As I type, we are journeying home. Just passed Cincinnati so still many hours to go. We are all ready to be home. The last campsite' we stayed at in Kentucky was definitely on the bottom of the list...so I'm glad it was our final stop:) We were in the heart of tobacco country and the laundry room and bathrooms wreaked of stale ( and sometimes fresh) cigarette smoke. Strangely, there also was no place official to wash dishes. When I asked about it, they told me to use the faucet "around the corner between the tall bushes"...I couldn't find it and the guy saw me wandering around when he showed me a faucet near the ground. Then he let me in on a secret,"I usually just do the dishes in the bathroom sink." Yep, definitely a bit different than the other places we stayed!
Yesterday, on the way to the Creation Museum, Jim signaled for us to pull over. Our car top carrier was not completely secured and unfortunately, Grace's duffel bag was lost. We retraced our route and called the Sheriff's office (hoping it was scooped up from the side of the road,) to no avail. We even looked again later in the day, but no duffel :( Grace is heartsick, and we are trying to help her keep it all in perspective. It was the monogrammed duffel we got her for Christmas from Land's End ( we will reorder her a replacement) and her favorite brand new fleece sweatshirt from Yellowstone was in there as were most of her wardrobe, including ski thermals that Mimi had sized for her...I am so thankful this happened 2 days prior to the end of our trip...thankful it did not happen in Yellowstone when so many layers were a necessity just to keep warm. Needless to say, it sort of put a damper on the day for one person especially. It is a comfort to remember that God is sovereign even over lost duffel bags! I will call the Sheriff one more time today to leave my contact information (forgot to do that yesterday in the midst of it all!) just in case it was turned in.
The Creation Museum is a wealth of information and detailed displays demonstrating the "Young Earth" Creationist perspective. There's quite a few hands on interactive activities for the kids too. The highlight for our older boys was the planetarium show which was refreshingly given with a biblical worldview. It was so well done...I had a killer headache and had to keep my eyes closed during much of the show but what I saw was so impressive. Odesco really enjoyed it too and Mercy noted the difference between that and the one she saw at the Franklin Institute because here they really did give God all the glory for His marvelous creation :) (that was my paraphrase of her observations.)
After the museum, we headed to the Olive Garden for dinner because the Kachs had giftcards to use. Two advil and this yummy meal (that we did not need to prepare!) certainly took the edge off my aching head and I was so thankful :) The kids had kids meals and the over 14 crowd ordered the "all you can eat soup and salad"...we certainly kept the waitress busy and all left with satisfied bellies. Our van then headed over to the local Walmart to purchase a few items for Grace since she literally has only the clothes on her back and in our smelly laundry bag!
After s'mores and a card game, we all hit the sack and were up early packing up for the trip home. It will be so good to sleep in our own beds and I think the kids will not want to eat turkey, ham or cheese sandwiches for a LONG time :) One of the neat things as we were touring the museum yesterday, is that many of the displays refer to land formations similar to what we were privileged to see on our trip. One show we watched even spoke about 'specimen ridge' in Yellowstone :) I am so grateful for all the wildlife and beautiful scenery we were blessed to experience....inconveniences and all, this trip was a gift from His hand to us. Mark and Jim served non stop as they did ALL the driving, often missing the amazing views as they kept their eyes on the road. They had the weight of this trip on their shoulders and they did a great job leading us on this adventure that we will never forget! I hope to upload more pictures today... I have lots of miles and time to hopefully get caught up :)
With a grateful heart,
Kathi for the gang
A photo op :)
A scale model of Noah's Ark
The Dinosaur exhibit was pretty cool too and Curtis especially enjoyed the room on Natural Selection....Mrs. DiFazio is rubbing off on her students :)
The gardens and grounds are beautiful too!
Luke wanted to take a picture with this big guy~
There is even a Petting Zoo~
The younger group loved this part of the museum. Felicia even had a camel ride but I missed the picture :(
