We spent a lovely afternoon at the Tucson Botanical Gardens last week. The best part of the gardens is by far the exotic butterfly exhibit. Walking into a heated tropical room full of amazing butterflies is like walking into another world. They have entry rooms and exit rooms to make sure the butterflies do not land on you and then escape the exhibit into the environment. It can be kind of amusing to have these voulteers who cary around dusters and fluff you down every now and then. I have never been "dusted" before. I wonder if this is how furniture feels?
The butterfly room kind of reminds me of a large fancy green house. There are many exotic plants and pools of fish and lush vegetation all around. The butterflies are just everywhere and sometimes they do land on you. Our baby loved seeing the butterflies flying above him and feeling their wings brush his legs when they landed on him. Our oldest son could not stand still when the butterflies tried to land on him. It was quite humorous to watch him jump to the side and laugh in delight. He also liked watching the fish. The room is quite warm and they do let you leave to cool off and then come back in later. The butterflies are from all over the world and are quite large and rare. Outside the exhibit you can see where they cultivate the cocoons and caterpillars before they transform into butterflies. The exibit is very educational and I was happy to share it with my family.
