Butterflies and Cactus

Mickey and I spent most of the day at the Desert Botanical Gardens yesterday.  I knew when I went there with Lloyd last month that I'd have to take Mickey.  And I was right.  She loved it as much as we did.  A bonus for us yesterday was the Butterfly Pavilion which just opened a few days ago.  What a great place!  Butterflies everywhere, landing on people and plants alike.

This little girl put her finger in front of the butterfly and it climbed up on her finger and stayed there.  With her mother's permission, a bunch of us took pictures of her.

A zebra longwing, giant swallowtail and pipevine swallowtail trying to share the same leaf.

Butterfly camoflague.  The light green manta ray shapes are actually butterflies.

Simply called a Queen

Pipevine swallowtail

Zebra longwing

Spicebush swallowtail

Giant swallowtail

Zebra swallowtail

This one is called Julia

If you're ever able to go to the Desert Botanical Gardens, don't go in the summer - it's much too hot.  Yesterday was a perfect 72F with a light breeze but my face still got red.  There's a lot of walking through the desert so water is essential to take.  The second Tuesday of every month features free admission after 1:00.  Otherwise it's about $13.00.  We spent four hours there yesterday and still didn't see everything - a good reason to make a return trip.  It's incredibly beautiful.