Few creatures in nature are more beautiful and majestic than the butterfly. They begin life as a worm-like insect that eats all day, naps for weeks in a self-made sleeping bag and then emerges looking so fabulous that they’re immortalized forever in countless teenaged girls’ tattoos. And now Newport Beach’s Environmental Nature Center has created a habitat for our favorite fluttery insects by building Orange County’s only Butterfly House—home to native butterflies like the Monarch, Buckeye, West Coast Lady, California Dogface (our state butterfly) and 45 different species of nectar plants—that opens this Saturday. Explore the carefully arranged habitat, buy a butterfly host plant, go on a scavenger hunt, play “eco-games” and make crafts out of recyclables, and then get yourself a butterfly face painting (It’ll only last a few hours but it’s good practice for that tattoo you’ll have on your ass as soon as you turn 18).
Sat., May 2, 10 a.m., 2009
