I think we have learned by now that we can't travel anywhere without SOMETHING not going as planned. I guess that's just part of the adventure. We left (earlier than planned, due to threats of severe weather coming our way) for our first anniversary weekend getaway trip. I know what you're thinking, "Didn't they just go to a tropical island last month?" Yes. Yes, we did. That was for Micah's spring break though. This is our very first wedding anniversary, so we felt that another, shorter, trip was warranted. After all, since I ended up hospitalized from our last trip, I feel as though I have earned another.
We left Thursday afternoon and headed to our hotel, in Hebron, Kentucky. We chose Hebron because it was right between the two places we wanted to go. The Creation Museum on day 1, and then venturing into Cincinnati, Ohio for day 2. We made it to Kentucky with only one mishap! We ran into construction and got caught in the wrong lane...we ended up on the interstate going West instead of East. Naturally, we were on the stretch of interstate where there are NO exits for like 20 miles..so we spent an extra half hour turning around. If I hadn't already made (and paid for) our reservations that night in Kentucky, we might have just went somewhere else. We stayed at the Country Inn & Suites, which was right next to the Mariott and the Hampton Inn. I checked prices for all three hotels and the Country Inn was literally half the price of the other two hotels AND!!! our hotel room was clean and didn't smell like...hotel. (To me, that means a mixture of cleaner and pool) The staff was friendly, and overall we really enjoyed this hotel. Especially for half the price of the not-even-500-ft-away hotels.
Friday (Day 1) we got up around 8am and ate the breakfast at the hotel. It consisted of both cold (cereal, muffins, yogurt, etc.) and hot food (This day they had build your own breakfast burrito with options of sausage, scambled eggs, cheese, salsa, and this potato mixture stuff), along with waffle makers and a crock pot of gravy for the biscuits they had on another table.
The Creation Museum opened at 10am, so we left the hotel about 9:45 to make the 7 mile drive from Hebron to Petersburg, KY. We got to the museum about 10:15ish and waited in line to buy our tickets. General admission tickets were $30 per adult, and we opted to add on $15 ($7.50 each) in order to watch a presentation on space in the planetarium. General admission includes the museum exhibits, botanical gardens, and petting zoo. We did all three of those!
The main presentation of the day was a 12 o'clock-noon lecture by the CEO and founder of the Answers in Genesis ministry, Mr. Ken Ham. Micah and I walked through the exhibit, and then waited for the main presentation. You don't have to attend the presentations, it is just something the museum offers for anyone who wants to come and see them. We managed to get in the front row!
Micah loves Ken Ham, so this was the highlight of the trip for him. My husband has a passion for the Genesis ministry. For those who are wondering, the Answers in Genesis ministry is designed for the study of the first 11 chapters of Genesis where the Lord is creating the universe. The ministry is aimed at helping Christians defend the faith when we are living in a world where Christianity is dying and "Science" is becoming more mainstream. The thing is, Christians still believe in science, just not evolution, per se.
After the lecture we headed to the cafe within the museum, Noah's Cafe. We ate our lunch outside in the wonderful sunny 68 degree Kentucky weather, and after lunch we went to the Stargazer's Planetarium for our show. I get motion sickness, but surprisingly, I was able to sit through it and actually enjoy it! The program was projected on the ceiling of the small theater and made you feel like you were in a spaceship with a glass ceiling, looking out into the universe. Stars were everywhere, and when we "traveled" you went past planets and at one point you entered a wormhole that shot you across the galaxy. I had never experienced anything like this before, and was SUPER excited it didn't make me want to puke.
After the show, we headed outside to the botanical gardens and petting zoo. The gardens were still pretty, though much of the actual gardens hadn't bloomed yet. The petting zoo was fun. I don't care that I'm 25, I want to pet the animals just as much as the 10 year old kids that were in there. I got to pet a Zonkey and a Zorse (exactly what they seem. Zebra/Donkey mix and a Zebra/Horse mix) also got to see a Camel, and Micah made friends with the cow they had in there. The zoo also had several Al Paca, Goats, and Peacocks. We ended up leaving the museum around 4:30 and headed back to the hotel to end up watching the History Channel for the next 5 or so hours. Around dinnertime we were too lazy to go anywhere so we ordered Papa John's pizza to our hotel room. :) Afterall, we are on a vacation of sorts!
Saturday (Day 2) We had planned to go into Cincinnati, OH (since it was literally like 20 minutes away from our hotel) and do a museum and a brewery tour. We made it to the American Sign Museum on time for the 11 o'clock tour--you don't have to take a tour, you can go through the museum anytime independently, but we wanted to learn about signs and the Americana advertising and how it has changed-- this place was AMAZING!!!! If you are in the Cincinnati area, GO TO THIS PLACE. It's a flat fee of $15 per adult (no tax) so it was $30 for us both to go though it. Let me just show you:
They have created a 1950's era main street USA inside the museum
Along with having the "lightbulb" signs from the early 1920's and 30's, they have original Neon signs from the late 40's and 50's, and the newest sign they have allowed to be displayed in the museum is a Burger King sign from 1972. The oldest sign they had was a glass sign from 1876? I believe. All of the signs in the museum work, they don't RESTORE the signs, but the museum does re-wire them so that they work and you can see their brilliance. They do not re-paint or do anything else to the signs other than wire them up.
This Kelly Springfield sign was described to us as somewhat of a modern day "light-bright". Each of those circles is an individually crafted piece of glass! And when there were storms or really anything that could shake the sign very much, those little glass circles would fall out and break, and have to be replaced. Fun huh? Circa 1920's.
Also, Guess how much their electricity bill is? My wonderful husband asked our tour guide at the end whenever he asked for questions from the group. Let me just say, I probably will never complain about my electric bill ever again. The guide told us that on average, to keep all these signs lit during the hours the museum is open, roughly.....$4200 a month!!!! And they only charge you $15 to see all this history.
We probably have about 75 pictures from each of the places we visited on the trip. (Around 150 in all, far too many to put on here) The second half of our Cincinnati day was cut short because we drove to where the Brewery tour was supposed to begin from, and let's be honest, Cincinnati is not known for it's safety and friendliness towards strangers....We were afraid to STOP our car, let alone get out in the neighborhood we found ourselves in. There was no way we were going to wait around (nearly 2 hours before the tour started) so we just headed home. We decided we would find another brewery to tour in a safer city..or atleast, safer PART of the city)
We had a good time. The Creation Museum was really interesting and fun to see how they have put together a museum that takes you through the creation of mankind from God speaking the Earth into existence, Adam and Eve, The Tower of Babel, all the way to the flood. And yes, they had an ark part where you felt like you were on a boat. The American Sign Museum was a great find and I'm so glad we went to both of these amazing places! A great weekend getaway, at about a 4 hour drive from home.
