It was one of those cold South Dakota afternoons, and everyone was bored.
My daughter was depressed because Christmas was over, and our parents had gone home.
It was just my husband, me, and Alyssa. I asked her if there was anything special she wanted to do. She told me she wanted to go see fishes. We are a land-locked state, and the nearest place to see fishes was at the Butterfly House and Aquarium of Sioux Falls. I reset the thermostat so the furnace wasn’t heating the house like when we were home, and the three of us headed out. My husband was grumbling because he hated having the butterflies flying into his face and landing on his body. I was told there were over 800 free-flying butterflies from around the world and they were in a tropical conservatory. They had a pop-up Dome Aquarium and a Pacific Tide Pool. Alyssa loves the colorful marine fishes, jellies and corals in over twelve aquarium habitats. We were in a year round tropical destination. I like that the Butterfly House and Aquarium of Sioux Falls is a not for profit organization, and is funded by donations, memberships, admissions, and sales from the gift shop. She was finally happy and getting over her disappointment that everyone went home and she had to wait another year before Christmas. My husband and I talked about taking her this summer, but considering all the humidity in the aquarium and butterfly house, we thought it would be like walking from the heat outside into a more humid heat inside.