Tucson Botanical Gardens-Butterfly Exhibit

This weekend I went for a road trip with Owen McNamara to Tucson, Arizona. The Botanical Gardens was hosting a Butterfly Exhibit, something I could not miss. They had a variety of shapes, colors, and sizes, all mesmerizing and stunning. We were lucky enough to stay during their after hours and hear a class on butterfly sex, which was hilarious and informative. After the class we went back into the butterfly tent and release newly emerged butterflies from their chrysalis exhibit. This was one butterfly event I will not forget and one I recommend everyone to go see! I hope you enjoy the photos I took. Warning to anyone going to the event and looking to take photos, it is very humid in there and your lens will fog up, so be patient until it clears.

Go here to find out more information on the Tucson Botanical Gardens and their upcoming events or here if you want to go to the Butterfly Exhibit before it ends on April 30th, 2012.

Click to see the full image!

That's me being a butterfly (bottom right), an ity bity wasp on Owen's fork (top right).

Moths are my favorite, they're so beautiful.

This is one of the new ones I released. (photo taken by Owen McNamara)

That's Owen's arm (bottom left), They seem to like him more because they kept landing on him.

Cover your eyes! They're doing it! (left), Leaf mimic (right)

I don't know what kind of shampoo this guy is using, but they kept landing on his head.

(Photo taken by Owen McNamara)

Las Vegas-Part 2: The Experience

My return to Vegas! It has been too long since I've seen the bright lights and never ending flow of alcohol!

In photo: Owen McNamara

My poker face.

Las Vegas-Part 1: MineCon

I went to MineCon in Las Vegas with Owen McNamara and it was one of the greatest Vegas vacations I ever had. The fun started once we entered the elevator to check in, and we immediately ran into Keith Steinbach from BebopVox who does Minecraft Mondays!! (yup thats us :D)

We went to collect our badges from the registration booth and the lines quickly started to get longer and longer, but the wait was worth it. We got some awesome goodies and couldn't wait for the doors to open to see all of the MineCon amazingness!

The whole event was full of fun people, dressed up in all the characters and just having a great time. I even met some awesome people like Paul Taylor, the man behind Frozen Synapse, and Matt Eggertson who became our adventure partners around Vegas. I'm looking forward to next year but nothing can top the fun we had for the first MineCon. It was hard to narrow down the photos I took but here are a few.

Enjoy!

NOTCH! Thank you for all the fun!

This is just a small look at the crowd that filled the room.

SWAG!

That's Keith from BebopVox and me (bottom left).

Yogscast! These guys are hilarious. I'm so glad I got to see them.

We went to this amazing arcade called Insert Coin(s) on Fremont street. I had so much fun playing Assassin's Creed and losing to X-Men. Nothing beats drinks and games.

(Photo taken by Owen McNamara)

This was one of the best trips I've taken in a long time. The people, the lights, the fun! Thank you Owen (taking the photo), Paul (far right), and Matt (middle) for making it an amazing experience for me.

The International Wildlife Museum

I went to The International Wildlife Museum in Tucson, AZ and saw some very interesting creatures. To my surprise they had a bug room and it was filled with some of the most amazing butterflies and moths I had ever seen. The fun didn't stop there; they also had some awesome animal displays and skeletons! I hope you enjoy the pictures, I had so many it was hard to narrow them down.

The Snow Leopard is now one of my favorite cats. I couldn't resist that gorgeous face!

 

This interesting looking butterfly is known as a gynandromorph, which is when they contain both male and female characteristics. At first I thought they had glued two different sexes together to show the size difference but they had a magnifying glass next to it showing that it was real. This was a real treat to see!