My family and I are on a week-long trip to the Poconos which I am recording parts of here. Follow along, if you want.
I've been having problems with the internet, so we'll see how this goes.
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| Fall sculpture at Hershey Gardens |
Tuesday was our driving day, and we broke our 4 hour trip up into two parts with a stop at Hershey Gardens in Hershey, PA. (For those not familiar, yes, it is the chocolate town of fame.)
When we are on a trip, there are a few things that we try to do. One of them is to visit a garden/arboretum of some kind. This time it was Hershey Gardens. Not only did we see Hershey Gardens we also saw their butterfly atrium. Here are a few pictures from our stop.
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| One of the hundreds of types of roses they had. |
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| This was a "human" sundial where you held up your arm as the dial. It was pretty accurate. |
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| Of course, if we're in the land of Hershey, there has to be a picture of a cacao tree. |
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| Male Atlas moth. Notice how the top of its wings resemble a cobra--a defense mechanism. We learned that these moths are hatched with no mouths and don't eat. They only live 6 days or so surviving on stores from their caterpillar days. The female moth lays around 400 eggs before she dies. The male has no real function at this point. |
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| Tiger longwing butterfly. |
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| Owl butterfly. Notice how the lower wing looks like an owl's eye. Another defense adaptation. |
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| We made it to our Vrbo at 4 pm, just in time for check-in. It turns out that it is a very nice house with plenty of room for everyone. Even though there are pictures and descriptions online, you're not quite sure what you will get until you see the place in person. |
It looks like that's all I'm going to be able to do for today.Until next time...
That's an impressive squash sculpture! You make a great sundial. Your vacation home looks lovely! I'd love to live in a house like that!
ReplyDeleteI wouldn’t mind living in a house like this either.😁
DeleteNice house! I enjoyed the butterfly/moth photos. Most were new to me.
ReplyDeleteThere were many more that I didn’t show. They wouldn’t hold still long enough for a picture. 🙂
DeleteThe gardens are so pretty. I love the pictures of the butterflies and moths. The Atlas moth wings really do look like a snake, but how sad that it only lives for a short time and cannot eat. Nature is fascinating but also sad and terrifying at times.
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful house and a gorgeous fall view.
Apparently being born without a mouth is fairly common in the moth world, but I had never heard that.
DeleteDitto what everyone else said. 😉 I hope you have a great week of adventures!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Kris.
DeleteThat squash sculpture took a lot of talent to conceive and construct. It's beautiful! I'm glad you're enjoying your trip, my dear.
ReplyDeleteI think there was some serious engineering going on with that sculpture!
DeleteLove the butterfly and moth pictures. That DOES look like a nice VRBO. Big and wide open. I hope they have bird strike prevention stickers on those windows.
ReplyDeleteI haven't not seen those butterflies before but those features like they owl-eye is quite smart.
ReplyDeleteHave a lovely day.
I always think of butterflies as being very colorful, so I first thought the owl butterfly was a moth. But I was wrong. 😑
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