We had a couple of free days during this week between SOWER projects, so we decided to take a little road trip and check out some nearby (ish) sights. First stop was The Ark Encounter, just south of Cincinnati in Williamstown, KY.  We’d had some great recommendations from friends – and it did not disappoint!

Although the Biblical telling of the catastrophic worldwide flood is familiar to many, seeing it life-size and walking through it’s decks was awe-inspiring!

The Bible give many details about the building of the Ark, but it does not give many details of the logistics of caring for the animals that God sent to be in the Ark, or how the people managed life on the Ark. But using as much research as possible, the Ark Encounter recreated not only the size of the Ark (HUGE!!), but also gave plausible explanations of how the feeding, watering, and cleaning up after all those animals could’ve been accomplished. It really is a fabulous experience, which in its essence is very Gospel centered. It was a bit of a splurge for Gary and I and my only disappointment was in how expensive it would be for families to enjoy it. But WOW! If you can – do!
We stayed in the area overnight, and the next morning met a new friend at the American Sign Museum in Cincinnati.

We had never heard of this museum -and oh my, what a treat!

It combined history and nostalgia in such a winsome way!

An extra level of delight was our personal tour guide, Fred, who is a dear friend of Lara’s and on the board of the museum. He had so many interesting stories about many of the signs and different signage techniques.

It was such an interesting morning and all the signs were fascinating – but none so much as this sign display that caught Gary’s (Pops to his grandkiddos) eye –

How cool is that!! From gold letters to blinking bulbs to neon art to signs on the side of a building –

it was a great experience!

If you are ever in the Cincinnati area – I highly recommend both of these attractions. They were very different, but both were so very excellent!
And the day (today!) ended with a very lovely evening with all of our Columbus kids, and most (we were missing 3 of the 8) of the grandkids.

And this little guy is really developing some great personality!

It was a perfect ending to two lovely days.
And it is making it really hard to think about packing up and heading out on Saturday. We start heading south about this time each year, but with that crew getting older, and that new little peanut who is changing each and every time we’ve seen him this month, this year is pulling on my heartstrings just a little bit harder.
Thanks for coming along on our Cincinnati area jaunt – and the wrap up of our Ohio month!