Butterflies and Giant Spiders!

We had some shopping to get done yesterday morning. There's a few things we needed to stock up on before crossing back into Canada and Denver is likely the last really large city we'll be in before the border. One of the stores we went to was the big REI (Recreation Equipment Inc.) location near Confluence Park.

Two reasons for visiting this store. First, it's located in a 1901 heritage building that used to be the Denver Tramway Power Company. Really interesting renovation on the inside to turn it into the store. Plus, they have a lot of neat outdoor and camping stuff for sale!

This girl was about 10 years old! There's a really neat climbing wall inside the store. 

I found the exact replacement hiking boots that I want. But, they were $170 and REI won't budge on their pricing. I can buy them online for $139. There's a Sierra Trading Post factory outlet store near Cheyenne, WY that we'll stop into on our way north. Hopefully they'll have them there.

Kevin, trying out some new boots.

The REI store has a great setting for the type of store that it is.

From there, we went to The Butterfly Pavilion. Yes, they have a lot of colorful, interesting butterflies but they also have spiders, insects, and a few water animals! The place is geared towards children, and being a Saturday there were quite a lot of kids around. We probably would have been better off going on a weekday, but then there would have been a lot of schoolkids at that time as well.

The Butterfly Pavilion.

This fellow was dead and mounted. Good thing!

They have a few interactive exhibits, and one of them is to be able to have Rosie the tarantula crawling on you. Ruth decided that since the four year old kids in front of her could do it, Ruth could do it too!

Hmmm. 

No problem!

Don't want this guy crawling on me!

The fellow in the pic above is called a "Goliath Birdeater" spider! He's huge, with his legs spread out he's about the size of a dinner plate! 

Okay, on to the butterflies...

Beautiful...and not afraid of people!

They like rotting fruit!

Pretty colors.

More pretty colors!

Nature is amazing sometimes, isn't it??

We spent about a half an hour with the spiders, and about a half an hour with the butterflies. It costs $9.50 for adults, which is a bit steep ,but if you've got children ($6.50) with you they'll definitely be entertained. An expensive outing for a family of four ($32), but lots of fun. And there are a lot of educational and hands on activities geared specifically to children.

Denver.

We headed back to Kent and Lynn's fairly early because I had to change the oil in the little blue car. Kent supplied me with a creeper and drain pan and I got the job done. Then, Kent made us some delicious grass fed rib eye steaks for dinner (we have been really spoiled here!) and then we went to a neighbors house party in the evening and met some more interesting people. 

We had another great day in Denver. This morning, we're headed west to Red Rocks Park area to do a hike, and then this afternoon we arrive at Zephyr Mountain Lodge for a two night stay because we're going spring skiing tomorrow at Winter Park Resort where they've had 9.5 inches (24 cms) of fresh snow in the last 24 hours! REALLY looking forward to the next couple of days, it's going to be great fun!