From Niagara Falls, we drove due west across Ontario to enter the US at Port Huron, MI. Although there certainly are beautiful portions of Michigan, we were anxious to reach our next major attraction, the Creation Museum. We stayed at a terrific campground near Flint, MI to catch our breath and enjoy some activities such as archery, canoeing and kayaking. Then, we headed south to stay near the intersection of Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky. We drove through a portion of Ohio, before stopping overnight just over the border into Indiana. The next day, we then drove a meandering path (thanks to an unforeseen construction project and our GPS) through portions of Ohio and Indiana and stayed near Rising Sun, Indiana. A pleasant 30 minute drive along the Ohio River brought us to the Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky.
We enjoyed beautiful weather for our 2-day visit.
We were anxiously waiting outside the entrance at 10 am on the first day.
We knew we could expect some terrific presentations, but were not prepared for the excellent finesse in the design of this tremendous attraction. The details in the construction and presentation are on a par with any contemporary exhibition in Disney World. We were thrilled to see that extremely talented artisans and builders had been hard at work to build a facility to help our society to get the straight scoop on the origin of our world!
The visit began with a theater presentation regarding The Created Cosmos emphasized the dimensions of the tremendous universe. A nice blend of astrological wonders of light years and relative dimensions of the sun, the planets and other stars in the solar system and beyond, we found the information entertaining and humbling!
'Men in White' was the next theater presentation with a satirical but factual discussion of God's created world versus the evolutionary theory discussed in most public education forums.
By that time, we were ready for a lunch break. The boys enthusiastically downed individual sized pizzas while we ate some hearty sandwiches. Tables alongside the beautifully landscaped pond enhanced our meal on this terrific spring day.
Refreshed, we began the primary feature - Walk Through History. A series of exhibits that begins with a discussion of paleontology and thought provoking questions, the museum guide recommended at least 2-3 hrs for completing the tour.
They're not kidding. We made it through about half the exhibits before deciding to take a break. We wanted to pace this tour appropriately for observation, contemplation and absorption and there's a ton of information provided along the way.
We wanted time to ask and answer our own questions, and especially questions from our kids!
Information digestable by all ages is available and museum staff had provided a 'treasure hunt' activity for our 9 yo that helped occupy him when the presented material was a bit over his head.
Exhibits included presentations to validate the truth of God's Word.
The most colorful and detailed exhibit was the depiction of the Garden of Eden.
Everyone enjoyed taking a stroll in the garden and imagining what it might have been like - with no worries of illnesses, troubles, or fears of anything.
Next were depictions of the Fall of Man that could be a little frightening to young children. Loud noises and darkness are part of the displays that help make the point of the evil that entered God's perfect creation. The distance through this exhibit was short, but we'd strongly recommend parents with children younger than 8 yo to preview this portion first before taking the kids through.
The scaffolding before the boys is beside the Ark, under construction! A life-size scale model of 1/100th of the Ark demonstrates the magnitude of Noah's work and God's provision.
Several dioramas show the full model with details of the animals to scale to show that there was room for every one and every thing that God commanded to go in the Ark.
This was hardly a little tugboat but a massive cargo ship - without an engine or sails!
One section of the museum is dedicated to presentations of dinosaurs and the guys really enjoyed the up close look.
The lunch meal completely forgotten, we took off for the RV park to see if the pool was open. It was, and the guys jumped in for about an hour. Then, the hunger pains returned and we set out to try something new to us - Cincinnati Chili. Skyline Restaurant is a chain famous for this dish and one was nearby.
Here it is, in two favorite serving styles. Cincinnati chili supposedly is prepared without any chili powder. That's right - no chili powder. As a matter of fact, it has several ingredients very foreign to Texas chili consumers: cinnamon, allspice, cloves and unsweetened chocolate. The chili has beef, but it is more of a consistency of spaghetti sauce. As a matter of fact, it is commonly served on top of spaghetti noodles. Then, additional toppings can be added as follows:
1 - just the chili (apparently no one eats it plain)
2 - spaghetti topped with the chili
3 - spaghetti topped with chili and huge quantities of grated cheddar cheese (known as 3-way chili)
4 - spaghetti topped with chili, huge quantities of grated cheddar cheese and either chopped onions or red beans (known as 4-way chili)
5 - spaghetti topped with chili, huge quantities of grated cheddar cheese, chopped onions and red beans (known as 5-way chili)
Or, you can bypass the spaghetti version and enjoy the chili on a hot dog.
And we remembered Cincinnati as the locale of WKRP!
We slept well that evening and were anxious to return to the museum for another day the next morning.
Each day, the museum offers lectures at least twice during the day and a children's session with museum staff. There was no time for that on our first day's visit, so we checked the schedule and purchased tickets for lectures for Craig and Cory and the children's session for Will. Then, we picked up where we left off with the Walk Through History. We picked up at the flood and several exhibits explaining evidence of the flood in the Grand Canyon and other locales in the world. Next was a depiction of God's judgment of man by dispersing the population after the Tower of Babel. The last portion includes a theater presentation of Jesus' death and resurrection with a presentation of the gospel.
We returned to the cafe for lunch, then Craig took Will to the children's session on dinosaurs while Linda and Cory visited the botanical gardens, petting zoo and a revisit to 'Men in White'. Then, Cory and Craig attended a lecture entitled 'Three Ways to Create an Apeman' by Dr. David Menton while Linda returned to the botanical gardens and petting zoo with Will. Those all wrapped up about the same time and after purchasing several books and DVD sets in the bookstore, we headed back to the RV.
Overall, we found the museum to help provide clarity and strength for our faith in God. We also found inspiration to equip ourselves for any future discussions in which we might be able to provide that same clarity and strength to others.
2 Peter 3:15 "...always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you..."
We're confident that we will return again and encourage anyone that has ever been even remotely interested in the offerings of this museum to make a visit. We're confident that you will not regret it.
While the formations are terrific, there are not as many of them as you might imagine. The cave is 'dry' for the most part, so formations are only in limited areas. We enjoyed the temperature inside the cave (54 F) as a break from the 85-90 F temperatures outside in very high humidity!
There were several places where the passageway was very narrow - the one below was titles 'Fat Man's Misery'. We didn't think it was a tough as several places where the height of the opening required stooping as while walking.
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