Vacation Misc.

I have just a few final thoughts about our vacation that I thought you might find entertaining. They didn't really fit in the other posts.

I told you our hotel was right by the Ohio River...and there was a HUGE bridge right there. We crossed it a few times into Kentucky to eat. I loved the architecture of the bridge!

 The sign on the gas station where we stopped just over the Kentucky line. We had not, in fact, et yet.

 Friday evening, after we toured Spencer County, Ryan was in the mood for BBQ, so he did some research, and he found this place in Owensboro, Kentucky, about 20 minutes away from us. We made the trip!

 The food really was very good, and the people were so polite...yes ma'am and no sir. Loved it. I ordered a little sammich with chips but Ryan...well...he was hungry. Here are his platters:

 {For the record, that is a broccoli casserole, not a giant helping of guacamole!!!}

Partway through our meal, our waiter came by, looked at Ryan's progress and said "Did you want me to bring the other half of that bird?"

Not, perhaps, our proudest consumer moment. Ryan did decline...and he also finished the food. No, SERIOUSLY. Finished it.

 When the waiter came back and looked at his empty plates, he said, "I've never seen anybody clean that up so fast."

Again. Not our proudest moment.

Ryan was grateful.

 In case you're wondering how Ryan does laundry.

 Saturday night, after our trip to Holiday World, we were in the mood for Mexican food, so we went BACK to Owensboro and found The Real Hacienda...which made me wonder about the apparently fake Hacienda I've been eating at for lo these many years?

Ryan paused to play with the mariachi band outside...

 He hadn't had a big meal in a while...

 Yep. That's two nights in a row.

 Sunday morning, our last day of vacation, we made our way to the river bank to have church for two before we came home. It was so lovely out there. Hot, for sure, but peaceful and serene.

 On our way home...we stopped at a Sonic. Oh, oh, oh. How I love my Sonic.

Vacation...done! What a great weekend. Thankful for this time away...and thankful for you putting up with the recap!!

1st Annual Shafferland Birthday Trip: An Afternoon Outside

It turned out that before we left for our weekender, the forecast became a bit sketchy, and we had no idea how much {if any} nice weather we would actually have. So we were pleasantly surprised when Friday afternoon turned out to be absolutely lovely and we were able to enjoy the gorgeous grounds outside the Creation Museum.

Since Ryan gave me a camera for my birthday, we became a two camera family and nothing gave me more joy than watching him walk around, camera in hand, doing his own photo shoot. {Seriously. LOVE.}

To enter the grounds, we walked across a floating bridge...which wasn't scary, but we decided if it would happen to collapse, we would be in some of the nastiest, murkiest water we'd seen in a while. Thankfully it did not collapse.

 Trying out the new camera. Not too shabby on the color capturing, huh?

 The Creation Museum has a petting zoo. This guy {or girl?  I didn't get that close} looks ever so inviting, right? Yes, PLEASE come pat my head. Just SEE what I do to you!!!

 My pictures are a bit out of order, thanks to the double camera thing - but we decided no trip was complete without a photo opp with the welcoming dinosaur. The platform in the background is the brand new zipline they're building. We didn't test it out. :)

 I will mention again that I'm most thankful these guys are now extinct.

Back to the petting zoo...they also offered camel rides, which we did not take, but I caught this one mid-chew. Kind of a poster child for white strips, no?

Ryan with the great big pierogi!!!! {I'll explain.} We wanted to construct a pergola in our backyard for our outdoor living space, so we started researching them. One day, while talking about them, Ryan called it a pierogi. I said, "Isn't that something you eat?" But it stuck and now we call all pergolas pierogis. If y'all need a Shafferland dictionary to keep up with the vast amount of things we rename, you just let me know. Anyway. So there was a giant pierogi at the Creation Museum, and we took advantage of the photo opp.

Becuase you can't pass by the dinosaur without tickling him.

Posing on the deck.

 Remember the murky waters we didn't want to fall into? See what we mean?

 He seemed to like taking pictures of me {clutching my new camera for dear life.}

 Swinging bridge!!!!

 Sympathizing with the plant over a big hair day. We won't talk about the hair. I may or may not have run out of gel AND hairspray on this trip due to the poorest packing I've ever done IN MY LIFE - and was nearly threatening to shave my head by the end of the trip.

 So that was that! An afternoon outside. Ryan even got a bit of a sunburn! Thanks, God, for a gorgeous day!

1st Annual Shafferland Birthday Trip: Creation Museum

Our birthdays are three weeks apart, and before we got married, I told Ryan that I am not one of those people that is fine celebrating a birthday "whenever." Birthdays are personal holidays and should be observed ON the actual day. So ON his birthday, we had a party for 2 and ON my birthday {I'm told} we'll have a party for 2. But I thought it would be fun to do something bigger and better between the birthdays...so we decided to start a tradition of taking a weekender every year.

This year....

Ryan had always wanted to visit the Creation Museum {which is actually in Petersburg, Kentucky, but it's really close to Cincinnati} so we decided that would be our first destination!

Before we set out on the road, Ryan said he wanted to give me my birthday present early!

 And it was a new camera! Like a real, grownup camera! I was in awe...

He wanted me to have it to play with in the car and to enjoy while we were gone, so he gave it to me early! We headed out on the open road:

We had a great time driving down to the Museum...road tripping with this guy is much fun. We arrived there about 11:00 in the morning and dove in with our tour!

When we first got inside, they took us aside and had us stand in front of a green screen for a photo opp. Do notice the color of my shirt.

We call that a WOOPSIE!!!!

We had some fun with the pics:

I wasn't quite sure what to expect from the Museum, but I was pleasantly surprised. I'm not really one for "museum-y" kinds of things. But this one was fun! One thing I loved most was that pictures were not prohibited throughout most of the museum. Here are some of my faves:

They asked a lot of questions throughout - on screens and signs - things designe to make you think. {Ryan and I both wish they also would have provided a lot more answers. Sometimes we really didn't know the answers!!}

 I really appreciated the way they laid out what the Bible says vs what the world often teaches. Helps you better know truth when you can see it laid out next to what you always hear!

 I loved their use of lifelike figures throughout the museum. Though they stuck pretty closely to just focusing on Creation, they did acknowledge other chapters of the Bible...and here are some of the Old Testament people. Not Ryan. He's just posing with them. :)

 Hanging out with Paul.

 They told the story of the six days of creation through a video presentation and then we got to move through the story of Adam and Eve. Here they are in the Garden.

 Eating the forbidden fruit...

 Which we thought looked a lot like the JuJu Berries at the frozen yogurt store in town.

 Methuselah. {He actually moved and talked.}

 Loved their rendering of the ark. It included people and animals trying to scramble to safety in the rising waters.

We spent all morning and a good chunk of the early afternoon just walking through the exhibits. I'll wrap it up there today!

KEEP READING!!!

Posting about "My Trip to the Zoo This Summer" is very dangerous. It's an invitation to close the blog and come back another day.

But please don't leave. I will try to make it the most fun zoo post you've EVER SEEN!

On the way home from Tennessee, Faith wanted to go to the Louisville Zoo. Keep in mind we'd been gone from our respective homes for 3 1/2 days at this point and the song and dance of "are we there yet?" was wearing on even those who said the words from the back seat. I was a bit nervous about a hot, sunny afternoon at a zoo, but despite my worries, we had fun!

When we left our condo in Tennessee, it was raining. But check out the weather that waited on us in Louisville!

I love the way zoos plant objects intended to create scrappable moments...

...we spent more time looking at this rhino than the real one behind the fence. :)

Wonder how much this birth announcement would cost to mail?

Forget the cost of postage. Try to imagine giving birth to a 130 pound baby!

Everyone loves the lion exhibit, right? I posted this picture so you could see how far we were from the lion.

But check out the zoom on my camera!

I have to tell you, when I took this picture, I thought...he knows. And he's not happy.

Wonder what a lion does to the paparazzi?

I found this outside the petting zoo...thought it might make a great inspiration for my next vehicle purchase. What do you think? New Bekahmobile?

Someone was done making serious faces. I think she outdid the gorillas.

This CRACKED me up. It was a "learning tool" that explained how animals mark their territory. For a demonstration...turn the wheel and watch it "spray." I love it that Faith just walked right up and did it.

I took this in honor of my part of town. This is the sort of thing that abounds....

...in the plastic variety of course.



Another of my favorite exhibits....I thought the pictures I got of the eagle in the botanical garden in Norfolk were good.....

But not THIS good!

Some exhibits just disappoint, you know?

Every time I see an elephant (which isn't all that often, granted) I think of the children's book where the character described her teacher's pantyhose as looking like elephant legs around the ankles. I can't remember the book, but that just cracks me up.

Good for them for petting the goat! I preferred to stand back and take pictures. There was one goat in there that I swear was drunk. He just staggered all over that pen!

Glad to meet you! (Except Kaylah really wasn't. She walked away right after this picture.)

Hannah and Kaylah had their first Dippin' Dots. Ever had those? I didn't eat any this particular day (residual car sickness...) but I remember the first time I ate them was at a zoo. It's the official zoo food, in my book.

And the conclusion of the day. We have a very similar monstrosity at work, so just seeing it reminded me that vacation was over and I was headed back to the real world....

For the record, the trip was a success! Only one meltdown - and it was at the very end. And it wasn't me! (Woo hoo!) The weather stayed gorgeous, and it was the best end to a great mini-vacation!