Monday, Oct. 17

This morning after breakfast, we went to the Butterfly Palace. Hubbie and I have been to the attraction before, so he was not interested in touring it again. He preferred to stay in the truck and read a book, while Daughter and I enjoyed the facility.

We started by going through the mirrored rain forest maze. Daughter enjoyed this immensely. From there, we went into the area that contains the butterflies. We were cautioned to watch our step so as not to step on the fragile creatures. We were also cautioned not to touch the butterflies. But we could take all the pictures we wished, and I snapped a lot of them.

We finished the tour by viewing a film about Monarch butterflies. Daughter and I were both interested in the fact that the butterflies dine on poisonous milkweed, to which they are immune, but which poisons other animals if they eat the butterflies. The white dots on the butterflies are an advertisement to animals and birds to stir clear of these critters.

It was noon when we left the Butterfly Palace, and time for lunch. We returned to the camper for a while and then in the afternoon, we went first to an Amish shop. where I picked up containers of spices for Mother, as well as packages of vegetable chips, and jars of jellies. I also bought lemon curd to give to Mother for Christmas, and a package of lemon snaps to give her when we got back home.

From there, we went to a Christmas shop. Here, we bought a couple of Christmas ornaments, and a large nativity scene. The nativity scene is one piece, sculpted from wood, and will be impossible for the cats to knock off the table (our black cat broke two ceramic sets last Christmas).

We also visited a food and drinks tasting at one of the stores. We bought packages of vegetable dip at this shop.

Then we went back to camp for a supper of baked potatoes and barbecue sandwiches. Around 6:30, we went to a theater to see the Amazing Chinese Acrobats. And they were amazing. A large troupe of very young Chinese men and women performed all sorts of very impressive acrobatics and illusions.

The show lasted until 10:30. The weather was cool when we entered the theater, but when we left, it was raining and sharply colder. We were back at camp around 11 p.m., ready to hit the sack after another very busy, but very fun day.