All of us slackers, that did not arrive when the park gates opened, were forced to kill time.
Looking at wild animals, riding the tram and eating soft serve ice cream.
Fortunately, they allowed the ticketless general public to view the butterflies between 4 and 6 pm.
This was the line at 3:30.
There is a protocol to viewing butterflies. They are allowed to touch you. They are allowed to land on you. Basically, the butterflies can do whatever they want.
Humans, however, are not allowed to touch, flick, pick up, step on or in any way harass the butterflies. Before leaving the enclosure, each person must twirl, I repeat, do a complete spin, in front of a uniformed butterfly inspector in order to make sure that no butterflies are on your person prior to leaving the enclosure.
It seemed like a lot of fuss.
But as I stepped into the exhibit, this gorgeous creature flew onto my left shoulder allowing me to reach my camera out with my right hand and snap a photo. Lovely. I stood still and was surrounded by cameras and iPhones from the crowd until the color-coordinated little fella flew away.
This gal was not so lucky. A beautiful butterfly landed on her upper left butt cheek. She also had a crowd gathered 'oohing and aching' but she could not see the butterfly. And perhaps she did not want so much attention focused on her rear. Of course, I am just speculating.
These are a few more that sat still long enough to be photographed.
One last look before we leave the exhibit.
Seeing you twirl to set free hijacking butterflies would have been worth the price of admission.
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