Café

I visited the Costa Rica sim recently and discovered the Tortuga Café. Located within the Las Baulas National Park region of the sim, the Tortuga Café is a great place to enjoy a pleasant dinner and support a great cause at the same time.

The café is set on the beach and has a great view of dolphins, toucans, pelicans, and of course the turtles. Relaxing Latin music adds to the atmosphere, too. You can dine on shrimp cocktail, sip tomato soup, or enjoy a wide variety of eclairs and cakes. A full bar dispenses beer, wine and cocktails while a White faced Capuchin monkey stands watch.

All of the dining is free, but you can support the Leatherback Turtles. The Leatherback, which is facing extinction, uses the beaches at Costa Rica for its nesting area. At its RL counterpart, the Las Baulas National Park was created in 1991 to protect the Leatherback nesting area. (Baulas is Spanish for Leatherbacks.) The Park is also home to more than 174 other species of birds and animals, many of which are found in the SL sim, too.

SL Costa Rica is helping the RL organization by selling a statute of the Leatherback. "We support 2 charities in world. The Leatherback Turtle Trust and Relay for Life," said Giancarlo Takacs, one of the sim founders. Their newsletter reported that in May alone, they raised L$3,510 for the Leatherback Turtle Trust. More about the Trust can be found at http://www.leatherback.org/pages/about.htm


After dining at Tortuga Café, residents can learn more about Leatherbacks by visiting the educational display located in the building next door. Inside are photographs of the turtles as well as information about them. Swim wear and surf boards can also be purchased nearby.


Tortuga Café is at the Las Baulas sim at (191, 52, 23).

Grey Lupindo