Kentucky Vacation with Gamee/Grampee!

While we are celebrating our 20th Anniversary in Alaska, Cade and Caelin spent the week with Gamee and Grampee on a special trip to Kentucky.  They had a full itinerary with special stops each day.  Here are the highlights written by Cade and Caelin!

Cade's Memories:

My favorite places were the Creation Museum, Ark Experience, Johnny Cash Museum, University of the Cumberlands, and the Bass Pro Shops Pyramid.

The Creation Museum; I really liked learning more about how our world was created, and learning a lot about how God designed us and how he wants us to live.  The Ark Experience; going to see a replica of the Ark really changed my perspective on the story. I learned what life was actually like during the time of Noah, and how he took care of all the different types of animals.  The Johnny Cash Museum; learning more about my favorite outlaw country singer was a really interesting experience, and taught me a bunch of stuff I didn't know about Johnny previously. Seeing just how much he impacted the world of country music was amazing, and taking a peak into his private life was unforgettable.  The University of the Cumberlands; it was really cool to go to the place where Gammee and Grampee met, hearing stories and tales of their college days, and learning about life way back when. It was really fun, and I had an awesome time with Gammee, Grampee, and Caelin on my second college tour (after Baylor).  The Bass Pro Shops Pyramid; wow. Just wow. Seeing that thing from the outside looked insane, and then going inside?? That was a whole different experience on its own. Seeing huge catfish swimming around a river in the middle of the store, watching real ducks waddle around the riverbank, riding the world's tallest freestanding elevator up to a glass balcony with a beautiful view, and so, so much more was just overwhelming.  Seeing just that place alone makes me want to buy a house out in Memphis, but only if I achieve my dream of becoming a multi-trillionare.  All in all, this trip turned out to be one of my favorites that I've ever been on, and I won't forget a single second of it for the rest of my life. Thank you, Gammee and Grampee, for such an amazing trip with the two best grandparents I could ever have!

Caelin's Memories: 

1st day just driving and doing activities in our awesome books Gamee made us! Then we spent the night at a hotel.  Then the second day we woke up early to get to our Airbnb which was a very cool one. It was a barndominium. The same night we bought groceries, for the upcoming days.  The third day was where things got very interesting in a good way! When we woke up we headed to…drumroll please, ba bada dum….. THE CREATION MUSEUM! This place was great even tho it’s main attraction was the creation part, it really answered my question about a whole lot of things like how God got Moses and the other Christians out of Pharaohs place with disease so he could get to the promise land (even tho Moses died before they got there) and how evolution from monkeys isn’t real (which I already believed, but now i understand how its just a conspiracy and not real). No hate on my favorite animal monkeys tho. That night we slept in the same airbnb from the night before. We played pool almost all the days in the airbnb, like nine ball, and 8 ball. I played their guitar for about 5 min the first day same with Cade.  The fourth day had many adventures to come that day. The first thing we did after waking up early that day was the Ark Encounter which is a close enough as they could get to recreate the ark from the story noahs ark in the Bible in the book of Genesis. This place answered many of my questions!! Just like creation museum. A few of them was how did Noah fit all those animals? In the ark there are many answers you can use for your questions. Some of my favorites are that he probably brought young animals on the ark so that they could make babies easier after the flood.  And another answer thing, did you know Noah brought SEVEN pairs of all clean animals, the male and it’s mate. Before I always thought he took two of every animal! So, I was wrong, but now I’m right. Another one is how if he did bring dinosaurs how did they fit? Yes, he brought dinosaurs but they were smaller dinosaurs and there were not many I would assume from I can remember. The ark was great, you got to go outside and inside the ark! It was so cool! Then after the ark encounter we went to something called rail road explorers where its like you’re on a mini train and you help pedal and the person in the back right braked on the rail road tracks while you got a pretty view, I believe it was two hours long! It was fine with me cause it was so fun! Time really does fly when you’re having fun! I’ve never done anything like it before. Once you got to a certain point everyone would get off their separate train things. Each one was 4 seater or two and while they flipped it around at the dead end you could get off and sit in chairs and eat your own snacks and drinks you brought. You would get back on and head on back! Then we drove back to our airbnb in Sadieville, Ky.  On the fifth day we visited Gamee and Grampe’s old college. Cumberland College, in Williamsburg, KY.  It was a very nice campus! I got a Cumberland shirt there! Now, as much as I loved the college I don’t know if i would apply because of how far away from home. Beside that fact it was a great college, good food, gym, there is a Baptist church near campus were Grampee was baptized. Another church in town is the one where Gamee and Grampee got married! I learned they got married while attending college. That just shows how much they loved each other they just couldn’t wait! Yipee! After we vistied Cumberland Falls. It was very pretty there and of course there was a water fall! There was a rainbow that comes off of the waterfall. In my mind it kept reminding me of Gods promise. I’m so happy we got to see it and walk around! After that we went to Mammoth Cave. It was pretty in it’s own way too there it had lots of history there. That night we drove to a hotel to spend the night.  On the sixth day we went to the Johnny Cash museum in Nashville, Tennessee. Who knew Johnny Cash, besides being a musician, enjoyed doing art and acting in little movies and skits like on SNL (Saturday night live) and even had his own tv show! After that, we went to a place called Goo Goos where we ordered our very own custom made Goo Goo with many things inside. A Goo Goo is kind of like a hollow candy filled with your favorite treats inside. For example, I can’t remember everything we added but I do remember it having milk chocate for the outside and some carmel and cinnamon toast crunch and choclate chips inside. IT WAS SO GOOD! After all that, we realized, hey its lunch time...we need food! As we were going back to the car we saw the flagship Raising Canes in Nashville. It was a four story high building but only two were opened to the public at the time cause it literally opened the day before we were there. Any way, we ate there! It was so cool inside! We then drove to Memphis. We went to the Big Bass Pro Shop Pyramid.  One of the workers said it was only about the 3rd largest store.  We could not belive it! When we went inside it was absolutely huge!  They had fish there… big fish! The biggest catfish I have ever seen! They had all kinds of fish. There were  alligator gar and the long nose gar, EVEN TWO MALLARD DUCKS! A boy and a girl. I’m pretty sure, based on their feathers. They even had real alligators!  There were hotel rooms on the third floor, themed like all kind of things. We didn’t sleep there because we didn’t have reservations, but it was still cool tho! Me, Cade and Grampee, went to the balcony on the top floor, after riding the tallest free standing elevator in the world to get there. We were higher than the Statue of Liberty!  Cade bought two Bass Pro Shop hats. I decided not to get anything. I could tell Cade really enjoyed that day! We then drove and stayed in a hotel again.  On the seventh day we drove home to Gamee and Grampee’s house.  My favorite thing of the trip was the family time and the Creation Museum and the Ark Encounter. I feel like I grew as a Christian there!