Williamstown, KY
Sunday, May 15
Our day began at A.J. Jolly Park in Alexandria, Kentucky. We’re here because it’s the closest campground to my brother’s house in downtown Cincinnati. Last night, we met up with him for dinner & it was so nice to see his new life here. Alternatively, we’d wanted to camp at Big Bone Lick State Park, but their campground was completely booked yesterday when we rolled into town. That state park sounded amazing with lots of hiking and a visitor center displaying wooly mammoth fossils.
A.J. Jolly Campground was busy this Sunday morning! Tons of campers outside walking dogs, fishing, kayaking, cooking breakfast and kids playing. I really didn’t want to press play on my workout in the mix of all that, but I knew I’d feel better once I did.
Andi and I considered driving to Big Bone Lick State Park this morning to hike around the park without camping there, but it’s located on the opposite side of the city from A.J. Jolly and it just didn’t make sense to drive all the way there for a few hours. Instead, we hung around the RV for the morning organizing a bit and taking showers. Tory and Aden like to lounge around on weekend mornings when they don’t have schoolwork to do.
Before we left the park, Andi pulled the RV to the dump station to empty our tanks and fill up on water. There were dozens of kayakers on the water already this morning. (Judging by the color of the water, it definitely didn’t look like a lake I’d want to swim in. I guess we’re pretty spoiled with our crystal-clear lakes in Wisconsin.)
Even though we were backtracking a bit, we next drove south on I-75 to the Ark Encounter in Williamstown, KY. (We passed by it yesterday when we were driving to see Adam & Carley). I’ve heard great things about this Christian-themed attraction and wanted to see it while we were in the area. Unfortunately, the Ark doesn’t open until 1:00pm on Sundays so we had to wait around then to visit.
We easily parked the RV in the Ark Encounter oversized parking lot and made our way to the entrance. The scale of the theme park was much larger than I was expecting! Andi purchased our tickets and then we were corralled through a long, weaving line to awaiting shuttle buses. This was not my favorite part! Usually, Andi and I avoid attractions that require us to be shuttled anywhere.
Regardless, about five minutes later we arrived at the Ark Encounter experience and immediately made our way into the theatre for the showing of a 20-minute movie called The Beginning. The entire experience was nicely done — the large theatre looked relatively new, and the movie was realistic and attention-grabbing. It told the story of the Ark from the perspective of one of Noah’s daughter-in-laws. Halfway through the movie, Aden leaned over and whispered in my ear, “I don’t have to be afraid, Mom, because I know this story ends with a happy ending. Noah lives.” I didn’t have the heart to tell him in that moment that yes, Noah lives, but the rest of the world dies.
After the movie ended, we walked a hundred yards through a rainbow entrance to the main attraction — the Ark. Before us, we could see the massive wooden Ark structure — 510 feet long, 85 feet wide, and 51 feet high.
One thing I noticed about the employees at the park was how friendly they all were. Every person warmly greeted us with a smile and thanked us for visiting. I was really impressed by that.
We spent the next two hours making our way through the Ark’s three levels. The first level depicted examples of how the animals and food might’ve been stored on the boat. There are no live animals inside the Ark, but sound tracks made it sound like there were. The sounds coming from the wooden cages startled Tory until she realized it wasn’t real. I thought it was neat how “kinds” (or groups) of animals were shown including some animal groups we no longer have in our modern world today.
There was also a lot of information displayed that described the size of the Ark and the logistics of living on a boat for 40 days & nights. Some of that information is scientific assumption because the Bible doesn’t go into such detail, but the signage called out such liberties taken. Even it the specific details aren’t 100% correct, it was still interesting to imagine what the Ark might’ve been like.
After we made our way through the three levels of exhibits, we proceeded to the exit. There was still more to see on the property, including additional movies we could have viewed and a petting zoo on the grounds we could have visited, but Andi and I were anxious to get on the road. We still wanted to get in a few hours of driving yet this afternoon.
Around 4:00pm, we made our way back to the RV and started driving. Andi wanted to get onto the other side of Indianapolis tonight so we didn’t have to fight traffic tomorrow morning. We drove for about 3 hours stopping in a town called Crawfordsville, Indiana for the night. We desperately needed to do laundry, so Andi booked us a campsite at the KOA. Unfortunately, when we got there we realized the laundry building closed at 8:00pm so we wouldn’t have time to do our washing. That was a bummer. Additionally, the community showers at this KOA were disgusting, so Andi was not a happy camper. That’s specifically why we picked KOA — to do laundry and so Andi could take a nice, long, hot shower. Neither would be happening tonight.
Oh well. Andi quickly grilled a pack of pork chops for dinner while I microwaved a steamer bag of veggies. Fancy camping dinner! We ended our night watching an episode of Heartland together on Netflix as a family. Tomorrow, we’re planning on a long driving day as we make our way across the midwest toward home.
