Today, after a late breakfast, we bundled into the SUV and headed eastbound. Bear was driving, but didn't know where we were going. I just gave him the appropriate directions as they came up. It was a Surprise Date, you see.
A girl at work told me recently about this wonderful place adjacent to an aquarium "out East" where you can go and see butterflies. A whole lot of butterflies, in a conservatory with plants and soft music and mist and all sorts of cool stuff. What's more, the cost of admission is cheaper than going to the movies, and there's no time limit on how long you can stay... except for closing time. I just knew Bear would dig this.
And I was right! Three seconds after we walked in the door, a butterfly lit on his sleeve, which lit up a smile on his face that didn't leave even after we'd gone home.
I began running around taking photos, while butterflies filled the air and landed on me and everyone around me. It was really a blissful experience, like being in a wonderful dream. I half expected Judy Garland to come out in pigtails and start singing.
(Click the photos to see them actual size)
As it was Saturday, there were several groups with small children that came in during our stay. My friend from work told me that mid-week visits are much more quiet and photographer-friendly, and I can see what she means. All the kids were pretty well behaved, but I can see the benefit to coming when most other folks are at work or in school.
I managed not to step on any butterflies or anyone's kids, and we had a few nice chats with the staff at the conservatory, who were happy to share their knowledge of butterfly life with us.
In addition to butterflies, there were lots of other life forms in the building! Ladybugs...
... alienesque plants...
... birds...
.. and a large tank of skates and rays and things in the lobby...
(I petted this one on the head!)
... and an outdoor area where the seals were swimming as the snow fell!
It was a really wonderful afternoon for both of us, which we capped off with a tasty lunch at a local pub. One of those rare magical times when we made an entire vacation's worth of memories in one day.
As Julia Roberts so memorably said in "Pretty Woman"...
"WELL, COLOR ME HAPPY!"
Looks beautiful, especially in the middle of winter with all that colour!
ReplyDeleteWe have a Butterfly World just outside Cape Twon, but we haven't been there since the kids were small, maybe it's time to take another trip there. No skates or rays there though - I never knew they could be tame enough to pet.
Kit - this butterfly conservatory is attached to the local aquarium, thus they have a few sea creatures outside the aquarium area to tempt people inside. Going in the aquarium costs more, but the seals, rays, and skates (there were also horseshoe crabs and stripey fish in that tank) are in the entrance area where they can be seen and enjoyed even by folks who are only paying to get into the butterfly area. The bird area is a small room just off the butterfly area, separated by heavy plastic strip curtains that keep the birds from flying out.
DeleteAs for tame skates and rays - they sell little containers of food that the kids can feed them, thus they've learned that if they come up the side of the wall and try to look cute, they'll get rewarded with a treat. Since they don't have any teeth, it's something that folks can get up close and touch without worry of injury. The animals have their ways, though - I saw several people get splashed heartily when one of the animals swam up and smacked a wing on the water. The kids loved it.
So glad you had such a super day.
ReplyDeleteI've been to lots (and I mean lots) of butterfly houses in the UK. The thing that struck me immediately was how much more professional the background was in yours. If you take at any angle that shows the walls or roof in all of ours you see girders, flaking paint, etc.
I've petted rays but never managed to get a decent shot. And again, the facility was grey and flaky, the floor of the tank just plain concrete.
And wow, those are super photos. Interestingly most of the soecies are the same as you get in ours. In ours they don't know what they are getting from the supplier. They get a box of coccoons and they could be anything fron that particular S American area.
"I just walked as slowly as I could to keep from sweating." Did you not know ladies cannot sweat? Horses sweat, men perspire and ladies glow - that's what my granny taught me!
SS - there was a whole lot of non-photogenic background matter in my photos, too. I used creative cropping to fix that, and in one I Photoshopped out a particularly distracting fellow patron's face. The walls of the conservatory room were painted a sky blue, and there were stone pathways that wandered between huge clumps of flowering bushes and trees, and there were park benches situated throughout for quiet contemplation... but the room also had a lot of enormous industrial steel light fixtures hanging from the ceiling, several ugly metal EXIT doors with orange signs, and etc.
DeleteP.S. That confirms it. I'm a horse.
All rather lovely - and well done not stepping on anyone else's children (always a temptation, I find). But what wowed me more was the Bear's tartan hoodie.
ReplyDeleteReally? We each own two or three of those - his are mostly in browns, mine in blues. They sell them cheap by the droves in local sporting goods stores. What's better is Bear's Isle of Skye tartan kilt, and my matching sash from our wedding! Those are REAL tartan!
DeleteWhat great butterfly shots! They aren't easy to get. Best thing is the happy look on Bear's face. You did good :))
ReplyDeleteThanks, Joan! 8-)
DeleteWhat a wonderful picture/essay! Sounds as if you had a fabulous day in a fabulous place. Thanks for sharing. xoxo
ReplyDeleteCC - thanks for stopping by to share it!
ReplyDeleteFAB-U-LOUS - photography, text and, most of all, the PLACE. I adore butterflies and worry about their survival 'in the wild' in the UK. I'd love to visit this place you so perfectly revisted for us on the blogosphere.
ReplyDelete