This is Bliss

Here I’ll stop with all the romance and drama for a moment to pause and share with you an amazing place in Second Life. I found it long ago, while exploring garden centers. Bliss Garden Center seems like a normal, everyday garden center. The typical offerings: waterfalls, garden sculpture, plants, lots of water plants particularly, textures galore. Everything is laid out like a beautiful rl garden center, a nice broad plank walkway connecting huge beds of plants and items for sale.

The fun starts when you notice a sign, telling you about the Futureperfect Stage, and an arrow points down into a pool.

When you land in the stage area… pick yourself up, dust yourself off and poke around there for a few minutes. Check out the upcoming concert schedule. They have live music here, you know. Then, over to the side and up the mountain you will see a wooden plank staircase, leading you up and out of the little green grotto. Following this will lead to the treasures of Bliss.

There is little to be said about this amazing area of SL except grandiose and wildly complimentary adjectives. It is amazing, beautiful, awe inspiring. The scale is huge. Giant mountains, spilling over with waterfalls, grottos curving behind the falling waters into the mountains behind. Meters and meters of boardwalk planking for walking. The whole experience is a sedative for jangled nerves. As you float, fly or walk around Bliss, you feel the stress of RL and SL begin to disappear as you lose yourself in its otherworldly beauty. And though it is otherworldly, it is grounded firmly in what is best and beautiful of the sweet green earth that is still, for now, our RL home.

They have residential areas available for rent in Bliss, and how fortunate the people who live there are. The tree houses are amazing, and just the scenery alone would be enough to sooth the soul.

The size of the place is hard to grasp. I’m not sure how long it took to develop this place, but it is truly the most amazing and impressive feat of human imagination and accomplishment that I have seen in SL.

There are several tours to take in Bliss. I have yet to experience all of them. These shots were taken when I introduced my old and dear friend Brainchild to this spectacular place.

The hang glider in Bliss is either just a fun way to fly around and explore, or you can let it guide you on a tour. My personal favorite tour is the balloon ride. I have been on this tour several times now, and always look forward to the opportunity to go back and do it again. There are also several walking tours. While in the air, look for the pink and blue balls that look like pose balls. Turns out they just take you on a little walk through the beauty that is Bliss.

This is, for me, the pinnacle of Second Life. I have not yet seen anything in this world that can top it. I will continue to explore and see what else is out there and let you know what I find. Until then, take a trip to Bliss, and feel your soul expand and renew in the process.