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Published: September 20th 2019
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The Ark - the spots near the bow are people Today, we visited the Ark Encounter, which was our initial purpose for this vacation. I don't know the appropriate superlatives for this place, but it was at least astoundingly amazing. It's 510 feet long and 4 stories open to the public, and jam packed full of examples, models and information presented in posters and videos. Even Natalie said it was far more than she expected, and she's heard what Bob thought of it.
There's a huge parking lot where you park and pay for admission and parking. Then you ride nice buses to the Ark entrance, where the day is yours to explore the Ark and grounds, take in a presentation or two, ride the zip line, visit the zoo, and relax at one of several snack places or the buffet.
We arrived at 10:00 am and walked out of the Ark itself 4 hours later, in need of a little refreshment. A poster says that, in addition to the 8 people on the ark, there were 1398 animal kinds and 6744 animals, with adequate food and water, resources to repair stuff as necessary, grow more food for the vegetarian diet, and deal with waste disposal requirements. (They were
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Some small cages in the Ark for something like a year.)
The Ark Encounter makes an excellent representation of all the cages and containers they would need, complete with models of many of the critters that would have been aboard. They only had models of a few birds, and I didn't notice any small critters (like mice) that would have been there. However, they had a whole lot of little cages, complete with food chutes and water dispensers, very much like we've seen with pet guinea pigs, for example. One interesting fact we heard was that they hired a bunch of Amish craftsmen to do much of the construction because they were the only people skilled at construction without nails.
One very nice touch was the number of questions about the whole story of the Ark they anticipated and answered. For example, they had posters answering the questions about insects and saltwater vs freshwater fish that many would ask. They had several posters and exhibits describing how they bred and dealt with moths as food for some creatures.
There was a whole area showing their workshops and living areas. What was surprising was the models of ovens and a blacksmith
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How many people were there at the flood? 8 survived. furnace. It stands to reason they had to have such things, but the whole idea of such concentrated fire on the wooden vessel holding all that remained of civilization is a surprise.
On the top level, they had a whole final side of the Ark exhibits devoted to related topics. The section covering flood geology described how Noah's flood would have happened and the nature of the ice age that could have followed. There was a section on the Tower of Babel, other cultural stories about the great flood such as the Navajo legend, and the processes by which the Bible spread across the world. The excerpts of videos with debates between Ken Ham and Bill Nye were especially delightful.
After a little snack, we went to the Answer Center, where a Southern Gospel group was just finishing a concert and Ken Ham was about to speak. (Ken Ham is the founder and CEO of the Ark Encounter and Creation Museum, where we're going tomorrow before we catch a train back to Chicago.) His speech was especially good and we were fortunate to hear him in person.
Then we called it a day and drove back to
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One descriptive poster the hotel and will soon call it a day.
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Elaine D Lee
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I am so excited for you all. Wish we were there. This is awesome. Now I can't wait to see it! Love you all. So glad you are having a great time! Elaine