The Ark Encounter

On Saturday, we drove to Williamstown, KY to see the Ark Encounter. The Ark Encounter features an ark, built to the specifications as listed in the Bible for the ark that Noah built for his family and animals to escape the upcoming flood. Inside the ark are numerous teaching exhibits. Some exhibits feature rooms that depict what life may have been like for Noah and his family inside the ark. Some exhibits are designed to answer questions about the biblical account of the ark and of the Bible in general. And no full size replica of Noah Ark’s would be complete without a gift shop featuring among other things at least ten different varieties of fudge and homemade cookies as big as my hand (I resisted the fudge; not the cookies).

I am glad that we got to see the ark. The Ark Encounter has been open for five years and ever since it opened, I wanted to go to it. But it’s an hour and a half away so definitely not close and other responsibilities, hobbies, activities, etc have had a way of filling up hours and days the past five years so going to the ark was not something that we planned to do for certain until Saturday. 

Speaking of Saturday, I had hoped to avoid going on a weekend, fearing that it would be quite crowded. But Donnie is so busy at work that he could not take a week day off of work so we had to go on a weekend. I knew it would be crowded but, never having been there, there was no way to know exactly how crowded it would be. My stars, it was BUSY! I mean, I am glad that people are visiting the Ark Encounter but definitely wouldn’t have minded having a smaller crowd on the Saturday that we were there :). 

I’ll let the pictures do the talking…

Here is a picture that shows a portion of the line to go into the brown building where you show proof of having purchased tickets. We had gone through the building (there’s a decent sized line once you’re in the building, too) and we were on the other side, waiting on a bus to take us on the mile drive to get to the ark and other attractions. 

Here we were on a bus- I took this picture of a different bus just to show one looked like.

On the bus ride- it was a short one and one that you have to take. You can’t walk from the parking lot to the ark.

The ark coming into view from the bus- a very neat sight!

After disembarking the bus, we walked through this arch and then made our way to a visitor center called the Answers Center.

Only 2//3’s of the kids made it. Jacob woke up feeling poorly so he didn’t come with us. I sure wish he had been able to come with us.

Donnie and I made appointments to get some tats after determining we looked good with them. {Kidding}

The ark!! It is an impressive structure. It is the largest timber frame structure in the world. 

We went into the ark but first we went into the Answers Center. There is a small cafe, gift shop and large auditorium for presentations including videos, live speakers, and concerts. When we were getting ready to board the bus, we were given brochures on the day’s schedule at the Center. 

Once in the ark, we were in for another long wait just to get started seeing the exhibits.

We were lucky that we made it in to the ark when we did- the overcast sky opened up and it started to rain pretty hard. It would rain on and off the rest of the time we were there. We were not worried about a flood but rain was less than ideal since some of the attractions were outside. 

Each deck had so much to see. We did not see it all. Some areas were so densely packed with people that we skipped those areas. 

One section had numerous thought provoking questions and answers about topics that are not addressed in the Bible.

One section had large comic book(esque) drawings on multiple walls. It began with three college students, who appear to be attending a non- Christian college, leaving a lecture hall where the professor just denounced Christianity. The students discussed what they heard and what they believed. For me, this section was poignant as two of the three kids are about to head into public colleges. I know they will be surrounded by students and professors who don’t share their Christian faith. Realizing that I can’t shelter them from what the world tells them but knowing that they can be equipped to give answers for what they believe and why make me feel better. I am grateful for organizations like Answers in Genesis (the parent organization of the Ark Encounter) which seeks to provides answers to questions about the Bible.  

Lots of interesting info...

Trusting in The Science... sounds good to me!

We unfortunately didn’t see all that the ark had to offer on the inside (or out).  The outside has a large playground which, naturally, did not appeal to our teens :). There was a zipline course or two and an area where you could pay to ride a camel. Neither ziplining nor camel riding held any appeal to the girls so the only activity we did was walk through the small zoo.

 

The aoudad is barely visible but he or she is in the middle of the picture. 

About half of the time that we were outside, it rained. There were some indoor shelters which we took refuge in during the rainiest periods. I took the below picture from inside a shelter because it shows how cruddy the weather was- just a few people were outside when, based on all the lines we had been in all day, it was obvious there were many people at the Ark Encounter- and the vast majority were… not outside. 

The weather did finally clear up for good. Blue emerged in the sky and we went for a short walk in the gardens that are on the premises.

I took this picture on our way out.

We left the Ark Encounter and had a great meal at a Mexican restaurant called El Jalisco which was only about a four minute drive from the Ark Encounter. There were places to eat at the Ark Encounter including quick service restaurants and a buffet restaurant. However the quick service places were not open (I believe due to staffing issues) and a buffet meal sounded unhealthy (though indulging in unlimited chips, queso, and salsa at El Jalisco made any attempts to pat ourselves on our backs for foregoing a buffet meal a little hypocritical, lol). 

If When we come back to see the ark, we plan to eat on site... and I will try some of the fudge from the gift shop :). We do want to come back and not just for fudge and a buffet meal. We know we did not see nearly everything and we want to see more. I am grateful that we got to go, though, and see what we were able to see.