Ark Encounter

July 21 We left early to be at the Ark at the opening. Even then there was a line at 9:15. It moved quickly. From the parking lot we got on shuttle buses that took us to the Ark. The bus drops us off at the ark.

As a disclaimer: this is all natural history! No one alive today knows what really happened and we only have one written record of the story although many civilizations have some form of the same story. The things in the pictures are the conjecture of the Creation Museum as to what could have happened and how Noah might have cared for, fed and watered the animals. Science is used to explain how it all could have been done but we really don't know. 

 The entrance to the ark is through turn styles under the large vessel which sits up on concrete pillars. There is also a movie for patrons to watch as they wait. Then it's up this ramp to the ark itself.

The ends of the vessel are open so you can see the construction.

Water pots.

These fine ramps lead to all levels in the ark except the very top deck. There are elevators to get there and eventually a by reservation only restaurant will be up there. As we came off the ramps onto the second deck, we were greeted by a long line of people. There was a display that was very narrow and had lots to see and read in it. People were taking their time getting through it and because the space was narrow there was a bottle neck. This bottleneck seemed to persist at every place there were signs and displays funneling everyone into small areas. Plus there were people taking cell phone pics of every sign in the place. Seemed weird to me.

Yes, they have dinosaurs on the ark and Patrick wanted his picture taken with them.

Carpentry shop

Blacksmith shop

One of the quarters for the boys. They conjectured that they would have spent considerable time on their quarters because they lived there during the construction and for a considerable time after the flood.

possible gardens

Bottlenecks

After we toured the ark and the displays we took a stroll around the big boat. I wanted to look at the front and while we were gandering, one of the head guys walked up and asked if we were lost. I told him no that we were just looking at the boat and discussed the plans and changes that needed to be addressed as we saw them. Namely the choke points for the signs and displays. He agreed and said they were in meetings on how to fix those things. He said that they have had between 4000 and 6000 people per day going through the display in the few weeks that it has been open. There is a five year play to have a whole park set up from the Tower of Babel to a petting zoo to a zip lines. We'll have to come back in a few years and see the changes.
We went back to the campsite and Becky and the boys swam and I read and hung out at the camper with the animals.

July 22 we made the run home, dropped Garrett off at his house and then set back up at my Mom and Dad's. We must have drug the heat back with us because the heat index was over 107.