OH/KY Road Trip

Several months ago Chris found out there was going to be a big debate at the Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky, which is right near Cincinnati, OH.  We both decided it would be an interesting event, so we planned a vacation there, thinking we could also explore the area.  Sadly, we were so disappointed to find out that tickets for the debate between Ken Ham and Bill Nye sold out about two minuets after they had gone on sale.  Our hotel already booked, we were committed.  It would be fine anyway, since the debate would be streamed live over the internet and we could still watch it.

Saturday, February 1
Travel day. It took us about 7-8 hours driving to get to our hotel in Cincinnati.  Along the way throughout Virginia and West Virginia, I was constantly amazed at the frozen water falls coming out of the mountains.

Upon arrival, I was initially really disappointed that while the Holiday Inn was near the Ohio River, it was completely blocked from view by a giant burm right outside our window.  Not to mention being nearby to the railroad and very nearly under a bridge.  But I guess when you are getting a heavily discounted rate, you shouldn't expect too much!

That evening, we took a trolly from our hotel to Newport on the Levee, a mall area by the river.  It was so cold, but very beautiful at night.

Sunday, February 2
We weren't all the rested after being kept awake by the rattle and clang of the near by train.  Of course it had nothing at all to do either, with the fact that we had to try White Castle, just across the street from our hotel, as we walked back from the trolly stop!  Planning our activities for the day, we didn't factor in the timing very well, and missed our opportunity to tour the Mega Caverns in Louisville, KY.   We didn't realize our mistake until we were already down the road a bit, so we had to scratch that plan and do something different.  I decided to take the scenic tour back to Cincinnati.

Along the way back, we stopped to see the Ohio River

In rearranging our day, we decided to check out the aquarium we had seen the day before at Newport on the Levee.  Of course, we can't go to a new city and not check out their aquarium!

Newport on the Levee

That evening we found a highly rated Asian fusion restaurant we decided to try.  We drove up a long hill, and could see the whole city behind us. At the top was our street, and it was filled all sorts of yummy looking places to eat.  Eventually we found what we were looking for and parking along the street.  Tea and Bowl was delicious!

My introduction to bubble tea.. yummy!

The hot and sour soup was our favorite dish - perfect on such a cold night

Monday, February 3
We were trying to connect with our friends Ciara and Blane, who live a couple hours from Cincinnati.    Our plans were a little up in the air, so we decided to go ahead and see the Creation Museum while we were waiting for them.  We didn't see much that first visit, but we did get to hear a fantastic lecture by Dr. Tommy Mitchell: "Is Genesis Relevant in Today's World?" It was fantastic!

The little we saw of the front foyer in the Creation Museum

Then it was off to lunch with Ciara and Blane.  We had a nice visit, and then headed back to the hotel.  There were reports of a storm coming in, but luckily it didn't hit until later that night.

Tuesday, February 4
We were in quite a pickle.  We had re-scheduled our tickets to see the Mega Caverns for today, but since our visit with Ciara and Blane went longer than we expected, we weren't able to get back to the Creation Museum the previous day.  Our museum tickets were good for two consecutive days, so we hoped our tour of the Mega Caverns would be over in enough time to get back to the museum.  Our drive to Louisville, KY took about an hour! The Mega Caverns weren't exactly what we expected either.  It was actually an old quarry, completely man made! We toured the inside of the caverns, and heard all about the underground storage there, which is how they use the facility now.

Entrance to the cavern, which is all underneath the city of Louisville

More of the beautiful frozen water falls

After our tour, we raced back to Petersburg to finish the rest of the Creation Museum.  We were not disappointed by that! It was so amazing, like the Bible came to life right before your eyes.

We brought dinner back to the hotel with us, and later that night we streamed the debate between Ken Ham and Bill Nye in our hotel room.  (see previous post about my thoughts on the debate).

Wednesday, February 5
Our vacation over, we prepared to head back home.  During the night, the ice storm they had been predicting finally hit.  Our car was encased in ice, and the roads were still being cleared by the snow plows.

The slippery roads were a little scary, but the ice was so beautiful. I had never before seen plants encased in ice the way they were that morning.  I made Chris pull over at a rest stop so I could take some pictures of the winter ice covering everything around us.

Chris waiting in the car while I get photos of all the ice

The road home was actually pretty treacherous.  Traffic was slow, and we creeped along some parts of the frozen highway at 40 MPH.  When we'd hit a bump, there would be this rattling sound.  I kept telling Chris I thought the back hatch hadn't gotten closed all the way.  He said he thought it was that huge sheet of frozen snow on our roof, so I opened up the inside slide of the sunroof to see it.  Sure enough, the block of icy snow on top was sliding forward and backward each time we hit a bump.  I told Chris I was concerned, because it looked like it was sliding off the front of the car.  Just at that moment, someone in front braked and we had to follow suite.  The timing couldn't have been better, because I happened to be watching and warning Chris just as all that snow slid forward off the roof and right on our windshield.  The thick block of white completely cut off our visibility just as we were approaching a merging highway.  Chris was able to pull over into the V between our lane and the merging lane on the right.  He couldn't get out as cars were zooming past on his side, so I put on my hat and gloves and was throwing chunks of ice off our windshield.  Thank God He was watching out for us; if we had been going any faster or not have seen it happening, it could have caused major problems.  As it was, we got right back on the road no worse for the wear.

We made it home safely, even if much later than anticipated.  Looking forward to going back to Petersburg KY again when the Creation Museum finishes building an exact replica of Noah's Ark!