Have you ever wanted to go to the real Grand Canyon but never
had the chance? There is a whole sim in second life that offers a virtually
real experience. I visited this landmark
and I must say that it does resemble the real life one in more ways than one.
Named
an official park in 1919, The Real Life Grand Canyon is located in Arizona and
is a steep sided canyon carved by the Colorado river. This natural formation is 277 miles long and
up to 18 miles wide.
The Skywalk at the real location is managed by the Hualapai
Tribe. It has a horseshoe shaped steel frame with glass floors and is 70 feet
high. You can get a wonderful panoramic view of the canyon from this platform.
I visited the SL skywalk as it would not be something I would
not do in real life due to being afraid of heights. The virtual skywalk is also
shaped like a horseshoe, made of prim glass and very high up. It was nice
observing the landscape from that height without being afraid.
Some of the activities offered in the Real life Grand Canyon
are zip lining which takes you across at about 30 mph. It takes about 20 minutes from start to
finish. I thought I would try this in Second Life. It was a fast trip down to
the bottom of the canyon. Still fun!
A popular activity at the Real life Grand Canyon is helicopter
Tours. There are many options with different types of helicopters. You can take
a tour from Las Vegas. I was happy to find a helicopter that I could ride
around the sl sim. It was great to be able to look around and see everything
from a bird’s eye view.
Another Activity is river rafting! Something I have never done
but have always wanted to. At the Grand Canyon you can raft down the Colorado
River to Diamond Creek or even Lake Meed. The trips can last from 2 to 5 days
in the real world but in the Second Life you can take a quick relaxing trip
down the river and not even get wet.
History is a big part of our cultural because it allows us a
peek back in time. It helps us
understand the world we live in, how things can change but also remind us of
our past and how the world was shaped. I was glad to see that the SL Grand Canyon
made sure to mention some things that happened in the real one. It is both adventurous and educational.
In June 30 1956 the grand canyon was the site of the deadliest
commercial aviation disasters in history. Two planes - A TWA and United
Airlines collided above the canyon. Both planes fell into the eastern portion
of the canyon near the Colorado River.
The location of the crash has been designated a National
Historic Landmark. In Second life, The creators of the virtual Grand Canyon made sure to include this piece of history.
The Pueblo People were thought to live in the Grand Canyon over
1000 years ago. There are six major tribes; the Havasupai, Zuni, Hopi, Paiute,
Navajo and the Hualapai. The Native American Indians are a big part of the
history at the canyon. The Havasupai Indian Reservation is opened to the public
to visit that part of the canyon. Havasupai
means people of the blue-green waters. The replica in Second Life shows how they would of lived back then.
I love the fact that there are not only a lot of activities to
do here. From hiking and taking a plane ride to taking tours or checking out
the canyon from an observation deck. But
there are also things that you couldn’t do in RL like flying with your avatar
through all the ridges and valleys to dancing under the stars with that special
someone. They even have clubs and lots of shopping here.
As you can see there are
so many similarities to the Real life Grand Canyon. What makes Second Life so
unique it seeing things you would not normally see.
Check out the TP board
to explore!
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