Spring Break 2020

**Guest Blogger**

Eric Hendrickson

Day One - Saturday, March 14th, 2020

We set off for my most anticipated Spring Break of all time.  Our plans were to visiting Grandma on our way to St Louis.  While in St Louis, we were going to drive by some of Stacee and my old stomping grounds (HBE where I used to work and the rental house where we lived) and to go to the Zoo.  Next, we would go to Kentucky to the Creation Museum and Ark Encounter for 3 days (this was to be the most exciting part of our vacation).  From there, we would head to Louisville to tour the MLB bat making museum and factory.  Our last stop would be in Springfield to the new Bass Pro museum and aquarium.  There was one concerning factor.  We were to leave after the our High School boys won the 6A state championship on Saturday.  However, the tournament was cancelled after the first round of games on Thursday night due to concerns of the coronavirus.  Stacee called all the places that we intended to visit and they all said they were still opened for business, so we decided to still keep our vacation plans.

Our first stop was at Nanee and Popee's house for a quick lunch and some extra birthday gifts for Sarah.

Next up, visiting Grandma in Concordia... After arriving at Grandma's assisted living facility, we went though a medical screening (for the coronavirus) process to be allowed entry.

My favorite thing to do with Grandma is to read a book that Grandma filled out for Stacee and I for our wedding.  The book is called "Grandmothers Memories to Her Grandchild".  It is a journal of faith and love that starts from the Grandmothers childhood all the way to the present (which the present for this book was 2003).  Grandma really enjoys reading this book and having it read to her.

As you can see Grandma looks great.  I was very happy to see how well she looked and that her mind has not seemed to diminish since the last time we saw her. 

On our trip, we decided we would drive by the baseball or football stadiums in each metropolitan city.  We first drove by the Royals/Chiefs stadium through Kansas City.  Here we drove by the Cardinals stadium. That night in St. Louis we also drove by the Arch so the kids could see it lit up at night.

Day Two - Sunday, March 15th

It was chilly this morning at the St. Louis Zoo.  The night before we had driven by this elephant statue and told Silas it came alive at night like the animals in the movie, Night at the Museum.  He may have believed us for a minute.

Silas loves seeing fish.  After seeing some of these big fish, He kept proclaiming to all of us, "That was amazing!"

They have a nice penguin exhibit (above).  And, it was fun seeing the Sea Lion exhibit (below).

(Below) This was a giant Green Anaconda.  It was about 18 feet long.

We went to the Arch, but didn't go in it.

We made a stop at Dairy Queen to get some BOGO Blizzards.

On our way through Indianapolis, we stopped to see their football stadium.

A statue of Peyton Manning.

On our way from St. Louis to Kentucky, we were notified that the Creation Museum and Ark Encounter were going to be closing after Monday.  Since it was Sunday, our 3 days of spending time at the Creation Museum and Ark Encounter were going to be reduced to 1 day.  Instead of staying the night in downtown Cincinnati and going to the Creation Museum the next day, we decided to drive to a motel near the Ark Encounter.  We did detour to drive by the Cincinnati Bengals football stadium and the Cincinnati Reds baseball stadium.

Day Three - Monday, March 16th

We made it to the Ark Encounter Monday morning.  There weren't many visitors there when we arrived first thing in the morning.  A shuttle bus drives you from the parking lot to the Ark.

This building is impressive.
Here is a link to the Ark Encounter website - CLICK HERE.

I could have spent two days reading all the information.  Stacee and I took lots of pictures of things we wanted to remember, reread, and share.

Phoebe loves the sloth.

Jesus is the door.  John 10:9

Just as there was only one door to enter the Ark, there is only one door to enter Heaven.

As we were completing our walk through the Ark, our pastor and his family were starting their walk through.  They happened to be visiting at the same time as us.  Above, left to right, Eric, Tyson, Charity, Silas, Phoebe, Gracie, Stacee, Sarah, Rhett, and Rachel.

Not only does the Ark have an inside exhibit, they also have outside exhibits and a zoo.

Sarah always loves the goats.

They also have a nice playground area.  The kids had a good time playing here for awhile.

Everything at the Ark was top notch.  I hope everyone has an opportunity to experience the Ark in their lifetime.  If people would be open minded to a world that didn't happen by chance and didn't advance by evolution, they may realize that the information the Ark provides makes sense.

Do you see the guy wearing the hoodie to the right, in the picture above, sitting by Sarah?  Too bad this is the only picture I got of Kirk Cameron.  We were sitting by him on the shuttle bus and Stacee and I didn't even recognize him.  I did recognize him as we were exiting the shuttle bus.  He was waiting for his ride and I was able to introduce myself.  We talked for about a minute or so.  He was practicing social distancing so I wasn't able to get any pictures.  I wish I would have told him that I very much appreciate his boldness for Jesus.

Not only did I meet Kirk Cameron, I also met Bodie Hodge who is the son in law of Ken Ham, the founder of Answers in Genesis.  Bodie also preaches Creation and was there making a film.

After leaving the Ark we headed towards Louisville.  While we were looking for a motel in downtown Louisville, we were informed that the bat museum/factory had closed due to the coronavirus concerns.  We decided at 8pm that evening that it was time for us to go home.

We drove straight through to our home arriving about 5:30am.  Our week long vacation lasted only from Saturday morning until Tuesday morning.  Although it was short, it was memorable.  The visit with Grandma was great and the Ark was incredible.

We decided we would do this same intended vacation on one of our upcoming vacations.  Looking forward to seeing the Creation Museum.