I have quite a lot of bucket list ideas that I want to accomplish in my life, many of which require years of planning and money saving. I've been chipping away at the smaller ones, the ones that can be accomplished in a day trip or a weekend. These are so much easier to experience, but ultimately no less satisfying than a European road trip or a Mediterranean cruise (at least in my opinion!)
Last weekend I brought Lucas, my mom, and one of my best friends Shawn to a butterfly sanctuary in South Deerfield, MA called Magic Wings!
This was an awesome experience. Tickets were only $14 and I got a $4 discount with my student ID. The ride there was only about an hour and we blasted Beyonce the entire way, so the ride went by really quickly! (I discovered that my favorite songs off of Lemonade are Hold Up, Sorry, 6 Inch, and Freedom. Ugh, so good!)
Once we entered, there was one room that was devoted to different insects, snakes and frogs. Basically everything tropical except the butterflies. My main focus was the butterflies but this section was still neat to observe.
I was captivated by all the cocoons and even got to see a butterfly hatch right before my eyes! The gift shop had little clear cups with caterpillars in them that you could take home! I thought that this was fascinating for some reason. Even though I remember having a caterpillar garden as a kid... I find it so strange to raise caterpillars and then set the butterfly free once it hatches!
Once we entered the main butterfly area, it was freaking breathtaking. I believe that the sanctuary itself is 8,000 square feet and there are over 4,000 butterflies in it. I was actually a little bit scared at first! It's startling because the air is dense with so many butterflies, and you think that they're definitely bound to land all over you. The sad truth is, not single butterfly landed on any of us.
We did get to pet this awesome lizard as it took a bath though! My friend Shawn is hilarious about reptiles. He loves them as much as regular people love cats and dogs.
We wound our way through the twisty trails of tropical wild life and flowers and plants. Butterflies landed on these little sugar feeders, which we found out afterwards that we could have purchased ourselves in the gift shop.
Not only were there a ton of butterflies, tropical flowers, and water fountains, there were a ton of reptiles, fat birds running all over the ground, a parrot, finches, and HUMMINGBIRDS! The hummingbirds were so fast, but we did manage to sneak a peak before they zoomed off across the sanctuary.
The gazebo areas were strung with these adorable Christmas lights, which added to the magical feeling!
Coconut + German chocolate, blackberry + cheesecake, + pistachio, and peach were our flavors of choice. We nommed on these while walking around some outdoor gardens (if I didn't mention before, the main area of butterflies was all indoors, so it's rain or shine!)
We left shortly after, and a lot of us slept on the way home. It was such a magical experience! I highly recommend a butterfly garden to add to your bucket list if you've never been before. Even if you're afraid of butterflies, because I thought I was (and so did Lucas!) but we ended up having an amazing time.
Have you ever been to a butterfly garden?
What's a day trip idea off your own bucket list?
What's a day trip idea off your own bucket list?
Leave a comment, it means so much for me to actively engage with anyone awesome enough to start a conversation on this blog!
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