Nature museums allow you to enjoy Mother Earth's gifts without contracting poison ivy, pitching a tent, or winding up a decorative gingerbread man accent in a witch's house of candy. Take pleasure in the great indoors with today's Groupon: for $32, you get a one-year family membership to the Butterfly Pavilion in Westminster (a $65 value).

Combining science education with interactive entertainment, the Butterfly Pavilion houses five exhibits, 1,600 free-flying tropical butterflies, and a multitude of creepy, crawly creatures. Begin your day with a Tropical Odyssey, a bilingual adventure complete with larger-than-life caterpillars and butterflies and a zip line that allows children to sprout wings and soar like a penguin. Crab-walk to the Crawl-A-See-Em exhibit where brave souls can hold Rosie, a Chilean tarantula, and discover leaf insects, scorpions, beetles, and giant millipedes, and head to the Water's Edge to touch sea stars and more. Furthermore, levitate to the Wings of the Tropics exhibit to admire butterflies from around the world as they rest on your eyelashes. End your safari with a hike on the Butterfly Pavilion's half-mile natural trail teeming with prairie dogs, rabbits, ogres, herons, hawks, and eagles.

Your membership to the Butterfly Pavilion comes with three complimentary guest passes for your family, friends, and distant ants, access to members-only events, gratis copies of Flutterings newsletters, a variety of discounts, and more.

Reviews

Frommer’s and HelloDenver featured Butterfly Pavilion while CityVoters named it third-Best Museum in 2009 and gave it a perfect five-star rating in 2010. Yelpers and five Yahoo Travelers give the attraction an average of four stars.

• The butterfly conservatory introduces the visitor to a world of grace and beauty. – Frommer’s
• I love to take my children here. It's very interesting and thoroughly enjoyable! – muttleysmaid, CityVoter