Butterfly World

 

A visit to Butterfly World was on our list of "staycation possibilities" and while I knew we had gone in the past, I couldn't really remember what it was like, so it was good to go again! I also checked the photo album to find the proof of our previous visit - in January 2002, when the grandparents visited for Jeff's ordination to the priesthood. That was a memorable weekend, even if the details are hazy.

Butterfly World is located in Tradewinds Park in Broward County. (Note that on weekends, there's an entrance fee for the park, in addition to the entrance fee for Butterfly World.) Wayne thinks it would be fun to bring the grandchildren some time, and since it's right near picnic tables and a playground, we could make a day out of it. The website suggests allowing 1 1/2 to 2 hours to enjoy the different gardens and aviaries. We stayed for about 3 hours, but we also read all the descriptions in the one-room museum they had.

Locations #2 and #4 are the most interesting - that's where the butterflies are! 

We learned that the Piano Key Butterfly was developed here, probably named because the founder, Ronald Boender, was also a musician and conductor. It was fun trying to pick it out amongst all the other butterflies.

That brown butterfly with eye spots is known as a Blue Morpho. I tried to get a picture of the top sides of its wings, but they wouldn't stay still. So I found a picture online.

After leaving the butterfly area, we wandered through the "passion fruit" maze (which led to an aviary). These flowers were absolutely beautiful.

There's also a very tiny rose garden to admire, and then we were off to explore the museum, and the adjacent insect zoo, before heading over to the "Lorikeet Encounter" where we paid an extra $2 so Wayne could feed the birds.

If you'd like, you can spend more money at the garden center - where they sell many of the plants you see on the premises - or the gift shop - which you walk through to exit. We were prepared to buy our lunch at the Mariposa Cafe, but since we had finished our exploring before noon, we decided to go home and eat leftovers instead. All-in-all, we had a delightful morning; maybe we'll go back some day!