While there’s no place like home sometimes you just have to go further than your own backyard. Not the right or easy thing to do in the midst of a statewide stay at home order unless you travel virtually.
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing social distancing or self-isolation requirements a slew of virtual experiences have popped up on line. Here are some of the best we could find.
Natural wonders
Ever wonder what it would be like to explore another planet? Thanks to NASA’s Curiosity Rover you can do just that from the comfort and oxygen filled security of your own living room. The interactive 3D tour using footage taken by Curiosity allows you to trek over the Red Planet’s surface at your leisure at accessmars.withgoogle.com.
If 352 million miles feels like a bit too far to travel even virtually, you can take a trip across the United State to some of our most beautiful natural resources. A partnership between Google Arts & Culture and the U.S. National Parks Service has resulted in breathtaking virtual and interactive tours of five national parks.
An amazing tour of Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska, lets you explore glaciers, fjords, and icebergs. Through the interactive features the tour allows you to descend into an icy crevasse, kayak through some of the park’s more than 40 majestic icebergs.
The virtual tour Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park on the big island explore the Nahuku Lava Tube, which is a cave formed by flowing lava, which can drain lava from a volcano during an eruption. On the tour, you can also enjoy the stunning view from the volcanic coastal cliffs, “fly” over an active volcano, and see the effects of an eruption from 1959, all while hearing the mythology of Pele, the Goddess of Fire.
Carlsbad Caverns National Park, New Mexico is located in the Chihuahuan Desert of southern New Mexico but a click here will take you some of the more than 100 caves and caverns in an instant. The tour allows you to “walk” through the caverns, see incredible rock formations and get pretty up close and personal with the thousands of bats who live in the cave system.
The virtual tour of Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah features the red and orange hoodoos (rock formations) of the park’s desert landscape. The tour centers on Sunset Point lets you enjoy the star-filled night sky from this Dark Sky certified national park. You may also take a virtual horseback ride through the park’s canyon without lifting a saddle.
Dry Tortugas National Park, a cluster of islands located off the far tip of the Florida Keys, about 70 miles west of Key West is only accessible by boat or seaplane unless you take the virtual tour. Through this tour you may visit Civil War-era Fort Jefferson, swim through the third largest coral reef in the world and take an exploratory dive into a shipwreck from 1907.
To virtually tour any or all of these National Parks visit artsandculture.withgoogle.com.
This site also offers a host of other virtual tours and activities including virtual tours of the White House, Eisenhower Executive Office Building, J. Paul Getty Museum, Anne Frank House and the National Gallery of Modern Art in New Delhi among others.
Mysterious
If spooky is your thing, take a virtual trip to the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose.
This 40-minute tour takes you behind the scenes of the house and into the life of Sarah Lockwood Pardee Winchester. Winchester began her renovation of an eight-room farm house in 1886 and for reasons unknown (thought there is a lot of speculation) continued construction and renovation until she died in September 1922, leaving behind a 24,000 square-foot home with its 2,000 doors, six kitchens, 10,000 windows and a bit of paranormal phenomenon.
This virtual tour takes you a journey through time, space, history and mystery at winchestermysteryhouse.com/video-tour.
Fantasy and Sci-Fi
While the kids may enjoy exploring the Winchester Mystery House or one of the National Parks, a virtual Disneyland trip may be more their speed. The Virtual Disney World YouTube Channel, bit.ly/VirtualDisneyWorld, features 119 virtual rides ranging from long-time favorites like Big Thunder Mountain and Pirates of the Caribbean to new additions like Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run and Rise of the Resistance.
J.K. Rowling has created a “Harry Potter at Home” site at wizardingworld.com that is certain to “expelliarmus” boredom. The site allows kids to discover which Hogwarts House they belong in; crafting magic; Harry Potter word searches and crossword puzzles; plus, plenty of good stuff to read.
If you’re looking for a virtual and magical family activity check out Hogwarts Digital Escape Room. Created by a youth services librarian from the Peters Township Public Library in Pennsylvania, this digital escape room activity is set up to be completed by individuals or groups. The fun starts at bit.ly/HogwartsEscapeRoom.
Cirque du Soleil has created a site that includes “everything Cirque,” from 60-minute video productions of the shows to a weekly follow-along workout program with the performers. There are two very fun tutorials on the site. One teaches you how to paint your face like a Cirque performer and through the other you can learn to juggle. There is also a special “kids content’” section filled with animated fun. To join the circus click here cirquedusoleil.com/cirqueconnect.
Literature
There’s nothing like a good story to capture the imagination and drone out the doldrums. Audible Stories is offering free online audible books for pre-school, elementary, tween and teen readers at stories.audible.com/discovery.
The site also offers audible literary classics and folk and fairy tales for all. From Winnie-the-Pooh to Anne of Green Gables to The Reluctant Dragon and The Library of Souls all the books are professionally read and recorded making them a pleasant virtual getaway.
