So this happened a while ago, but at least I'm getting to it the same MONTH it actually happened.
My dad is a musician, but he was hired on to be the sound guy for a benefit at the
Butterfly Pavilion in Denver. This is apparently one of their major fundraising events for the year, and I was glad to hear that it apparently went very well. But we (myself, my boyfriend, and my sister) were invited to come along and at least take a look around. We've all been here before, but I wasn't going to turn down the invitation! We wound up with not a whole lot of time to poke around, as they were closing, and we didn't want to hinder anyone trying to go about their business. But we still got to wander around and I got some nice pictures.
This is a
very picture heavy post, but none of the images are fullsize. Click to embiggen, should you wish.
The large praying mantis statue outside.
So menacing!
The setup for the benefit. It was very pretty. Since it was a dinner for rich people though, we didn't get to stay for that part. :P
While it is the
butterfly pavilion, they have all sorts of critters. Mostly invertebrates, but some fish as well. We sadly skipped the creepy crawlies this time, the tarantulas and things, since we were working backwards and ran out of time.
But here's the water critters stuff:
Clownfish!
A little anemone that had started clinging to some kelp, rather than a sturdier base.
Starfish!
Horseshoe crab! Sea urchin!
And now the butterflies!
Board of cocoons. I really like the little shiny ones... They look like Christmas ornaments.
The first butterfly I saw in the room.
Then I leaned around at a very bad angle to get a picture of its back without looking.
But worth it! Lovely tiger stripes.
A cute little one.
Sexy, sexy butterflies. These two were really neat, though. They're each about as big as my hand, and the difference between the sexes is really cool to see so well.
Closeup one!
Closeup two!
Not a butterfly.
Butterfly.
Nice owl-eye spots!
And then Alex called me over. They'd misted the upper canopy to chase some of the butterflies down, and they were basically swarming:
That's a lot of butterflies!
Lots and lots of butterflies.
More sexy butterflies. Interesting that these two don't look anything like each other.
A whole line of the spotted ones!
Alex walked right under this one without noticing it.
And then Alex said, "I think there's a butterfly on my head."
And I said, "Yes, there is a butterfly on your head."
One of the same kind landed on my head too, but I couldn't take a picture of that.
These are some of the prettiest ones, I think. Not super colorful, but still so pretty. Stained-glass like.
The same kind as the super sexy ones from before.
A different white one.
It's really hard to get these guys with their wings open. It's such a bright and intense blue! Shame I couldn't get closer.
And I know this one is disappointingly blurry. But the colors are so nice I didn't want to scrap the picture.
After this, we went home, since my sister was feeling kind of sick. Evidently my dad got to do a little "behind the scenes" tour after he did the soundchecks. There's some hope that we might be able to do something similar in the future, which I would love!
