It doesn't rain often in Phoenix. Even if there are clouds with the possibility of creating precipitation; it either doesn't reach the ground, evaporating well before it gets there or the clouds skip over the Valley altogether. On a Monday, that wasn't the case. It rained and rained and rained. We took the opportunity to enjoy Butterfly Wonderland.
Butterfly Wonderland is located in North Scottsdale and offers a short 3D movie of the Monarch butterfly migration to Mexico, a very large live butterfly exhibit, a small area featuring the stinging and venomous creatures of Arizona, and lastly a small room with fish and sting rays.
The 3D movie was quite good and explained the Monarch migration using an analogy of a family and the daughter laying eggs and traveling north until she arrived in the Great Lakes region. The Monarchs that hatch in the Great Lakes Region in August/September are the butterflys that make the arduous migration back to Mexico to winter in the oyamel trees. It was a short 15 minute video and provided the average person with basic knowledge about Monarchs.
We both really enjoyed the large butterfly room. There was a certain species that kept landing on Nate. The butterflies fly freely in this open greenhouse environment with plenty of opportunities to drink nectar from the flowers, water from the koi pond, and the fruit and sugar bowls set out for them. One man had a few butterflies land on his cheeks and he happily walked around displaying them. You are not allowed to touch the butterflies at all, if you want them off you just simply shake your clothing. There were also a few birds in the area to add some melodies.
It's not the greatest picture, but you can see the butterfly's probiscus out drinking the nectar from these pink flowers.
The stinging creatures room was interesting and not the place I would ever want to be stuck; bees, scorpions, black widows...
As we exited the museum, it was still raining, however we were just in time for happy hour. We chose a place close to home that we haven't tried yet, Brathaus. It was a nice place to grab a beer (great selection), a Bavarian pretzel with beer cheese sauce, and Belgian frites with dipping sauces! The wings were pretty good too!
After the rain stopped and things began to dry quickly the next day, we were on to another adventure.
The McDowell Sonoran Preserve is a large area in Scottsdale that is free and offers many trails to hike, bike, and ride horses on. We began at the Bajada Nature Trail. It is a short interpretive loop, handicap accessible and pet friendly. It teaches people about the flora and fauna in the area as well as the geology of the area. The geology marker was interactive with samples of rocks one might find in the area. I learned many things about the desert ecosystem in this .5 mile loop.
We started hiking on the Gateway Loop Trail and eventually broke off and ended up at Inspiration Point. It even rained on us up there, I guess a little added inspiration :)! We ended up hiking about 7.5 miles here! It was a great workout and the trails were not too difficult. There were a lot of ups and downs instead of a continuous incline, which I prefer. It was also a bit cloudy, which helped ease the intensity of the sun.
I saw a little lizard and many beautiful wildflowers starting to change a brown/green landscape to a quite colorful with pops of yellows, oranges, pinks, purples, and whites. In the coming weeks the cacti will begin to bloom as well, we saw evidence in many buds forming on prickly pears and ocotillo.
Yesterday, I saw the prickly pear blossoms for the first time. The only ones with the true magenta flowers were the prickly pears in the median strip of Scottsdale Road. This however, does not detract from their beauty and only serves as an indicator for what we have to look forward to in our last month here.
Until then...
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