Butterfly House *Pics*

[k9krazee]

My boyfriend and I went to Frederick Meijer Gardens a couple weekends ago where they have a butterfly house. It was so neat, and there were an unbelievable amount of butterflies all over the place. They also have gardens outside and a sculpture park. I took way too many pictures, but I picked out a few of my favorites to share!

Outside view
http://www.zoto.com/kangashrew13/img/45/2589581139707c1ee2cda8cf7c008a75.jpg

A view of the "jungle"
http://www.zoto.com/kangashrew13/img/45/f7a170e951baef61935041893577693f.jpg

http://www.zoto.com/kangashrew13/img/45/206658ec67da6eba13bc2594a9385405.jpg

Rich taking a picture of a flower, I think
http://www.zoto.com/kangashrew13/img/45/36a087999a6e075c425a1e31faff6221.jpg

http://www.zoto.com/kangashrew13/img/45/0940e7e196a0302d302113b20708b8d4.jpg

http://www.zoto.com/kangashrew13/img/45/63a1c38dec334614864d2192e8de331b.jpg

A view of the "Butterfly Bungalo"
http://www.zoto.com/kangashrew13/img/45/6e9b7e52097ee4acfbe06db2a49f2af4.jpg

http://www.zoto.com/kangashrew13/img/45/05e2f4e009319500d7268da05abf7ecb.jpg

I was surprised at how well the butterflies all cooperated for pictures!
http://www.zoto.com/kangashrew13/img/45/b5272a427e7840d3b33bf4638c6de551.jpg

http://www.zoto.com/kangashrew13/img/45/3be18702a931d0b4cb759c83ea3ab798.jpg

More..

[k9krazee]

http://www.zoto.com/kangashrew13/img/45/dfc5d74ccd62670ceca77d9dfc66c1c2.jpg

http://www.zoto.com/kangashrew13/img/45/5271e49eb00f4ae974ce8e0821a08895.jpg

http://www.zoto.com/kangashrew13/img/45/593680147220a7086576dc5aa1e207b9.jpg

http://www.zoto.com/kangashrew13/img/45/99d53160d2457ca17e04a537f5f92140.jpg

This guy was one of my favorites
http://www.zoto.com/kangashrew13/img/45/5702aeaa41a88e82a6a97c7038fd21b8.jpg

There were even cute little Quails running around
http://www.zoto.com/kangashrew13/img/45/b65862ae370fa285453e754cd4f81fd9.jpg

At one of the feeding stations
http://www.zoto.com/kangashrew13/img/45/72a8b7d2d76eb8c9e1dfb4da61a57312.jpg

http://www.zoto.com/kangashrew13/img/45/9a43ae72a9763f2eefc8e3999b362da1.jpg

http://www.zoto.com/kangashrew13/img/45/c43f1c50c199dd48772f57225260f788.jpg

"Quail Hunting"
http://www.zoto.com/kangashrew13/img/45/428c80359ba02cfa128f580e14035463.jpg

A couple more..

[k9krazee]

http://www.zoto.com/kangashrew13/img/45/9c669430f60949fafd0f77891e9c97dd.jpg

Butterfly face
http://www.zoto.com/kangashrew13/img/45/d9792b2b2a83aeeb6915799bcca91d9c.jpg

http://www.zoto.com/kangashrew13/img/45/340df517b1a29544a76b4c1a4c97a9f8.jpg

http://www.zoto.com/kangashrew13/img/45/d16cca57409d1922befdbf1b19568059.jpg

http://www.zoto.com/kangashrew13/img/45/28b4ed32f56823c8fcda8c0f55b3d6a0.jpg

http://www.zoto.com/kangashrew13/img/45/04413bfe8d9b553e87e5466eed820dea.jpg

http://www.zoto.com/kangashrew13/img/45/0fd71302daee0822481404381ebf1666.jpg

And one of me and Rich with Flutter, the giant butterfly!
http://www.zoto.com/kangashrew13/img/45/4099abe48bd379f906c3347661114ec7.jpg

Thanks for looking!!

[lvpets2002]

:eek: WoW such Great Pics.. The butterflys & flowers of such Beauty..

[Russian Blue]

That must have been fun! There's a butterfly house by us as well that I would really like to visit.

Glad you had a good time. :)

[Freedom]

My goodness that building is large! We have a 'butterfly zoo' near by. I've been once, it is very small, maximum of 25 people inside at a time. Even at that we are stepping on each other, lol. I can't imagine having such an large spot to view butterflies. Yes, butterflies seem to have little fear of humans, so it is easy to capture their photos. I love the flowers as well, especially the one with the water drop almost off!

Now it seems like there should be a 'story' about that HORSE! ;)

Thanks for sharing!

[AdoreMyDogs]

Wow is that ever cool! What city is that in? I've never heard of it before.

[Sparklecoon]

My aunt used to work at the gardens unfortunately her hearing has always been very poor and now she's 99% deaf and can't work in the conventional sense. She now does beautiful art using nature as her inspiration HERE (http://www.raindrop-studio.com/gallery/index.html) .

My cousin had her wedding there and it was amazing. We wandered through the butter fly habitat and the desert and all the way back to see Da Vinci's horse. It's really a great place. I Suggest anyone who ever gets the chance to visit Grand Rapids to check it out.

[ChrisH]

Wow! Great photos, thanks for sharing.

Here in the UK David Attenborough has just, last month, launched a £25m conservation project called Butterfly World. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/beds/bucks/herts/7292103.stm I love butterflies and hope one day I can pay it a visit.

Sparklecoon, thanks for the link to your aunt's site, her work is truly beautiful.

[sirrahved]

What beautiful pictures! i can't believe some of those up close shots of the butterfly faces. I love the orchid with the water drip, too.

I didn't read the post... skipped right ahead to the photos. When I came to the horse, I thought to myself, "They're at Frederick Meijer Gardens!" It would help me in the future to read before greedily taking in the pictures :o

[pitc9]

Wow Ashley, great pictures!
I was LOL at the pictures of the horse!

[lizbud]

Gorgeous garden pictures. :) I saw a film clip on TV of a place similar
to this. (maybe it was this place) There was a family with small kids
walking through it. The kids were so amazed at the butterflys. :)

[k9krazee]

Thanks guys!

Here's the website: http://www.meijergardens.org/index.php

The Gardens are in Grand Rapids and like Sparklecoon said, the horse is Leonardo DaVinchi's Horse. It's SOOO much prettier in the summer, or when the flowers are in bloom, but the butterfly house only goes from March to April, so we had to get there to see them. :D I would definitely recommend if anybody is taking a trip to Michigan, they should see the gardens..

[wolf_Q]

Very nice pics Ashley! What kind of camera did you use? I loved the horse pics too. ;)

[k9krazee]

Thanks Amy! I love that horse! He's absolutely HUGE! I have a Canon S3.

[RobiLee]

I love the pics Ashley! I would love to go visit that place. There is a small butterfly exhibit in Columbus and I love to go visit there. I dont think it is anything like what you've shown though. Looks like you guys had a good day.

[Jessika]

http://www.zoto.com/kangashrew13/img/45/593680147220a7086576dc5aa1e207b9.jpg

This one is my FAVORITE; talk about awesome!!!


I'm jealous... I've gone to butterfly houses countless times and NEVER manage to get as great shots as yours. It isn't like I don't know how to take photos, wait for shots, or not know how to use my camera... they are just NEVER cooperative!!!! Little buggers lol

[KittyGurl]

Great pictures! The butterflies are gorgeous and the flowers are beautiful. Glad you had a great time.

[Maya & Inka's mommy]

Wow Ashley!!! Those pics are really amazing, perfect, breathtaking!!!
Congrats, I am speechless!!

We saw a similar but smaller butterfly-garden in Australia, and in Singapore.

[ramanth]

Gorgeous photos! I didn't realize the butterfly house was open for such a short period of time. Andy and I'll have to make a trip. :D

[Chica]

THOSE WERE AWESOME PICTURES!!!!

[beeniesmom]

Wow! What a wonderful place and thanks for sharing your pictures.

[cassiesmom]

My sister and her family have a summer place about an hour southwest of Grand Rapids. My mom, dad and I visited them there 2 summers ago and we all went up to the Meijer Gardens. It is a beautiful place. They had a display of different types of orchids which my dad really enjoyed.