Day 3 Road trip to California.
We were getting better at traveling by the time we hit day three. However we were still newbies without much real road experience. When we set out from our Hotel in Indiana and we were traveling by a more direct route, West on Indiana State Highway 50. State highways are not optimal for the long distance we needed to travel. We headed North to hook up with the interstate then we were moving at a reasonable pace again.
Creation Museum
Earlier that day at the hotel we discovered that the Creation Museum was close to where we were staying. A little too close for anyone who has a respect or understanding of science. The creation museum is an organization that believes that the theory of
evolution is a lie. Not the different perspective of the country that we
were hoping to find. Rise and I toyed with the idea of visiting for a
minute out of curiosity. Then we thought of the potential damage it may
cause to our four year old's perceptions of the world, we kept on
moving West.
As an institution which calls itself a "Museum" the Creation Museum presents no evidence or artifacts related to their point of view . The place is entirely faith based, and has placed itself in the
anti-evolution mindset which take a similar perspective to the
anti-Galelain camp or the world is flat school of thought. The place should be considered a faith based diorama not a museum. Beware it is no joke, Teachers, Parents or Grandparents that think this way are shaping the minds of children in an ignorant way.
To balance out this creationist perspective I have included a link to Black Sabbath's entire Master of Reality album. In case you feel the urge to listen to Ozzy while you contemplate a museum with less science. If you do not like Sabbath then just read on with out listening.
Here is a link to the Wikipedia's information on the Creation Museum.
You can click above and Follow the link to read the Wikipedia article on the Creation Museum. On the wiki you can read a less biased history of the creation of the Creation Museum. On the wiki I learned how the Teachers Association and different Church organizations feel about the Museum. Not only to scientists and teachers disapprove of the Creation Museum's science, but some religious groups also feel that the perspective is harmful to religion. It remarkable when even religious groups feel that your point of view is harmful not only to science but also to religion and a deterrent to faith.
During breakfast at the hotel, I realized that some of the patrons were preparing to spend their day visiting the Creation Museum. They were a large party consisting of adults and mostly raucous children filling the hotel breakfast area. The conversations at the next table caught my attention when I heard some teen speaking about visiting the Creation museum. The children were speaking about seeing dinosaurs in the same discussion as creationism. There would be obvious contradictions ahead at the Museum, for myself even as a child the whole 7 day creation story arc never seemed like something meant to be taken literally.
Back at the breakfast table, a battle between a Science book fighting a King James Bible was waging in my imagination. The books were fighting to the death then some librarian steps in tells the books that they are both wrong, the librarian then makes the books sit on the shelf next to each other for the next ten thousand years. Neither book wants to admit to the readers that the other holds some truth inside. At the table beside me there were convoluted explanations of how dinosaurs work in a world created in seven literal days. The younger children went on discussing what dinosaur could beat the other in a fight. I could imagine in that 7 day universe Jesus would be a referee, and sit the dinosaurs down to discuss how they should love their neighbor dinosaur rather than battle to the death for little boys entertainment. Then the dinosaurs could disappear in the noon light of the third day. Evolution would be on the losing side at that breakfast table.
Onward to the Saint Louis Arch
We were looking forward to another must see destination, the Gateway Arch. I had seen a documentary on the construction of the arch and I was eager to walk through the arch myself. It symbolizes a gateway from East to West, it is a symbol of westward expansion. It is a marvel of engineering made of stainless steel standing 630 ft (192 m) tall. It is the largest stainless steel monument in the world, dedicated in 1965.The arch houses a tram which takes passengers to the top, and has a Museum underneath it.
Photo By Rise Riyo
Passing over the bridges that led to St Louis we were amazed by the size of the freestanding arch. The arch was easily accessible from the highway and parking was inexpensive and nearby. St Louis provided us with some needed downtime from travel.
The arch houses a museum below the structure called the Museum of Westward Expansion.
The Museum includes dioramas,taxidermy specimens, artifacts, and Indian Peace Medals, that were given to the Native Americans by Louis and Clark while on their journey through new territory. The Museum is small enough see in less than an hour. However there is enough in there to keep you busy if you are interested in the history of the United States. Overall it is very worth the time to visit. The Arch is a modern equivalent to one of the seven wonders of the world. The Arch even has medal detectors and an airport style pat down at entrance to the Arch/Museum to prove it's worth to the other six wonders. We were not planning on spending much time in St Louis so we decided to skip the tram ride to the top. Beside sitting in the car for 10 plus hours each day we preferred to stretch our legs while we could.
The photo above of the United States topography is part of the Museum's exhibit If you look closely at the photo you will see a reddish line that represents the river route that Louis and Clark took with Sacajawea to the Pacific. The line starts at the eastward end of the Missouri river where it connects with the Mississippi River, there you see a dent in the map, this hole is caused by fingerprints from museum visitors pointing out where they currently are.
You can see the darker brown section representing the Louisiana Purchase and the lighter brown representing the Thirteen Colonies of the United States at the time before the Louis and Clark's expedition. The white areas of the map are areas belonging to Spain or Mexico at the time.
As I mentioned there were Indian Peace Medals which represented treaties between Native Americans and European Colonists. The Peace Medal exhibit spanned time from colonial English period through the Louis and Clark expedition. For me the medals are actually broken treaty medals. Each "PEACE" medal represented a promise of the European Settlers to coexist peacefully with the indigenous North American peoples. The treaty would be represented by a silver or gold medal and presented to a tribal chief. This was done by the ruling European or United States representatives as a token of good will. The medal would signify there was a promise of peace. In hindsight each medal represents a failed agreement of a Government to coexist with another established culture. Native Americans were pushed off their territory by European land claimers. Whatever you believe about the American Dream, it starts with a broken treaty. The right to home ownership is the right to buy stolen land from an occupying entity. This dream is spread from sea to shining sea under the guise of destiny and the delusion of divine entitlement.
The Museum of Westward Expansion had the courage to display some of the darker parts of The United States history. The Peace Medal exhibit placed the broken treaties on display and somewhat acknowledged how westward expansion ruined the lifestyle of Native Americans. Native American Culture in the west was shown as a thriving civilization before it was destroyed with railroads and superior weaponry. After visiting the museum I also understood better the significance of St Louis. How it is strategically placed at the junction of two major rivers. These rivers provide resources and accessibility for the nation and pass directly through St Louis. St Louis started as a trading post at the juncture of two rivers and has evolved into an industrial metropolis.
This part of our trip for me was a low in the valley of our journey. The blissful ignorance of the creation museum and the Native American peace medals which foretold of broken promises, showed me a dark place in mainstream America. We needed to keep moving through our stolen rugged landscape.
Day three was quite the day full of contrasts. Beautiful rural Illinois, cruising through the Mississippi river basin, juxtaposed by anti science Creationists.
An elegant marvel of stainless steel in the form of an arch, framing an urban landscape.The industrial urban decay of St Louis's abandoned factories contrasted the elegance of the arch.
