The Butterfly Pavilion at the Natural History Museum

I’m so glad I finally checked out the Butterfly Pavilion at the Los Angeles Natural History Museum! We went with friends last Monday, July 6th and took the Metro there.

Take Metro

Although the Culver City metro station is closer, we learned our lesson when we took Metro to see Elmo. The Culver City parking lot is small, and it’s almost impossible to find a spot there after 9:00am. We met up with our friends and easily parked at the La Cienega/Jefferson metro station, where there is a garage.

My daughter and her friend, both two years old, love riding the train. I’m glad I brought my umbrella stroller because that made it easy to maneuver the aisles. When we got to our stop (Vermont), I had to deal with a mini-tantrum because my daughter wanted to continue riding the train.

Show your valid Metro pass or Metro Rail ticket at the box office and get $1.25 off adult admission. There are two NHM-convenient stops on the Metro Expo Line: the Expo/Vermont station or Expo Park/USC station.

(Hints: The Expo/Vermont station brings you by our Dueling Dinos statue. The pretty, short walk from Expo Park/USC is adjacent to the Rose Garden and NHM’s renovated 1913 Building.)

The Natural History Museum

The Natural History Museum‘s entrance is right around the corner from the metro stop. We arrived around 11:15am, and easily got tickets to the Butterfly Pavilion for noon. It was the perfect amount of time to find our way there, let the girls play in the garden, and change an unexpected poopie diaper.

The Butterfly Pavilion

They allow timed groups into the butterfly pavilion in half-hour increments. That was the perfect amount of time for a toddler’s attention span. It was really cool because the butterflies fluttered around everywhere and you could get really close. There were signs which directed you to look closer to see the chrysalis and caterpillars.

Luckily, our girls enjoyed the butterflies, because we know some other kids who went and did not enjoy it at all. We could tell after 20 minutes, the toddlers were getting a little restless.

I brought my DSLR camera and had a blast taking photos of all the butterflies. Here are some of my favorites.

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Here is a little video of my daughter enjoying the butterflies

Sponsored by Essential Chocolate Desserts

Thank you to Essential Chocolate Desserts, in Culver City, for sponsoring this adventure to the Butterfly Pavilion! Mention “Westside Mommy” for 10% off (most) orders. Everything there is delicious!