Today my mom and I went over to check out the Hershey Gardens- I was especially  excited about the butterfly house!

There wasn’t a whole lot blooming at the gardens honestly- a bunch of roses, a few dahlias (my fav), and a few other things here and there.  It was still very pretty with a bunch of butterflies.

  
 There was a paved path that circled around the majority of the 23 acres with various grass and mulch side trails to explore.  There were moments of complete peace sporadically broken up by the construction of the new conservatory and also the near by firing range- try walking through a Japanese Zen garden while listening to machine gun fire— very strange.

  
    

  
 It was a ridiculously hot and humid day- I was actually supposed to be backpacking in MD on the AT but I am glad I backed out of that trip- not fun when it’s this hot- and it would be even hotter down there (92* with 70% humidity- not for me).

Pretty cool statues along the path:

  
  
  
 VERY creative and cute artwork at the children’s garden:

  
  
  
 Before we went into the butterfly house they gave us a set of rules

• Watch where you step
• It’s hotter inside than outside as butterflies like heat
• They will land on you
• DO NOT TOUCH THEM

There was a set of double doors- you could only open the inner door once the outer door was closed so the butterflies wouldn’t escape outside.

Once inside, it was one of the coolest experiences ever- butterflies EVERYWHERE!  Hundreds of them!

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 And they did land on you!

  
  
  
 It was awesome! 

They had volunteers inside that carried wooden sticks so if the butterflies would land on the path they would take the stick and gently nudge them along so no one would step on them.

I HIGHLY recommend going to ANY butterfly garden- this was a BLAST!!

After we were too hot and couldn’t stand it anymore we headed out to grab lunch- a worker in the gift shop recommended The Hershey Pantry and gave us instructions on how to get there. 

Pretty good food!

I could have spent all day here watching the butterflies!!