So Nadia asked me to get Tuesday (8/12) and Wednesday off from work, in order to celebrate my birthday in 2025. She thought about Maine road trip at first. But I said, do it in the Fall (fall leaves in Maine would be spectacular), and suggested Kentucky's Ken Ham (Answers in Genesis)'s Creation Museum (built 2007). Then I realized that the Ark Encounter "museum" (built 2016) is actually a separate location from the Creation Museum.
I suggested flight, Nadia preferred driving. So we drove East on Saturday (8/9/2025) morning at 7:15 am. I drove first. I've charged and loaded both my E-scooter and Nadia's E-bike into the trunk of the car the night before. However, I've left the air pump charging and forgotten to bring it along after filling both scooter and bike tires with air. I've also made sure I've brought my goggle and underwater headset as my wife prepped my swimming trunk. I also downloaded a bunch of youtube videos on the two museums as well as tips on Columbus & Cincinnati, OH & Pittsburg, PA. I purposely picked two videos on these museums from Atheists' perspective. Primatologist, Erika's quite impressive despite being possibly atheist. Nadia had booked the hotels using my $300+ OneKeyCard credits from Wells Fargo. It was a big saving!
Saturday 8/9: 9:30am, stopped at Costco Gas Station in Harrisburg, PA to fill gas and ordered Costco's Cold Brew Mocha Freeze. Nadia thought she could just walked straight to the Costco Canteen without scan, but we were caught by the membership counter person, Nadia thought that staff got nothing better to do, I told her it's our fault, not hers. Nadia drove from here.
1:51pm, stopped at Ohio Westbound I-70 Rest Area for a quick restroom break. Very clean area. We finished some left over Biryani lamb rice here. I drove from here.
4:10pm, Arriving at Columbus, filling gas at Costco first in Easton, before checking in a few blocks away in Hilton's Hampton Inn & Suites Columbus-Easton Area Hotel. We then tried out the Skyline Chili (signature dish of Kentucky & Ohio), the 3-Way and 2 of their Cheese Coneys. We loved it.
6PM, Nadia drove us to downtown of Columbus, parked for free at Scioto Audubon Metro Park and biked along the Scioto River northward. This took up about 1 hour.
7:30PM, We drove to the more Asian neighborhood (more like Japanese), which is the Tensuke Market plaza. We thought of visiting OSU (Ohio State University) on the way but gave up on it, and went back to the hotel by 8PM. I drove. I swam in our hotel's pool for about 30mins.
Sunday 8/10/2025
8AM, Ate hotel's complimentary breakfast (no promised bacon - promised by the check-in staff the day before), but it's still a good standard meal (scrambled eggs, sausage patties, oatmeal, juices, etc.).
9:24 AM, checked out and drove to Cincinnati. I drove.
11:13 AM, Lunch at Skyline Chili in Hebron, Kentucky. Our 2nd Skyline Chili meal. This time I looked at their menu and we ordered 2 5-Ways, small. Still delicious. The I drove us to England Idlewild Park in waiting for Creation Museum to open at 1pm. Nothing much at the park. I drove us to the Creation Museum using the shortest route which is the country road with not so bad scenery.
12:53AM, Arriving at the Creation Museum. There's a line (about 50+ people) by the entrance of the Welcome Center. Went through a quick security check. And we walked pass the garden in order to get to the museum.
I took virtually all of the Museum's displays with my Insta360 and my phone camera. Their Planetarium isn't as impressive as I thought, the projector they use is common, not pairing with laser lights used by some museum (NYC's Hayden Planetarium) to show more realistic stars. I almost fell asleep in the middle of the 25 min Created Cosmos show. Their 4K 3D theater however, was spectacular. Battery operated 3D glasses were used. We watched at 2pm, Encounter the Wonder (10 min of brief timeline from creation to salvation), then at 2:30pm, Dragons: Quest for Truth (10 min about dragons vs. dinosaurs). The graphic effects and music were marvelous. The 3rd and last show was "In Six Days" at 5:15PM for 25 mins. It was also beautifully presented. I only have a minor beef with this last show as it starts with "DAY ONE" before reading the first chapter of Genesis with great graphics. You don't start with DAY ONE because God didn't start with Day One. God counted the days following the work done on that day, and only after the light has been created. This is a Young Earth Creationist error, by presupposing a 6,000 year creation of the universe and then force interpreting the Genesis beginning starts with Day One. Biblically, we need not necessarily count day 1 starting from the 1st verse. Though I have long seen Ken Ham as a SOLO Scriptura guy, this museum does get credit for presentation, which is a rare thing for Fundamentalist Christians. Also, I have purchased the only book at the giftshop that interest me: Miraculous! The Ken Ham and Answers in Genesis Story by Ken Ham. I also picked up a free Christian Blue Pages (Christian Business Directory) just to check it out before I discarded it. I think the businesses are probably by faithful Christians of a wider spectrum (they are promoting The Chosen TV series after all), not likely all would hold to Ken Ham's narrow view on Creation.
Nadia noted some interesting Q&A problems in their Answers in Genesis books. One in particular, 365 Days of Faith and Science with Ken Ham, was the question "Is the Bible a Science Textbook?" and Nadia immediately recalled what I taught Eleni and Rudolfo the distinction between Solo and Sola Scriptura. Ken Ham's answer to this question, also posted in AiG website, is a clear example of Ken Ham being a Solo Scriptura person. An error that Reformed theologians would fully be aware of. His answer, which Nadia had me taken photo of the pages, was basically Yes. The Bible is a science book as well. Galileo knew better in his "God gave us two books: The Bible, Nature" in distinguishing two different revelations of God (General & Special), which fundamentalist folks like Ken Ham obviously conflates. However, he tried to show he knew better by following Henry Morris' distinction of Observational (operational) Science and Historical (origins) Science. That the Bible would be responsible for historical science. This distinction, when I first saw it, is unnecessary. It's a made up term by an for the YEC folks to make themselves look smarter.
7:08PM, Checking in at The Holiday Inn Express & Suites Florence - Cincinnati Airport Hotel. Then we dined at Chuy, Mexican restaurant next block. I ordered a small Tortilla Soup and Chuychanga from House Specialties while Nadia had the seasoned ground beef burrito (Big as Yo' Face). It was good and too filling. I swam in the pool, cleaner than the previous one and all by myself this time, for about 30 mins.