Week 6 ~ Iowa and Beyond

The first half of this week was full of travel for us as we crossed Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois , Iowa and into South Dakota by the week's end!  We left Kentucky early Monday morning and spent the day on the road, stopping late in the evening at a rest area for the night and hitting the road again the next morning.  Thankfully, our long days were broken up with little stops such as this one at an overlook tower. The stops made the traveling a lot more enjoyable as we were able to explore the area we were going through a bit. 

We had a lot of movie-watching and iPad playing going on.  The two older boys were recently given permission to purchase iPads to use on the trip.  Of course,  Kaden and Bethany are mesmerized by them. We are currently in the throws of trying to find a balance between the older boys iPad usage as well as the younger two's obsession with them. After this week I've become a firm believer in no childhood electronic use, haha

Alright Trinity readers, who knows who this picture goes to? :)

Another huge event during our travels was Bethany losing her first tooth!  She's had an exciting growing up week.  As she puts it she "lost her first tooth, can ride her bike without training wheels, and can swim underwater!"

Mid-Tuesday we took an overnight travel break at a KOA campground.  The afternoon, evening and following morning we explored the campground, swam in the pool, tackled some laundry and prepared to leave again mid-Wednesday.

David and I took our cameras out Tuesday evening to capture the beauty of the vast farmland.  In the previous post, I mentioned my surprise at the fact that where we were in Kentucky didn't seem to have endless fields I had expected.  Well, Iowa certainly made up for that. We drove through Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois into Iowa, seeing plenty of farmland.
(All of the following photo credits below belong to David)

Wednesday afternoon we packed up and hit the road again, making one last stop in an old ghost town (post to follow). By mid-afternoon we were oh-so-close and caught our first glimpse of the intense wonders of Badlands National Park. Oh Badlands, words simply cannot describe you and photos fail to do you the justice you demand. 

Even so, I shall try.  

Stay tuned - a post on the Badlands up soon.

Week 5.5 ~ the Ark

After hitting the creation museum Thursday and Friday, we had an off day Saturday and spent the day with some of dad's old friends at the campground.  Sunday morning we went to an early service at a church nearby, hit the RV for a quick lunch, and left for the ark.

For anyone not familiar with the Creation Museum and Ark replica here in Kentucky, they were created to give a Biblically accurate, God honoring, scientifically correct view of creation and the early years of the earth.  The one year anniversary of the opening of the ark was just a few days ago, and they are continually adding new touches and aspects to both the museum and the ark. The ark replica is as exact to the Biblical account as possible. It is the exact size, and the inside is structured in a way that was likely very similar to how Noah and his family lived in it.  The design team did a lot of research into how the cages, feeding systems and other operations would have likely been designed, though much of it is an educated guess since the Bible doesn't say for sure. Even so, it was very interesting! 

 One of my favorite aspects of the ark were displays like these that give Biblical explanations to hard questions such as suffering.  There were also displays that help explain how we can know the Bible is true and other valuable resources. 

There was also a little petting zoo outside the younger kids enjoyed.

After the ark, mom and dad treated us to dinner at a Mexican restaurant. When Kaden saw David's dinner, he got really excited. "David," Kaden exclaimed, "It's just like an ark!"

Photography: The Creation Museum Gardens

No creation story is complete a Garden of Eden, am I right?

The crew at the Creation Museum here in Kentucky must have thought so as well, and created a beautiful garden to go along with the museum.  The variety of plants and design that went into the garden was stunning!  It was a wonderful picture of how God created everything so wonderfully for Adam and Eve so many years ago in the original garden.  For anyone even remotely interested in plants, gardening, macro photography... or even just for someone wanting a beautiful area to relax and walk through, the Creation Museum gardens are their dream. 

The rest of Kentucky isn't too shabby itself :)  On the contrary, it's honestly gorgeous. 

(Above) Photo creds: David

Week 5.5 ~ Kentucky and the Creation Museum

While we are on a role of favorites, it won't take me long to confess that Kentucky is currently my favorite state.  The reason?  Hitting Kentucky feels like we are finally popping out of our little North Carolina/ South Carolina/ Virginia bubble to the rest of the country, and it is exciting! 

While I adore the mountains of Virginia and my family there, enjoy exploring South Carolina, and love my friends in NC, it is very nice to feel like we are finally getting somewhere else on our adventure.  Where we are in Kentucky is far from the flat, Southern-feeling farm country I envisioned.  It is very mountainy, full of twisting roads, forests, cool mornings and breathtaking sunsets. One surprise Kentucky had for us is it's odd placement in the time zone arena.  While we are still technically on Eastern Standard Time, we are very close to the time zone border, making the summer evenings stay light for quite a long time.  It doesn't get fully dark until around 10pm! 

On one of these evenings, we were biking down a steep hill when Kaden took fall. I was riding right behind him when he crashed, and was amazed to see that he was barely hurt.   We turned around and got Kaden cleaned up at the RV.  His chin was split a little, but didn't require stitches.  It was kind of surreal to see the scratches on his helmet and realize how much God protected him.   

Our main reason reason for going to Kentucky was to visit the Creation Museum and Ark replica headed up by Ken Ham.  We visited the creation museum Thursday as a family, and with the older crew returning again on Friday. It was pretty amazing!  Along with the museum, they had a beautiful garden, shows, displays, and other activities. 

 (Taken Friday when just the older crew went with Mom)