Need an Ark? I Noah guy. Part 1.

Friday 11/07/21

Twenty-two months. 

Could it really be twenty-two months since our last trip? Nothing like a global pandemic to slow down travel, but we’re back in business. Tiff and I flew down to Louisville, Kentucky on the advice of a friend, and it did not disappoint. 

We spent less than 3 hours in the air – not that we would have minded if the flight had been longer. Sitting quietly and reading on a plane is a vacation unto itself! 

Louisville’s airport gets a thumbs up from me. 

• It’s clean
• It’s easy to navigate
• Rental cars are onsite (no shuttle needed)
• It’s only 15 mins from downtown

No complaints here. 

After checking in and enjoying a great “Bailiff” burger at SideBar, we hit our first Louisville landmark. Since we are baseball fanatics enthusiasts, our first stop was the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory. 

The tour was awesome! It ran about an hour, which felt like the right amount of time. There was plenty of history to keep everyone engaged, as well as bats being made for current major leaguers. Very cool, and the mini souvenir bats they give out at the end make for an awesome memento. At $16 a ticket, this place is a home run (Pun intended. All three of my kids are rolling their eyes right now at this Dad joke. You’re welcome.) 

You know you’re in a cool town when you can hit multiple historic spots in a span of about 20 minutes. Next stop: Churchill Downs. 

Even for people who aren’t into horse racing, this place is a sight to behold. Amazingly, they’ve run the Kentucky Derby at this location for 146 years straight. I can only imagine what it’s like during the Derby, but these off-season races made for a fun, laid-back afternoon in the sun. I think the tickets were something like $7. Another steal. 

After a 3 AM wakeup call and a whirlwind afternoon, we were shot. We called it a night after a great dinner at the Fat Lamb (get the spicy fried chicken). We knew we had a BIG day ahead of us. 

Let’s go. 

Saturday 11/06/21

Louisville has two of the leading Christian-themed attractions within an hour and a half of downtown. The question is… with only one day available, how do you choose? 

We opted to do both! We’ll get to whether I’d recommend that later on. 

After some scouting, we opted to do the Creation Museum first. It was a mostly uneventful 90 minute drive from downtown. Mostly…

The 75,000 square foot museum is located on a beautiful property with walking trails, ziplines, a lake, and even a playground for the kids. 

As scenic as it is outside, the real magic is inside. I love how this museum is structured. The exhibits are organized to proceed through “7 C’s in God’s Eternal Plan.” 

We started all the way back at the dawn of creation and took a stroll through the Garden of Eden…

The exhibits hammer home a crucial point: there is no “war between science and religion.” Rather, atheists and Christians are dealing with the same evidence. The exhibits compare how the same scientific evidence can be interpreted through a Christian worldview vs. a Naturalist/Atheist worldview. Evidence like this reminds me of one of my favorite books: I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist. Indeed, it requires massive blind faith to believe there is no God. 

There were exhibits that addressed the problem of pain…

We also appreciated that the museum did not shy away from sharing the Biblical view of abortion. I thought they shared the truth in a compassionate manner. 

Finally, even though this was a rare kids-free trip for us, we had to check out what the museum had to offer for the little ones. There were some fun exhibits for them, a bookstore, fossils, and even a playground outside. 

Personally, we think our kids are a bit young (9, 7, 5) for a full day at this museum. That said, not everyone feels that way, because there were lots of young kids there who seemed to be having a great time. This is the part where I’d normally insert a relevant photo, but since I wasn’t going to take a picture of someone else’s kids, I’ll just insert this photo of mine being their usual goofy selves…. 

Overall, this museum is outstanding. It was amazing to see people of all different shapes, colors, accents, and backgrounds together to learn about how GOD created the universe and everything inside of it. We spent about 2 hours there, but it’s definitely the type of place you could spend all day at if you wanted to. Our time was limited since we had a life-sized Noah’s Ark to go explore. A structure so massive needs a post all to itself, and that’s what I’ll cover in part two of this email series. 

God Bless and talk to you soon.

-James