Mammoth Cave, Ark Encounter, Creation Museum, King’s Island–Camping

The sun is out, the weather is warm, and it’s the perfect time to hook up the camper and hit the road. One of our favorite ways to travel as a family is camping. However, this was not always the case.

I never grew up camping a lot unless you count pitching a tent in our backyard with my friends and ending up in one of our living rooms by 11pm. We did a few tent camping trips when my kiddos were young, but that did not end well. Once when we had an 8 year old, 4 year old, and twin 18 month olds, we went tent camping in North Georgia with my in laws. It rained the whole time and all that our 18 month olds wanted to do was walk into all the dangerous drops offs or fire pit. I told my husband he could throw away the tent (it leaked directly on our foreheads in the night) and not to ask me to go camping again until the twins were at least 4. Funny enough, the next camping trip we did was when the twins were 4 and we had a new 2 year old in tow. This trip went much better. My husband decided to surprise us with a pop up camper he had purchased from a friend. This was a GAME CHANGER!!!! We had space to pack all the things you need for a camping trip, and we weren’t on the ground! This sparked our love of camping and traveling for our family. We probably used our pop up at least 6 times that year. Since, we enjoyed this so much, we decided to upgrade to a travel trailer. We purchased an older, simple trailer and completely renovated the inside. I mean we painted the walls, recovered cushions, replaced the couch and even added subway tile backsplash. This quickly became our little home away from home. It didn’t take us too long to out grow this camper. We then decided to purchase our 2020 Spirit 2963BH. This has opened our family up to so many adventures and experiences.

Since we have a large family, traveling in hotels can become quite challenging and expensive. Traveling in our camper takes care of that problem. We all get to be together and have everything we need right at hand. Plus our pups get to come along. Please feel free to reach out if you have any other questions about camper life.

Last summer we began to dream and plan of taking a road trip up to Kentucky to visit the Ark Encounter and the Creation Museum. Our oldest son (19), my mother in law, and my parents also wanted to join us. In 2020 we had camped with friends at Jellystone Park at Mammoth Cave. It was wonderful and the kiddos wanted to go back in the summer to enjoy all of the water activities that had to offer. Plus the tours of Mammoth Cave were condensed due to C regulations. This began the start of our road trip.

Jellystone was a great campground. It was clean and well maintained. It is a resort style campground. The sites are closer together with less privacy than a state park, but you get a lot of nice resort amenities along with your stay. For example, they had craft projects, swimming pools, playgrounds, swimming beach, mini golf, jumping pillows, pedal cart track, mining sluice, foam ball arena, fishing, arcade, character events, and even a Wibit Water obstacle course. Plus its location is not far from the highway and only 14 min from Mammoth Cave National Park. This is a great place to stay if you are wanting to visit Mammoth Cave. If you don’t have a camper or don’t want to pitch a tent, no worries, they also have many cabins available to rent.

If you’ve never been to Mammoth Cave, please add it to your list. It is quite impressive in many ways. The park itself is unassuming. You are surround by dense forests and wildlife. The true majesty lies beneath your feet. It is the longest known cave system in the world. Over 400 miles have already been explored with an estimated 600 more miles to go. There are thousands of years of history stored up in this cave. The NPS offers multiple different tour options depending on your time, interests, and physical abilities. We chose to purchase the Historic Tour and the Domes and Dripstones Tour. Side note, make sure to bring a jacket as the cave stays at a constant 54 degrees year round. The Historic Tour is about 2 hrs long and goes for about 2 miles. It is ranger led and gives a lot of the historical significance of this massive cave system. If you are looking for a bit more “adventure” and don’t mind tight, dark spaces, try out the Domes and Dripstones Tour. It is also about 2 hrs long, but only about a 1 mile long. On this tour you will climb down nearly 500 stairs and be able to see many different cave formations. I felt that the combo of these two tours offered the most expansive experience of the cave and was perfect for our kiddos and parents. If you really don’t mind getting dirty and are really looking for adventure check out their Wild Cave Tour.

We stayed three nights at Jellystone then headed to Big Bone Lick State Historic Site in Union, KY for two nights. This next campground was pretty centrally located between the Ark Encounter and the Creation Museum. These two attractions are actually about 45 miles apart, so keep that in mind. The campground was pretty much your basic state park campground. We had water and power hookups, plenty of space between sites, a pool, and bison. Yep, you read that right, bison. They have a herd of bison on property that you hopefully are lucky enough to see. They do have a pretty cool museum and diorama on property as well.

The Ark Encounter was our next stop. One thing to note is that you park in a very large parking lot and then board a motor coach for about a mile that brings you to the gate of the park. This place is massive. It encompasses over 800 acres. As you pull up to the gate you are met by a giant rainbow archway which leads you to the life size replica of Noah’s ark as described in Genesis. This puts so much perspective and appreciation into the details and scale of the project. Inside the ark are three decks that guide you through the biblical history, animals, the flood, and more. This park offers even more than the ark itself. They have a mini zoo filled with animals from around the world. Activities include animal encounters, keeper chats, kangaroo walkabouts, petting zoo, and even camel rides. My kiddos loved this part of the park. They were so excited to be so close to kangaroos and enjoyed the camel ride. They offer several different restaurant options on site and a huge playground for getting all of the extra energy out. They also offer some pretty cool extras that we did not partake in on this trip like zip lining, mining sluice, and virtual reality. Don’t forget to stop by the bookstore/gift shop on the way out. It is also huge, pretty much the theme here, and offers a ton of resources for adults and children alike. They also have a ton of homeschool curriculum available to look through and purchase. Our overall impression of the Ark Encounter was that of amazement. We all thoroughly enjoyed our time here and could have easily spent more. The information and exhibits were presented in a beautiful and biblically correct way. We would come back in a heart beat.

Our next stop, the Creation Museum, was a little further north and just outside Cincinnati. Both the Ark Encounter and Creation Museum were created by apologist Ken Ham. They offer combo tickets if you are interested in checking both places out. I highly recommend that. The Creation Museum is a little more unassuming from the outside compared to the Ark, but it is packed full of splendid exhibits, information, live events, planetarium, and movies. You could easily spend hours if not multiple days wandering from exhibit to exhibit and reading and taking in all of the excellent information they have on display. They have done a great job catering to all ages. My younger kiddos were mesmerized by the dinosaurs, insects, and the live reptile event. Just when you think they couldn’t possibly have anymore to see, you walk outside to discover a beautiful botanical garden, petting zoo, nature trails, and even another zip lining opportunity. Again the information is presented in a beautiful and biblical way and truly brings the words from the Bible to life. You and your family will gain so much more understanding and appreciation for the Bible by visiting these two amazing places.

Our last stop was Camp Cedar RV Resort in Mason, OH, which is part of the Kings Island amusement park. We figured since we were already so close, why not check it out. I am so glad we did! First of all, the Camp Cedar RV Resort was spectacular. This campground was brand new and full of fun amenities. They had a zero entry pool, poolside restaurant and bar, hiking trails, full hook up campsites, and shuttles to the amusement park. By this time our mothers were ready for a relaxing and restful day, so we left them to enjoy the pool and resort while my husband and I took the kiddos to Kings Island. Now we don’t do a ton of amusement parks. We’ve done Disney a few times, and we have a Six Flags close to home that is nothing to rave about. Kings Island was pretty much up there with one of the best we’ve ever visited. The park was super clean, the staff was kind and helpful, and the rides were so fun! They have several coasters that have set records and a full water park that is included in your ticket. We began our day with Drop Tower. Our youngest daughter was tall enough to ride, and my husband quickly volunteered me to join the kids. This ride starts out taking you 315 ft into the air and then dropping you! I was so nervous for my daughter who was only 7. I was worried that once we made it to the top that she would begin to freak out. I talked to her the whole way up and pointed out fun things to see to keep her mind and mine off the heights. We came falling down with both of us screaming. I immediately turned to her to hear this excited screech and huge smile on her face. She had loved every second of it. It was so precious to experience that with her. She was actually upset when she wasn’t tall enough to some of the larger coasters.

We continued to work our way through the park riding all that we could. After lunch seemed the perfect time to cool off at the water park. This section was no joke. They had a wave pool, lazy river, tons of water slides, kid splash zones, and even a Flow Rider. We could have spent an entire day just there. However, there were so many more roller coasters to ride. We changed back into our dry clothes and made a mad dash to ride as much as humanly possible before the park closed. We usually like to get our money’s worth when we visit amusement parks, so this one was no different. We arrived right around opening and pretty much shut the place down. Kings Island does a terrific drone, light and firework show at night. I had taken my daughters back to the campsite just before the show started, and we were able to watch the fireworks from there. My husband and the boys sent back amazing videos of the drone projections during the show. My kiddos keep asking when we can go back. They absolutely loved it, and frankly so did I.

We sadly only had one day to enjoy Kings Island and Camp Cedar, but we will return one day. Our trip was wrapping up and we began our trek back home. Now, no good road trip would be complete without a stop at Buc-ee’s. This one in Richmond, KY was brand new, and I think everyone within a 100 mile radius was also wanted to see what it was all about. They have 100 gas pumps and they were all pretty much filled! I couldn’t believe my eyes and my anxiety was heading through the roof. We ran in for a very quick restroom break and straight back to the truck. LOL. I don’t think we will be visiting any that crazy again.

We were so blessed to be able to take our family on this fun and amazing road trip. There is so much out there in our beautiful country to see and explore. We are just trying to keep taking one step at a time to see as much as we can.