City: Colorado Springs, CO

Category: Tours & Attractions

Telephone: (800) 666-3841 or (719) 576-04

Address: 710 Rock Creek Canyon Rd.

Description: Driving south of Colorado Springs on CO 115, you might spot a gargantuan Hercules beetle perched on a hill right alongside the road. Don’t swerve and go into the ditch! It’s metal and it’s just your signal to take a hard right and enter the amazing world of John May. In 1929, May and his father started exhibiting their fantastic tropical bug and butterfly collection at the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto. In the 1940s, May built a permanent site to house the collection here in Colorado Springs. At any given time, more than 8,000 of the collection’s 100,000 items are on display. You never knew so many different bugs existed! They range from almost microscopic critters to 10-inch moths from India. And the butterflies are gorgeous. Look up to see the taxidermied bats, too. Shiver. Closed Oct 1 through May 1. Open daily in summer.