Going Supermarket Shopping in a Virtual World

I don't usually like going to the supermarket, but sometimes experiences of real life can be so much more fun in a virtual world...

Winter Fun in Second Life, 9th Annual SL Christmas Expo

The annual SL Christmas Expo has arrived, in partnership with the American Cancer Society.

Winter Fun in Second Life - Santa's Hideaway, Bellisseria

Continuing on my annual roam around fun and beautiful Winter and Christmas destinations in Second Life a cute new location has been made available for all to visit on Bellisseria.

Winter Fun in Second Life, Christmas Town 2019

If you're a big kid at heart when it comes to Christmas, Second Life has plenty of seasonal fun destinations to visit.

Raglan Artwalk 2018!

Raglan Artwalk is an annual event hosted at Raglan Shire, a long time community in Second Life (they've been going for 11 years!) . Each year the community kindly lets artists display 2D and 3D artwalks, and it's well worth visiting. I've been going for a few years and I always love to see the diversity of artworks, both real world and Second Life made.

This year I'm delighted to take part and will be showing some of my Second Life photography. The event is on from May 13th to June 17th this year and you can find me at Area #3:

 

Christmas Adventures Second Life 2017

So I've been on my annual roving of Second Life looking at Christmas builds. Every year there are lots of members who transform their land to a Christmas or Winter theme or have special winter attractions, and I always manage to find places that look really beautiful. Even after a few Christmases I don't get tired exploring at this time of year. And I don't want to miss them - they are always gone by Spring so gotta catch them whilst they are there. And if looking at pretty snow falling, snow covered grass and trees isn't your thing, most places have a shop or two you can spend your money at.

Whilst I probably won't post everywhere I'm visiting this year here's just a taster of places I've seen so far. For more places to see checkout the Second Life destination guide under 'Winter Attractions'.

First up is Binemust. http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Binemust/76/77/21 This is really nicely done, with falling snow and an atmospheric environment setting.

 

2017 Halloween Town Second Life

It's that time of year (again - it comes round too soon!)  for Halloween adventures in Second Life. There are ususally a good variety of Halloween themed builds and shopping events each this. My first stop this year is Halloween Town, townies. It's what I call a cute them rather than violent horror theme, with a varity of shops and things to do. The shops are very cute with a cartoonish like look (in a good way) selling a variety of halloween and creepy style clothing and items.There's a quick video walk through of the town at the bottom of this post.

New Video tour of Arcadia Park

One way to find new places to explore is to check out Youtube for video tours, machina etc. I received a link recently to a lovely one posted by Marcus VanDouser. He mad a video tour of my park, Arcadia Park, which is free for anyone to explore and hang out. I do enjoy building and creating in Second Life, altough I hardly ever get to do much of either these days. I have over time had great fun building the park which extends to different levels and has an art gallery in the sky. If you are looking for somewhere pretty and peaceful to relax and hang out please do stop by. Here's the SL link: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Ultron/13/251/71

Here is the video by Marcus, and don't forget to check out his other videos of more places to explore in SL!:)

Fantasy Faire 2015 - PoppetsBorough

My next post on my visit to the 2015 Fantasy Faire in Second Life is about Poppetsborough, right next door to Posiedon's Abyss (see my previous post). What I loved about this build was the creative idea it has of everything being made out of paper, from the roads, to the buildings, even the clouds.

Looking from above you can see that the small town is built on an open book, with sets of books at the each corner of the sim:

Fantasy Faire 2015 - Poseidon's Abyss

Fantasy Faire at Fairlands Junction is huge. Apparantely it's the seventh annual faire - can't believe I've missed previous ones!

There are a number of sims each with a different fantasy themes. It's so big I'm not sure I'll get to see all the sims, so will probably just do a couple of post about the ones that struck me most in terms of creativity or complexity.

First up is Poseidon's Abyss. It's a water themed build featuring strange creature shaped boats containing minature buildings and cars swirling around the roadways, and strange wooden looking mer-people type statues. Dotted throughout are strange ancient looking building scapes.  I actually found it a touch creepy, and I don't usually get creeped out by stuff in Second Life.

Saturday afternoon at The Trace

Today I found a nice new entry in the Editors picks of the Second Life Destination Guide, The Trace at The Trace Too. This is a coastal build. It's quite a large area to explore. Flying is allowed and I recommend that if you don't have your draw distance set very high that you do take the time to fly around, as there are dozens of little spots to look at, or take some time to sit and enjoy the view either on your own (if you need a little peace and quiet) or cuddle up with a loved one. 

The landing point brings you to the central area  by some beautiful little beach huts - I loved these and took far too many photos:) You can see some additional ones on my Flickr page: 
https://www.flickr.com/photos/evangeline_arcadia/

Ruins by Circa Ghost: Delightful Desolation

A really good way to discover new places to explore is via Search inworld - go to the Destination Guide and select Editors Picks. I do this frequently and have discovered some wonderful places that way. One of these this week as been Ruins by Circa Ghost at Wondering Dew. It's not really a place where there are activities to do, rather I think it's more one of those places where you can admire the build and take great photos...mine may not be great but I had to take some anyway!

I've used both default and non-default sky settings . I use the Phoenix Firestorm viewer which has a fantastic range of preset sky settings. It can really make a difference to the feel and look of an environment. Anyway, here are some shots:

Just after the main landing point you get a good view of the ruined buildings. There is bright foliage scattered about too which could be great photographically. 

Exploring Goatswood - Second Life Role Play Sim

A place I've been meaning to post about for ages is Goatswood. Its built as a Victorian role-playing sim, but you can explore as a visitor by wearing a visitor tag. It's got to be one of the best builds I've visited. I'm not a Role-Player, although I have friends who are, but I imagine this is an amazing place for it. 

It's a country setting with lots of lanes to wander, foliage, and some really pretty buildings, with a lot of detail. There are houses to rent, a pub, church, Romany type caravans and just lots of little additions which make it a fabulous place to explore, and wonderful for taking photos.

When you arrive via the landmark you are at a station - the first impression tells you immediately that it's going to be interesting. You can get the explorer ticket here and then board the lovely old fashioned steam train to get teleported to the town. 

Road Tripping in Second Life - Route 9 part 2

Continuing on from my travels in part 1 there is still a lot to see on Route 9. The area called Baekga was an interesting spot. It's here that I found an Explorer center with the maps I mentioned in part 1:

Explorer Center

Exploring Bay City in Second Life

If you have some time on your hands a lovely place to explore is Bay City with it's waterways. It's a large sim with lots of shops and buildings to explore, and the waterways are spread throughout the sim. You can explore on land with one of the Bay City Trolleys, or relax on the water riding on one of the little Ferry's. It's a fantastic build. Here are some snapshots - I took these last year and totally forgot to post this post!:

Visit to Timeless Memories

On my recent adventures I discovered another beautiful place to hang out and take pictures. It's a park called Timeless Memories and it still has a winter theme going which is quite beautiful, so check it out soon if you can. Here are a couple of shots (click on them to view larger):

Road Tripping - the Second Life Routes Part 1 (Route 9)

I'd come across Second Life roads not long after I first ventured into Second Life but I never really explored them. Recently I decided to take a virtual road trip and see where they took me, and I've been meaning to post the pictures - finally got round to it!

The SL Routes are protected roads which extend across the mainland. There are a number of routes which you can explore, and there's even Explorer's centers along some of them which look like they have been there since the early days of SL, and which contain some really great and detailed maps and information for travellers. This is one of them, although I'm not too sure how up-to-date it is now, but it gives you an idea of some of the routes:

It's a great way to travel around and see different things that people have built. Some areas are sparse, others have some out of the way places it's fun to stop and visit. What's also useful is that at intervals along the routes rez stations are provided - you won't be able to rez anything on the roads except at these points. So if you have a vehicle you would like to use to drive along the roads you can get it out here. 

My first real excursion was along route 9. Eventually I hope to explore all the routes. There are some really wonderful detailed builds along the way - some of the pictures follow. These are just a snapshot of what I saw on that travel, I hadn't even got to the end of the route...

This first bunch are from an area called Kaz Carrera Park, a urban grungy themed place with very dirty toilets!:)

Kaz Carrera Park Toilets

Hmm...slow service...

Hop Scotch outside the diner....