The Creation Museum: Field Trip Friday

I wrote this post last month, had it ready to go and somehow lost it. It’s nowhere to be found! Ughh…So bear with me. There is much more that I wanted to share with you, but until I find my notes, it’s just not going to happen.

My husband and I have longed to visit The Creation Museum with our family for years. Our regular trips to and from Ohio nearly take us right past it, and yet we’ve never found the time to stop. With our frequent trips up North coming less and less often, my husband decided that just after Christmas, on our way home to Alabama, we would finally make that visit.

I wish I could tell you that it was a great day from the start- but this was one of those stops that almost didn’t happen. We’d planned to arrive early. We overslept and after a nearly 3 hour drive, we arrived later than anticipated.

It was the middle of Christmas break and it was very crowded. Have I ever mentioned that we don’t like crowds? I know, that sounds entirely selfish to show up and expect to have the place to ourselves, but we are so used to off season travel, that we’ve just kind of gotten accustomed to the lack of people. So we stood in line and waited to purchase our tickets.

I’d really wanted to visit the planetarium but since we were already behind schedule, my husband said no. That made me unhappy because I’ve heard that the planetarium shows at The Creation Museum are incredible. I’m ashamed to admit that it wasn’t the kids or my husband that were being difficult- it was me.

Finally we paid for our tickets and proceeded along our self guided tour through the Walk Through Biblical History. The bulk of our time was spent exploring this exhibit which featured the 7 C’s of History. For those unfamiliar with The Creation Museum or Answers in Genesis, the 7 C’s stand for Creation, Corruption, Catastrophe, Confusion, Christ, Cross, Consummation- all showing Christ’s plan for redemption.       

The video below shows a very brief view of what we saw inside the museum.

I was astounded by how beautiful everything was. Somehow I’d expected things to be a bit “cheesy” –not at all like the stunning exhibits I saw, heard, smelled and experienced.  The museum was clearly well planned to the tiniest detail.

There were a couple areas that concerned me. The Corruption exhibit is pretty straightforward and clear cut, showing much of the trials, diseases and addictions that are present after the fall in black and white. As a parent, I was glad that my children are older because young children could be scared by the images of death and decay that are flashed before their eyes. 

Also, there was a child in front of us in line that was frightened by some of the dinosaurs, so if you have small children you may want to keep that in mind.

I appreciated that many of the exhibits were interactive. After we’d been there for a couple hours, my brain started to get a little fuzzy. You really need to allow an adequate amount of time to go through the museum and we just weren’t afforded that luxury on this trip.

The museum is clearly geared towards Christians, but I do think that non- believers could visit the museum and enjoy it  - especially if they have read the bible- which many people have, even if they only consider it to be great literature. I believe they would still find some merit in going.

If I could plan this visit over again, I’d allow more time. I’d buy that annual membership so we could pop in at The Creation Museum on all our trips to and from Ohio. I’d visit the planetarium. I’d explore the exhibits outside of the museum- though they were offering the free nativity that evening on the day we visited, we just didn’t have time to stick around. I guess it just boils down to this: There is a lot to see at The Creation Museum, make sure you allow yourself enough time to see it all.

We paid $124.75 in admission- without the planetarium. Would I pay that much again? In a heartbeat! It was so worth it- even if we weren’t able to spend as much time at the museum as possible.         

So, what did I think of The Creation Museum?

All I could think of was “I couldn’t  believe we had waited so long to visit!”  The Creation Museum is truly phenomenal. We loved it! All five of us! LOVED it!  To be honest, it didn’t even bother me that we’d missed the planetarium. My husband on the other hand, was just a wee bit disappointed that we didn’t meet Ken Ham- hmmm… maybe next time? 

Don’t forget, if you’d like to visit The Creation Museum and explore for yourself, they are offering an amazing deal to homeschool families this month.

So, where have you been for Field Trip Friday? You can add your link below and tell us all about it- if you’re unfamiliar with Field Trip Friday go here to read the guidelines.