Butterfly Museum

Branson, MO – June 18-20, 2012

We FINALLY had the time & energy to check out a few of the sites in Branson. . .& played tourist!

First we visited the Butterfly Museum, so this post is heavy on photos.

It sits on the hill above the last light on the Highway 76 strip that Branson is famous for. The view out those top windows was awesome.

The Museum also has a small reptilian area, & although I’m not crazy about creepy crawly critters or bugs, this colorful lizard was interesting.

The top part of the museum is for the butterflies and orchids. I didn’t realize butterflies only live about 2 weeks, so the Museum has an area where they breed replacements for a constant supply of butterflies. Since they’re raised in captivity, they’re so docile that we were warned to watch where we walked as the butterflies would land on the walk in front of you at any time. Unfortunately, they weren’t very cooperative at holding still for me to photograph, so I don’t have any crystal-clear photos of any of them.

  

I continued to see these large, gorgeous blue butterflies flying around, but none would land for a photo. I finally saw one land & realized their underside was really plain. They never seemed to sit quietly with their wings out. The only photo I got was this one landing on the walk.

Notice the intricate, fern-like designs along the walls of the walk.

Since this was a tropical environment, there were lots of fantastic orchids growing. I have numerous photos in this Picasa album if you click on any of these photos.

   

 

Some were most unusual.

And there was at least one little blue bird inside also. It was quietly drinking nectar but I was afraid to get much closer so this is a cropped distance photo.

This butterfly seat was an inviting spot to sit & watch.

I enjoyed the serenity & feel of the Butterfly Museum that I actually bought me a new t-shirt. Because of our limited space, I’ve reluctantly gotten rid of many of my t-shirts & up until now had resisted buying any new ones. There’s always more room for just one more t-shirt, isn’t there??

On to more sightseeing!