Laura picked me up around 5AM along with Becky, Stella, and Diana.
Laura drove her car to Janet's house in Athens.
We loaded into Janet's van and started our journey to Kentucky.
We traveled north on I-65 stopping at 7:12am in Columbia, TN for gas and breakfast.
At Burger King, several people ordered a croissant with egg and sausage.
I don't want the bread so I just got a piece of sausage and a large cup of iced water to drink.
We loaded back into the van and began our journey to Kentucky. We hit the early morning traffic of Nashville and rode in the HOV "High Occupancy Vehicle" lane so we moved along pretty fast.
We traveled through Bowling Green, & Lexington Ky
We traveled through Bowling Green, & Lexington Ky
We gained an hour when we crossed into Eastern Daylight Savings Time.
We arrived at the creation museum around 1:22PM Eastern Time (we lost an hour).
Janet parked the van near the entrance, and we walked inside(we did not have to stand in line) to purchase our tickets.
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| Entrance to the Creation Museum 2800 Bullittsburg, Chruch Rd Petersburg, Ky 41080 |
Everyone bought the combo tickets, with the combo tickets we could visit the Creation Museum for 2 days and The Ark Creation for 1 day.
We did not watch any of the movies so one day was more than enough to view the Creation Museum.
Everyone split up and walked at their own pace at the museum.
We saw a glimpse of what it was like for Adam and Eve to live in the Garden of Eden.
We saw the beginning of Noah building the Ark before the flood. We saw sculpted dinosaurs and a full-size skeleton of an Allosaurus named Ebenezer. We saw the legends of dragons.
We walked through the history of the Bible, a natural selection, a museum of the Bible, and the flood.
When I finished viewing the museum, I walked to Noah's Cafe where I bought a salad and three chicken fingers for $7.50 plus a diet soda for $2.49.
While I was eating Becky and Stella appeared, they were both ready for lunch.
They brought chicken fingers and a salad and joined me.
In Noah's Cafe, I found a plug to charge my cell phone, for it was getting low after taking several pictures.
When Becky & Stella finished they went back inside the museum, they wanted to get a piece of the fudge that they had smelled downstairs.
I walked across the floating bridge to the Botanical Gardens
Most of the flowers had quit blooming, and most of the path throughout the garden was shaded from the hot sun.
There were at least five bridges, & several paths leading to little nooks full of displays.
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| The Zoo |
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| I walked across a Suspension Bridge |
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| 💐 🌷One of the Bridges in the Botanical Gardens |
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| Walking across the Bridge |
I walked across a suspension bridge, passed the mining sluice, and to the petting zoo, where I saw a camel, alpacas, zorse, zonkey, donkeys, wallabies & goats.
I saw Laura and Janet on a lower path, they had already been to the zoo and were walking back to the museum.
I met Diana as I was leaving the zoo, so she and I walked back to the museum, stopping to take pictures of the waterfalls, the pond full of Lillie pads, and the shadow of clouds and trees that fell into the pond.
Diana was getting hungry, so we went to Noah's Cafe, where she bought a pizza and salad.
While Diana was ordering her food, I looked for a table that had a wall plug, for my cell phone.
So while Diana ate, I charged my cell phone and uploaded pictures.
While Diana was ordering her food, I looked for a table that had a wall plug, for my cell phone.
So while Diana ate, I charged my cell phone and uploaded pictures.
Diane met an old friend from Vermont, her friend, and her friend's husband came over to talk to us while Diana finished eating.
By the time Diane finished eating, everyone was ready to leave and they were waiting in the van for us.
By the time Diane finished eating, everyone was ready to leave and they were waiting in the van for us.
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| Welcome to Chili's Florence Yall |
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| Me and Laura at Chili's Chili's 500 Houston Road Florence KY |
We stopped at Chili's at 500 Houston Road Florence KY for dinner. Everyone had eaten lunch at Noah's Cafe except Laura and Janet
Stella, Becky, and I ordered water and we split an appetizer of White Spinach Queso, topped with shredded Monterey Jack cheese, house-made pico de gallo, fresh guacamole, queso fresco & chopped cilantro.
Served with warm tostada chips & fresh salsa.
Served with warm tostada chips & fresh salsa.
Janet ordered a bowl of loaded baked potato soup topped with applewood smoked bacon, fresh chopped green onions & 3 cheese blends and she also ordered a Triple Berry Crumble Cake.
The cake had warm blackberries & blueberries baked with rich butter cake topped with streusel and finished with vanilla ice cream, strawberry sauce & cinnamon sugar.
I ate several bites. YUM !!!
I ate several bites. YUM !!!
Diane ordered a Molten Chocolate Cake.
It was a moist chocolate cake with a melted chocolate center topped with vanilla ice cream & a thin chocolate shell, topped with whipped cream.
It was a moist chocolate cake with a melted chocolate center topped with vanilla ice cream & a thin chocolate shell, topped with whipped cream.
Laura ordered a salad.
Our next stop was the Comfort Inn.
Janet parked the van just outside the front door of Comfort Inn in Dry Ridge KY, where, Stella had booked three rooms.
Three people paid for the rooms and each was reimbursed by the one sharing the room.
We paid for the rooms at 6:36 p.m.
We unloaded the van and Janet parked the van in the designed parking area.
Three people paid for the rooms and each was reimbursed by the one sharing the room.
We paid for the rooms at 6:36 p.m.
We unloaded the van and Janet parked the van in the designed parking area.
Becky and I had room 319 with Laura and Janet adjoining room 317. Stella and Diana's room was just down the hall.
I met two couples outside the hotel sitting on a bench in front of the Inn when we were getting our luggage out of the van
They were resting from their day's adventure at the Ark Encounter.
One man said we had fun at the Ark and we did a lot of walking.
Everyone went to their rooms, took a shower, and dressed for bed.
When I looked out the window of our room I saw this beautiful sunset.
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| Sunset Comfort Inn in Dry Ridge KY |
Trees were blocking my view so I grabbed my camera, took the elevator downstairs, and walked outside.
I walked passed a restaurant, a bank, and the Hampton Inn to the highway nearby.
It was an orange-red sunset just going down.
I walked back to Comfort Inn, and there was a sign hanging on the door that said, "No Vacancy " I took the elevator to the third level back to my room, where I took a shower and climbed into bed.
Becky was already in bed, she had not slept much the night before.
I woke up in the middle of the night thirsty and took the elevator to the first floor to purchase a bottle of water. Crawled back into bed and slept until 7:30AM the next morning.
Becky and I took the elevator downstairs for breakfast.
We meet Stella, Janet, Diane & Laura on the way back to their rooms, they had already eaten breakfast.
I ate a banana, strawberry-banana yogurt, two pieces of sausage, and a glass of orange juice for breakfast.
Becky got an apple and some water.
At 8:30AM everyone was ready to go to the Ark, we were about six miles from the Ark Encounter.
The Ark is located on 800 acres of land right off I-75 at exit 154 the second busiest north/south interstate in the US.
Janet parked the van near the ticket counter. Everyone got out of the van and got in line at the ticket counter.
Our tickets were live tickets and had to be verified.
We were given our tickets back along with a green armband.
We were given our tickets back along with a green armband.
Diane had misplaced her ticket and had to go back to the van to find it.
We had to wait at the counter until she returned.
Her ticket was in her wallet all the time.
We walked to the bus and the bus took us to the Ark Encounter.
We could see the Ark from the 4,000-acre parking lot. The closer we got to the Ark, the bigger it got, It was ENORMOUS!
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| View of the ark from the Parking Lot 1 Ark Encounter Drive Williamstown, Ky 41097 |
Everyone got off the bus and started taking pictures. It was still quite a walk up to the ark.
Janet and I both stopped at the restroom, which was located near the bus stop.
The rest of our group walked to the ark, which had to be entered from the backside and it was a long walk.
It was like a theme park with bars, roped off for lines of people. Everyone was already walking up the wooden ramp, we did not have to go through the long roped-off lines.
We walked up a wooden incline ramp to get to each level, with a guide at each entrance to guide us in the right direction.
A fourth level is due to be completed before Christmas of this year.
As we entered the first level we could hear the sounds of many different animals.
We saw cage after cage, where the animals would have lived during the flood.
It was like a theme park with bars, roped off for lines of people. Everyone was already walking up the wooden ramp, we did not have to go through the long roped-off lines.
We walked up a wooden incline ramp to get to each level, with a guide at each entrance to guide us in the right direction.
A fourth level is due to be completed before Christmas of this year.
As we entered the first level we could hear the sounds of many different animals.
We saw cage after cage, where the animals would have lived during the flood.
We saw stacks and stacks of feed for the animals, rows, and rows of jugs for water.
We saw several animals different species of animals inside cages, including dinosaurs.
The second level was signs and posters.
Seven posters, The beginning God created and it were very good. God created a perfect world, perfect marriage, perfect authority, and perfect humanity.
The fall and man's rebellion corrupt creation and God revives man's hope, First murder, Cain murders Abel.
We saw several animals different species of animals inside cages, including dinosaurs.
The second level was signs and posters.
Seven posters, The beginning God created and it were very good. God created a perfect world, perfect marriage, perfect authority, and perfect humanity.
The fall and man's rebellion corrupt creation and God revives man's hope, First murder, Cain murders Abel.
We saw Noah and his family, we saw how they lived on the ark, how they performed their daily chores, they had no time for folly.
Just walking the length of the ark would be a daily chore for Noah and his family.
Just walking the length of the ark would be a daily chore for Noah and his family.
There was a section with bible scrolls, and pictures depicting how life might have been during Bible times, Decent into darkness, senseless slaughter abuse of creation, Excessive hedonism, living for pleasure, Boundless brutality, the devastation of war, and the flood.
The third level showed how Noah and his family lived, their food, their living quarters, their cooking area, and Noah sending out a dove.
We saw the Giants of the Ice Age, The origin of Languages, God's command to be fruitful and multiply, the table of nations, and the line of Shem, Ham, and Japheth. God's judgment so the Lord scattered the people. We saw the superficial biological differences between people in groups. Towers from around the world, Aliens and the pyramids, an Ancient man brilliant or a brute? Developing technology, Technology Intelligence, and Technological explosion, from horse & buggy to a man on the moon in only 70 years. The Great Pyramids, the Enigmatic Stonehenge, Time and Navigation, Noah and his family along with all the animals went into the ark.
Noahic Covenant
and Noah built an altar to the Lord, and he took from all the clean animals and clean birds and sacrificed them as a burnt offering on the altar. God smelled the pleasing aroma and said, "I will never again...destroy all of the life which I have made. As long as the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night will not cease." Genesis 8:20-22.
Permission to eat meat, Dietary changes, Capital punishment. The last display was about the different types of Bibles, the Tora Scroll, and books written by John Eliot.
The third level showed how Noah and his family lived, their food, their living quarters, their cooking area, and Noah sending out a dove.
We saw the Giants of the Ice Age, The origin of Languages, God's command to be fruitful and multiply, the table of nations, and the line of Shem, Ham, and Japheth. God's judgment so the Lord scattered the people. We saw the superficial biological differences between people in groups. Towers from around the world, Aliens and the pyramids, an Ancient man brilliant or a brute? Developing technology, Technology Intelligence, and Technological explosion, from horse & buggy to a man on the moon in only 70 years. The Great Pyramids, the Enigmatic Stonehenge, Time and Navigation, Noah and his family along with all the animals went into the ark.
Noahic Covenant
and Noah built an altar to the Lord, and he took from all the clean animals and clean birds and sacrificed them as a burnt offering on the altar. God smelled the pleasing aroma and said, "I will never again...destroy all of the life which I have made. As long as the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night will not cease." Genesis 8:20-22.
Permission to eat meat, Dietary changes, Capital punishment. The last display was about the different types of Bibles, the Tora Scroll, and books written by John Eliot.
We could have taken an elevator to the bottom.
Becky, Stella, Laura, & Diane went to Estrelas Restaurant for lunch.
Estrela will hold about 500 people and is a building near the ark.
I was not hungry so I walked to the zoo.
Estrela will hold about 500 people and is a building near the ark.
I was not hungry so I walked to the zoo.
By the time I arrived at the Ararat Ridge petting zoo, it had gotten hot.
I saw a worker sitting down in a chair holding a baby goat, she was petting the goat and he was enjoying it.
I saw Kangaroos, Emus, 3 female ostriches, several donkeys, a Tibetan yak bull, and a camel.
Near the Ostrich cages, I met an older man who worked with the animals.
Near the Ostrich cages, I met an older man who worked with the animals.
He was telling me about how the Ark Encounter was just the beginning, that there were several phases yet to go.
Additional future phases at Ark Encounter include a pre-flood walled city, the Tower of Babel, a first-century village, a journey into history from Abraham to the parting of the Red Sea, a walk-through aviary, an expanded petting zoo, and other attractions that uphold the truth of God's Word.
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| Side view of the Ark |
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| Diane,, Janet, Laura, Stella, and Rebecca in front of the Ark |
We stopped somewhere along I-75 to use the restrooms.
We rode past the Castle Winery in Versailles, Ky at 12:47PM. We stopped at a service station in Munfordville, KY at 2:41PM to use the restrooms and to buy some snacks.
We were traveling through Nashville at 4:02PM somewhere in Kentucky we changed back to Central Standard Time.
We stopped at Janet's in Athens where everyone got out of the van and everyone loaded into Laura's car.
We stopped at Arby's in Athens where I bought one beef cheddar, one large Roast Beef, and two Apple crisps to take home for dinner.
I was home around 6:30 p.m.
