The path wound around to a small pond, where large white and orange koi swam in slow circles. While my eyes were raised to the indoor canopy, hers – understandably – were also taking in the floor. Though Maddie loved the butterflies, she showed me something I would never have noticed on my own: fish. Flowers bloomed over our heads, and tropical birds even chirped from the tree branches or shuffled beneath the shrubs and grasses at our feet. Here I wanted her to see everything I could see, and we ooh-ed and ahh-ed at the bright colors and shapes of the many species of winged critters that inhabit the sanctuary.

The room itself was heated and full of tropical plants from floor to ceiling. Though the farm animals were fun, the butterfly sanctuary appealed to my naturalist spirit and love of all flying creatures. But to a two year old? Every snort and whinny was cause for widening eyes and squealing in delight, and I was caught up in her enthusiasm. To me, donkeys, rabbits, and steer are no longer exciting. I grew up in a community where cows and – funnily enough – alpaca were quite common.

Photo by Erika Zambello.įirst stop: the barn animals. My fiance, his sister, and I were giving Maddie, my niece-to-be, a tour on a lazy Sunday afternoon. It’s sometimes easy to forget how carefree we once were only a few short years ago. With the help of a two year old, I was able to go back in time during two hours at the Museum of Life and Science, learning and experiencing all the facility had to offer with new eyes. Located in Durham, the Museum of Life and Science offers a barnyard with a close up view of farm animals, a butterfly sanctuary, a small train ride, a dinosaur trail, wetlands, enclosures with live lemurs, red wolves, black bears, and an entire area devoted to explorations of mist, air, and water. We do serious, important things, like statistics assignments, Masters Project presentations, and GIS labs.

Museum of life and science