Butterfly Wonderland

Subtitle: How to Creep Out Your Sister

After viewing Taliesin West it’s a bit of a challenge to find something to do that is as stupendous. So we switched gears entirely. We moved from architecture and bringing the outside geology and flora in, to getting up close and personal with the fauna. We went to Butterfly Wonderland (we also made a stop at DSW for shoes, but I’m guessing you won’t be much interested in THAT stop – the shoes were for my son. Oy, shoe shopping with guys is just NOT shoe shopping. *rolls eyes*).

I’m not sure why Butterfly Wonderland is described as a “tourist attraction”. It seems to me that it is an attraction whether you are a tourist or you are a resident. Nearly everyone loves butterflies and enjoys seeing them up close and personal (we’ll discuss the exceptions in just a moment). Butterfly Wonderland not only has butterflies but, as we discovered to our great surprise, it has fish and reptiles as well. It also has a honeybee hive but that is not, in my opinion, an especially exciting attraction.

So who doesn’t like butterflies? Well, butterflies are a lot like moths. In our family, the word “moth” is a very, very bad word. You see, long long ago, when I was a mere child, there was an incident. Oh, not MY incident. *I* slept (happily) through the entire event. No, it happened to my sister. She was doing that teenage thing and was out at a party. An outdoor party. I don’t know how this happened and as she is traumatized to this day it’s difficult to get a coherent description, but apparently a moth flew in her ear. I understand that in fact this is NOT that uncommon. Apparently our ears are warm and smelly and there is warm smelly air from our ears that attracts flying insects, including moths. It does leave unanswered how they can actually fit. Anyway, at the time when my sister was the main attraction we were not so well informed.

My father had to get my sister from the party and take her to the emergency room. This is where the truly horrific part of the story happens – the part that to this day elicits a bitter cry from my sister, who is unable even now to forgive. My father said to the ER doctor: “She SAYS a moth flew in her ear.” Oh the pain!!!! The betrayal!!!! He DOUBTED the existence of a moth in her ear. Now understand that we both loved and adored my father immensely, and he adored us, so to have him DOUBT us???? Salt in the wound.

Anyway, as it became evident, there WAS a moth in her ear. The doctor extracted the moth, cleaned her ear, and she was all better physically. The emotional scars have lasted til this very day.

This event proved soooooo traumatic to our family (okay, not to ME *grin* I laugh. Remind me to tell you the story about how Mary and I ran across the floor at the Y, and my sister walked and SHE fell and broke her ankle. *laughing* ), so traumatic to our family that MY SON now has a slight phobia about moths and butterflies. He’s a lot like my sister. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised he inherited this. Whenever we visit a butterfly world, my son cringes as the butterflies swerve near him. Should they land on him, rather than enjoy the experience he begs me to get it off of him. *grin* Okay, maybe not BEG, but trust me – until it’s OFF he is NOT happy. He recites the sister/moth story and empathizes. The shoulder that serves as a resting spot for a butterfly in these photos is his unhappy shoulder. 🙂

When we entered Butterfly Wonderland we were just in time for a movie about the life cycle of monarch butterflies. The movie was okay, but it didn’t answer my question – WHY do monarch butterflies migrate to Mexico? Apparently all monarch butterflies do NOT migrate, and of the families that do, not every generation migrates. My understanding from the film is that the 3rd generation migrates back to Mexico. The film never explained what triggers the migration.

After the film we went into a room where there were cocoons and emerging butterflies. It is fascinating to see how difficult it is for the butterflies to get out of the cocoon. They have a matter of seconds to get free and clear before their wings are hardened in a crimped position. We cheered the ones that made it out safely and felt very sad for the ones that just couldn’t do it, even in such a protected environment. They told us that these butterflies that had just emerged would be released into the exhibit in about 30 minutes.

We headed into the big butterfly enclosure and wandered about. There were some stunning electric blue butterflies but they moved so quickly and so high that I could not get a picture of their open wings. I have many shots with their wings closed but the outside (underside?) of their wings is brownish/black, not that electric blue. We did stay and enjoy (well *I* enjoyed) the exhibit for quite a bit, waiting to see the newly hatched insects released. After that we headed out and discovered the fish and reptiles. Pictures for a different day. This post is butterflies. (and moths)