mistressofmuses (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
mistressofmuses) wrote2025-02-21 07:02 pm
mistressofmuses) wrote2025-02-21 07:02 pm
Saturday, Feb 15: Arizona Trip Part 2, The Arizona Boardwalk
The big plan for Saturday was a group hike with most of the party.
Originally we had signed up to go with, but my mom had us bail. Her foot is still barely healed from the melanoma surgery back in December, and she was very worried that a serious hike would be painful and potentially damaging. So instead, we decided to do our own thing!
We got tickets to two local attractions: Butterfly Wonderland and The OdySea Aquarium. Both are located along a sort of walkable mall/city center/tourism center called The Arizona Boardwalk.
I took a bunch of pictures at both the butterfly house and the aquarium, so those will get their own posts. This one is just for the other stuff we saw on the boardwalk.
We were able to take a shuttle from the hotel over, which was nice.
Right at the entrance is a really cool carousel, with all kinds of interesting animals!
We were most excited initially to see an okapi! I love okapis, and they're definitely not a common animal to see represented anywhere. I was then very charmed by the little poison dart frog right next to it. <3 When the carousel was in motion, the frog looked like it was hopping.
A lovely hummingbird. The butterfly on its saddle is the logo for Butterfly Wonderland.
My absolute favorite was this sort of classic dragon.
Another angle on the dragon (the tail!), plus the nice rainbow seahorse.
I'm sad I did not apparently get a picture of the manatee, which had a lily pad saddle, and was super cute.
There was also a bunch of art, some of which just seemed to be public art, some of which was advertising things you could do on the boardwalk.
I liked this delightfully unsettling statue. :)
A flying saucer. (There was an alien encounter/UFO museum, but having been to the UFO museum in Roswell, NM, I fear all other UFO tourist traps will pale in comparison.)
I WANT TO BELIEVE
Not art, just an advertisement. We did not go eat at the Pangaea Dinosaur Grill, but I loved the dinosaurs that were in only some of the product photos. Both the model dino in the top photo, and the weird photoshopped glowing raptor, ha.
A T-rex made of old tires.
And a scrap-metal Predator. :)
Originally we had signed up to go with, but my mom had us bail. Her foot is still barely healed from the melanoma surgery back in December, and she was very worried that a serious hike would be painful and potentially damaging. So instead, we decided to do our own thing!
We got tickets to two local attractions: Butterfly Wonderland and The OdySea Aquarium. Both are located along a sort of walkable mall/city center/tourism center called The Arizona Boardwalk.
I took a bunch of pictures at both the butterfly house and the aquarium, so those will get their own posts. This one is just for the other stuff we saw on the boardwalk.
We were able to take a shuttle from the hotel over, which was nice.
Right at the entrance is a really cool carousel, with all kinds of interesting animals!
We were most excited initially to see an okapi! I love okapis, and they're definitely not a common animal to see represented anywhere. I was then very charmed by the little poison dart frog right next to it. <3 When the carousel was in motion, the frog looked like it was hopping.
3 more pictures from the carousel:
A lovely hummingbird. The butterfly on its saddle is the logo for Butterfly Wonderland.
My absolute favorite was this sort of classic dragon.
Another angle on the dragon (the tail!), plus the nice rainbow seahorse.
I'm sad I did not apparently get a picture of the manatee, which had a lily pad saddle, and was super cute.
There was also a bunch of art, some of which just seemed to be public art, some of which was advertising things you could do on the boardwalk.
I liked this delightfully unsettling statue. :)
5 more pictures:
A flying saucer. (There was an alien encounter/UFO museum, but having been to the UFO museum in Roswell, NM, I fear all other UFO tourist traps will pale in comparison.)
I WANT TO BELIEVE
Not art, just an advertisement. We did not go eat at the Pangaea Dinosaur Grill, but I loved the dinosaurs that were in only some of the product photos. Both the model dino in the top photo, and the weird photoshopped glowing raptor, ha.
A T-rex made of old tires.
And a scrap-metal Predator. :)
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How adorable, and the butterfly seemingly riding the carousel on the hummingbird's back is adorable too. Gosh I love art.
XD
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I loved the butterfly on the saddle, too.
Art makes me really happy, and seeing things like this that have a lot of creativity behind it was really joyful.
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It was a really fun day. It was still a lot of walking, but at a slower pace over predictable terrain, so it was a lot easier on my mom.
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I like the art. The Predator is impressive!
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And all the art was neat. I was very impressed with the Predator. I like the skull on his weapon.