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"   This weekend, in a desperate attempt to escape the subway stampede that is NYC, I hopped a plane to Florida. Fort Lauderdale, my sunny city of choice with a complementing mix of tourists and locals (and which has seen its fair share of upgrades and renovations as of late) was the perfect weekend getaway\u2014equipped with palm trees, clean beaches, impressive dining, nightlife and more (we even caught a rodeo!). But there is one Fort Lauderdale attraction that, in my opinion, deserves immediate special attention: Butterfly World!     My traveling gang and I poked fun at the randomness of our planned event, almost skipping it for a Sunday morning spent at the beach. But when we got there, I could barely rip myself away from the magical, if slightly psychedelic, butterfly emporium, where around 200 Morphos, Monarchs and more fluttered by my face amongst the Amazon-themed jungle\u2014bedazzled with tropical flowers, simulated rain mists and wet caves. It was definitely one of those special moments when I felt uniquely inspired\u2014specifically (could this be an animated movie?) and in general.     Our tour guide, David, showed us around. We loved him! None of us had ever met anyone with such an intense passion for anything, never mind the most delicate of creatures. From David, we learned that butterflies only live for seven to 10 days, but that, essentially, being a butterfly is a triumphant time in their lives, as they had already lived through the most vulnerable disease-ridden stages: egg, caterpillar and chrysalis. He also explained that they depend on the sun to heat their bodies, that they feed on bananas in place of real Amazonian fruit seeds and that some are poisonous. One species, he said, the Orange Monarchs, live for about a year and migrate to warmer destinations like Mexico and Texas during the winter. Cool enough, we also saw a hybrid species specific to Butterfly World called Piano Key, named after the design on their wings. My favorite butterfly was the Blue Morphos (right). David likes the Cairns Birdwing and tracked down both a male and female to show us their unique colors (female on bottom left).    On our way out, we walked through the small-bird aviary (some of them looked like tricolored Easter eggs) and a parrot porch of sorts, which held a few birds dying to show off their colors (bottom right). I tried to ignore the insectarium and headed straight for the gift shop, where I briefly considered buying Logan, my boyfriend, a living butterfly in a jar but didn&amp;#039;t want any more trouble with airport security.   David said a lot of school trips and families come through there, and I must admit, it really is a thoroughly entertaining stop on anyone&amp;#039;s itinerary\u2014just a 30-minute ride from the main beach strip, N. Fort Lauderdale Beach Blvd. (The stop is also part of Fort Lauderdale&amp;#039;s discount program, Summer of Discovery, which my friends and I made use of.) Butterflies behind us, we were still able to catch some afternoon rays. What is your favorite weekend getaway? Tell us in Comments. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.womansday.com/life/a41587/butterfly-world-5845/>