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REPOST: This trip to the The Butterfly Pavilion took place in 2016. It was time for an adventure to the Butterfly Pavilion! When I arrived there were a bunch of parents with tiny humans walking into the building. I laughed, and I hoped there would be enough interesting stuff for "big kids". There was. I walked in, and this friendly elderly lady admitted me in, and told me there would be a release of new butterflies in about 5 minutes, so off I went to the part of the building with the butterflies. Don't let the name fool you, by the way. The Butterfly Pavilion has way more than butterflies. They have a plethora of bugs, arachnids, small sea creatures, and plants. When you first walk in the door, there is this case that holds a bunch of cocoons, some of which were hatching. The first type of butterfly I saw was the Owl Butterfly. It is super cool, and of course, looks like an owl. If you had two owl butterflies together, you could almost get a whole owl face made out of the butterfly's wings. How does nature come up with these designs? I'm incredibly fascinated.  Owl Butterfly After the initial tree where I saw this Owl Butterfly, there was a canopied tunnel that included all sorts of beautiful flowers. Namely these Angel's Trumpets:  Angel's Trumpets
 The Pavilion Turtle There were a lot of butterflies flying way above me, and I only brought my standard lens so I had to stick to photographing the butterflies that landed somewhat near me. I have several other photographs on my external drive from this trip of butterflies from further away, but per usual, I will just be sharing the best ones here ;).
 Numata Longwing Butterfly
 Butterfly Friends While the two butterfly friends were bigger bugs, there were little guys flying around too. By the time I made it to this little butterfly, I was over half-way around the loop. Check out this adorable Zebra Longwing Butterfly and it's little purple flower:  Zebra Longwing Butterfly This bromeliad was one of the last things I took a photograph of before leaving the butterfly room. I was attracted to it because of its bright colors, and I love the bead of water it holds in the center.  Bromeliad
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After we finished our ice cream, we headed over to this gift shop called Wish Gifts, which was right across the street. It's a super cute store and I highly recommend it for gift shopping. We ended up buying a birthday present for Jeremy's youngest brother, Joshua, and we bought ourselves a new coin bank that looks like a globe. We walked down the rest of the block, crossed back over to the other side of the street, and went to this coffee shop called Ink!.
 Golden, Colorado is a quaint town which is nestled up to the Rocky Mountains eastern front, not too far from Denver. It's one of those towns that offers everything while maintaining the "small-town feel" and intimacy. Of all of the day adventures I have gone on in Colorado, Golden is still one of my favorite places to visit.
Downtown Golden is home to many locally owned shops and restaurants. Every restaurant I have eaten at in Golden has had superb food, and all of the shops boast unique gifts.
 Beautiful view. Beautiful lake. Ugly beach. I wish the city and suburbs of Denver could appreciate what they have a teensy bit more. This beautiful lake with these breathtaking mountain views was surrounded with a beach covered in trash.  Jeremy and I took the golden girls to this lake today for an adventure. It was enjoyable getting out into nature. Per usual, Jeremy took charge of walking the puppies, his backpack full of water bottles and a collapsable dog bowl, while I carried my photography equipment.   Sequoia, the little one, has been learning to walk on her leash, and we have her wear a leader to help slow her down. When she becomes full grown we will get them harnesses so that they can't get tangled in their leashes on these walks (we had to untangle them a couple of times). As you can see, the lake was very blue. It was gorgeous. There were several people boating and fishing, enjoying the water. I just wish the beach was more well taken care of. At the end of the beach we had to climb up to the main trail. The trail itself is very pretty, with nature surrounding you on either side, and there were plenty of benches for people to relax and enjoy the view of the mountains and the lake.  There were several picnic areas as well. It's definitely a place with a lot of recreational potential! I can definitely see why it is a popular trail, now for the beach to become more clean and enjoyable!  I have a mental list in my head of parks I love and will or have returned to repeatedly, and a list of parks that I'll never go to again. Sorry, Daniel's Park of Castle Pines, Colorado, I won't be returning to you. I personally felt that Daniel's Park was lacking a lot of potential for the amount of land it has. Basically, you enter the park and follow a gravel trail that runs alongside the road. There were only two place to leave this trail that went out to overlooks, but they were short and the two overlooks gave the same view. I'm not trying to be snarky or anything, just realistic. I won't be going back. It's a great exercise park (for walking or biking back and forth on the trail), but not much for photography purposes. With that all being said.... I still had a wonderful time with my honey bunches of oats, Jeremiah, his brother, Nathan, and the Golden Girls, Autumn and Sequoia.  Nathan and Autumn  Jeremiah and Sequoia If there had been trails that went into the canyon or more trees (shade, please), we probably would have been in love with this park. Also, it was Sequoia's first big walk on the leash. She did relatively well. The lead (the part that goes around her nose) helped a ton with her pulling, but she kept trying to get it off. What else would you expect from a puppers?  Nathan and Sequoia I did enjoy that we got to see bison, even if they weren't wild. They were so far away that even my telescopic lens had a little trouble getting a closer up shot.  I also really enjoyed this farmhouse. Not sure why. I think it is adorable.   |
RebeccaPhotographer, visual artist, mother to four fur-babies, and travel enthusiast. Categories
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