Ohio

We met up with some other Fulltime Families at the Indian Springs Campground in North Bend, Ohio to go on a couple of field trips to the Ark Encounter and Creation Museum.  The ark and museum are in Kentucky, while our campground in Ohio was across the street from Indiana where we ate dinner twice that week.  It was kind of funny being in 3 states several times that week.

We had a beautiful campsite on a lake where many ducks visited our site daily for food.

Fat Cat loved watching them.

Since we started traveling my bucket list included visiting the Creation Museum in Kentucky, and then I heard they opened the Ark Encounter in July which made it even more appealing.  When we lived in Florida we used to attend the FPEA Homeschool Convention every year where I would attend Biblical Creation talks by Answers in Genesis.  I have missed that since we moved away, but I was excited to be able to finally visit the Creation Museum by Answers in Genesis.

I don’t have a lot of pictures from the museum other than pictures from the outside petting zoo.  They had these strange looking animals called zebroids.  Have you ever heard of such a thing?  It’s a mix between a zebra and a horse (a zorse) or a mix between a zebra and a donkey (a zonkey).  Jake is a huge fan of zebras so when I first saw these animals I was about to say, “Hey Jake, look at the zebras!”  But then as I looked closer I wasn’t really sure they were zebras.

The kids liked the petting zoo.

And the outdoor botanical garden with the suspension bridge was really fun.

Most displays at the museum include a lot of reading.  That was fine for me, but kids quickly lose interest.  The museum is done really well with displays on evolution, Adam & Eve, the Fall, the Flood, all the way up to the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.  It very clearly describes human history from a Biblical perspective and explains the origins of various people groups, racial differences and languages.

There were some interactive displays which were great for kids, and the outdoor area helped to burn off some energy.  Below is a picture of an interactive game for the kids to help design the ark.

The Ark Encounter was really amazing and very hard to describe.  It’s something you really just need to see in person.  It’s so huge!  It is built according to the specs in the Bible, so you really get an idea of just how they could fit all those animals on it.

Inside there were many displays to show you how Noah and his family might have stored food.

There were also many displays to show how they could fit all these animals into the ark and how they would feed them.

There were displays to show how they may have prepared food.

And what their living quarters might have looked like.

This display shows Noah and his family praying to God.

This one shows Noah and the dove returning with the olive branch.

There was even a display showing these crazy, wild looking animals, unlike anything I’ve ever seen. 🙂

The door to the ark was huge!  Touring the ark gave me a better understanding of just how large it was and how there was plenty of room for the animals (large and small).  Of course large marine life like whales did not need to be on the ark.

This sign really spoke to me.  I firmly believe in the Bible, the Holy Word of God, but I know many people do not.  Heaven and Hell are real places and my prayer is that all of you reading this would not be deceived, but know that the Bible is true.

Visiting the Ark Encounter answers all of the skeptic’s questions like “how did they fit all those animals on the ark?”, and “what about the dinosaurs?”, etc.  The museum and ark encounter scientifically lay out all of the answers to these questions and more.

If you plan to visit, keep in mind that the museum and ark are about 45 minutes apart.  When you buy a combined ticket, you can spend 2 days at the museum and 1 at the ark.  Because they are not right next to each other, you should definitely plan on a separate day for each one.

A week after we went there, another Fulltime Family went and wrote an awesome blog post about their visit.  I wish I would have had their post to read before we went.  If you plan to visit, please read this first.  It is a great post about how to plan your visit for kids of all ages: Faith Takes Flight.