A full size replica of Noah’s Ark

Sorry for being AWOL last week. We went on an encounter to find Noah’s Ark.

We took three of our grandchildren ages 5-12 to visit The Ark Encounter, a full size replica of Noah’s Ark in Williamstown, KY, exit 154 off I-75. It’s the largest wooden structure in the world, much longer than a football field — incomprehensible until you’re beside it, and then it blows your mind! It is a wonderful way to teach young grandchildren about the flood and how God repopulated the earth afterwards, https://arkencounter.com/. But the trip didn’t end with the Ark; actually, it was just the beginning. We went to:

•A real Kentucky Pottery

•The original site of Coronel Sanders KFC

•Our PA Mountain cabin

•The Flight 93 memorial in Shanksville, PA

•The recovery sight of 9 trapped coal miners in Somerset county, PA that captivated the nation for 77 hours

•Laurel Mountain Caverns

•An Amish store and farm being plowed by a two horse team

It was a perfect trip for grandkids their age…one that should make a lifetime of memories for each of them, and their grandparents. All kids who are growing up in this internet/cell phone-crazy world should have to live in a cabin without any plumbing for a week to give them a dose of reality of how our forefathers struggled to carve out a living from the mountains and woods without tractors, cars and air conditioning.

Speaking of air conditioning, one of the things I like about going to the old cabin is that with the help of a window fan, we all slept under blankets at night in mid July; it was wonderful!

After being gone for 10 days their parents were a bit disappointed that none of the kids had a homesickness meltdown. They asked what was their favorite thing about the trip; the prevalent answer was the mile-long hike from the cabin back along the stream to a waterfall where they all got to go swimming. No pool, no chlorine, just a good old mountain stream and waterfall where my wife grew up doing the same thing. How delightful to see this tradition being passed on to our grandkids.

They also liked firefly hunting with a Mason jar and roasting marshmallows over a fire as a breakfast appetizer! How many ways are there to spoil grandkids?!

Was it demanding to look out after three grandkids for 10 days and be responsible for their overall safety and well being? Yep, but worth every bit of the effort. By the way, we insisted that they each where a whistle on a lanyard around their neck in case they got separated from us in any way. We’d do it over again in a heartbeat (Maybe after a week or so of rest though!).

As usual, you can get a visual of the trip at facebook.com/VisitingAngelsofCentralGA.

Thanks for reading All About Seniors. See you next week!

P.S. There’s still time to pack up your grandkids and take them on an end-of-summer/back-to-school trip. Hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

Bill Milby is a certified senior advisor and a director of Visiting Angels of Macon, a non-medical, living assistance service for seniors. If you have questions or comments about this column, you can reach him at william.mercylink@gmail.com or search for us at https://www.facebook.com/VisitingAngelsofCentralGA/.

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