Kentucky Spring Break Trip - Day 2 (Creation Museum)

Sunday morning we woke up to sunshine!! What a blessed sight! Even better, we got to sleep in a bit! It is so nice to get up and move at a slow pace on vacation mornings!

We packed up the hotel room, grabbed breakfast and then headed to our first stop - Shawnee Lookout in Ohio, overlooking the Ohio River. Our main stop for the day was the Creation Museum, which wouldn't open until 1:00 since it was Sunday. We knew that we had the open morning and came up with a few plans of things to do. Since it was sunny, we opted to drive to Shawnee Lookout and check out the hiking trails - hopefully not too muddy.

Aside from a spot or two on the trail, there was no mud (a wonderful surprise!).

After our hike, we ate our picnic lunch - enjoying the sunshine overhead. Matt couldn't see very well because of the bright sun, so he opted for the hoodie. Will took a video too.

We had a few extra minutes after lunch so we headed to the tomb of President William Henry Harrison. 

It was finally time to head to the Creation Museum. 

My boss gave the family a very generous gift this past Christmas - passes to the Creation Museum and the Ark Encounter. He also paid for our hotels. Such an amazing gift - one that will be in our memories for many years to come! 

Our first thing on the agenda - snap a picture of the kids in front of the dinosaur outside the main door of the museum. 

Next thing was to replicate the picture taken in 2012 - 

We visited the Creation Museum in 2012 and really enjoyed it. It has been on our agenda to get back to the area to visit the Ark Encounter (which was just in the planning/funding phase when we visited). As we planned the trip, our kids showed interest in visiting the Creation Museum again. Matt & I realized it would be a great idea to visit both places - allowing the kids to see the museum through "older" eyes. It was a wise choice - this day ended up being a favorite for most of us.

 

We walked into the museum and saw that the 4D theater was ready to start its movie so we headed in.

The museum was busy - lots of people all arriving for the 1:00 open. We were pretty overwhelmed by the number of people at the start of the "Walk Through History" Exhibit. There was so much reading to do and lots of people. The further we got into the exhibit, the thinner the crowd got, which was a huge help. 

Here is Matt - explaining the importance of Lucy.

Peak-a-Boo - Do you see 3 girls?

The sign - haha!

We noticed quite a few changes in the museum - one of the changes was the "water wall" as the kids called it back in 2012. We compared pictures (we tried to replicate the original picture...but I didn't have it pulled up while at the museum AND the kids are quite a bit bigger, ha!)

We kept our eyes open for Ken Ham (founder of Answers in Genesis) but we never saw him. This cardboard cutout had to do.

Will and his love for turtles! He was in 7th heaven.

We left the museum and headed to the garden/grounds to walk around for a bit. So beautiful!

After spending some time in the gardens and petting zoo, we left and headed to our hotel which was right along the Ohio River - across from downtown Cincy.

We checked in to the hotel and walked along the riverfront. We crossed over the Ohio River, walking across the Purple People Bridge and then enjoying the sunset from the Cincinnati side. We were tired (lots of walking done that day) and we were hungry...but this evening was a favorite for all of us. 

We drove to dinner, Donatos Pizza, only to find out that the closest location didn't have dine in. We found one with dine-in a few minutes down the road so we headed there. It was an experience for sure. The food was good but the service was a bit lacking. They didn't have plates, so we ended up using the pizza boxes, lol. Something we won't forget anytime soon.

We arrived back at the hotel after dark. Our room overlooked the riverfront - we loved seeing the "egg building" as Kaitee calls it.

Day 2 had come to a close - Another great day in Kentucky!