Butterlies on New Year's Eve

I grew up on a farm in northern Iowa. One night when I was a high school student we had amazing visitors. Thousands of Monarch butterflies landed in our pine grove for a rest on their flight south. Thus, I have always had a special place in my heart for Monarch butterflies. So I was excited when I hear the Science Museum of Minnesota had a Butterfly House exhibit and also there was a film in the Omnitheater about Monarch butterflies. But I almost missed it with one thing and another happening during the fall. So this afternoon, New Year's Eve afternoon, my older daughter andI made a visit.

It was also my first trip out with a new camera. The camera I have used for about four years suddenly sounded like a car with a very bad transmission. So even though my checking account took a major hit this month, I went camera shopping. The sounds of the my old one made me think asking about repairing it would surely be asking a foolish question.

So here are my photos from the Butterfly House.

 I tried and tried to get a photo of a black and yellow butterfly, but none of them would cooperate. Then I found myself next to a young man holding one of these butterflies and he graciously allowed me to do this video.

We also went to the film in the OmniTheater. This film tells the story of Fred Urqhart. He became fascinated with the Monarch butterflies as a child in the Toronto, Canada area. He wondered where they spent their winter. And he spent his whole career along with his wife, Norah, finding the answer to this question.

The film is magnificent. It is amazing to see thousands of butterflies clinging to trees in Mexico.

If you have never heard about Urqhart, please read this Wikipedia entry

We had a great afternoon.