Last week week took a trip to the “Wings of Fancy” butterfly exhibit at the Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, MD.
We’ve gone once a summer the past few years and it has always been blazing hot. This year, the weather was slightly overcast and cool – which was the perfect conditions for visiting a greenhouse. We all enjoyed checking out the butterflies – especially Adam who squealed with delight when he saw them.
Here’s the 411 on the exhibit:
Brookside Gardens
“Wings of Fancy” Butterfly Exhibit
1500 Glenallan Avenue
Wheaton, MD 20902
Note: there are two entrances to Brookside Gardens. The “Wings of Fancy” exhibit is housed in the southern conservatory which is the second entrance to the gardens – the first takes you to the Visitor’s Center.
The exhibit runs Saturday, May 2 through Sunday, September 20, 2009 from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. daily.
Access to the grounds is free, however, there is a charge to visit the butterfly exhibit.
FEES: $6 adults; $4 ages 3-12. Children 2 and under are free, but strollers are not allowed inside the exhibit.
After we visited the butterflies, we walked the grounds for a bit, then brought back a lunch from McDonalds and had a little picnic. Then I let the kids do some biking on the nice paved path than runs throughout the grounds. Only as we were making our way back to our starting point did someone tell me that bike riding is not permitted on the grounds (nor picnicking, as it turns out). Oops! Don’t do that, but do go and have fun! Here’s the pics from our day:
This was supposed to be a pic of a butterfly, but check out those pathetic shoes.
he was diggin the butterflies
Orange on orange
They like to eat rotting fruit. who doesn’t?
I was popular with the ‘flies.
Wendy was *dying* for one to land on her. She sat next to this one on the bench for 5 minutes, in hopes it would move over to her.
Sam gave me an obligatory pic
A view of the butterfly house
Ash, checking it all out -sans shoes, since I forgot them.
boy on a butterfly bench
another butterfly liked me
Group shot
The exhibit entrance
Group shot with friends on the beautiful grounds
The kids were tearing it up, riding around the property. Only at the tail end of our ride did someone inform me that bike riding wasn’t allowed. doh!
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Thanks for the 411. Now I am hoping to take the kids there this summer.
Just happened upon your blog because of the Wings of Fancy reference… if you decide to go back, you can picnic at Wheaton Regional Park. There’s a path to the Wheaton park in the back corner of Brookside Gardens (there’s a small gate). Wheaton also has a huge playground, a merry-go-round, and a train ride.