Kentucky Travel can be Easy on the Budget

As summer days dwindle Kentucky takes on a more relaxed, easy pace with plenty of great things to see and do at a great value for your travel dollar.

Kentucky State Parks are “fee free” every day. No need to wait for a weekend special to get a break on admission to parks located in every region of the commonwealth. Of our 52 gorgeous parks (widely referred to as the “nation’s finest”), 17 are resort parks with lodges and dining facilities. Surround yourself with spectacular vistas and scenic beauty. Enjoy buffet dinners or order off the menu which includes Kentucky Proud products as available.

Or if your vacation home is on wheels, pull up to a park campground and wile away cooler nights under the stars. Rise and shine back to brilliant color displays that arrive this time of year, compliments of the plentiful variety of hardwood trees in our scenic landscape.

For more information about park locations, amenities, special events and reservations, log on to http://parks.ky.gov.

Visiting Kentucky attractions and events doesn’t mean that you have to break the budget to enjoy the great variety of things we have to offer. Check out www.MyKentuckyBackyard.com for a selection of ever-changing discounts and deals.

As the days cool down the festivals heat up here in the Bluegrass state. You’ll find festivals that celebrate famous bourbon, great fried chicken, Corvettes, honey, fiddles, and ethnic roots and heritage. Just check out the extensive listing at www.KentuckyTourism.com and click on Festivals and Events.

The Bourbon Trail, recently featured in Southern Living magazine, is a treat for folks interesting in learning about the history and art of bourbon making – tasting is just an added bonus. Eight distilleries are on the trail and each exhibit some aspect of America’s official libation (www.kybourbontrail.com).

Kentucky boasts being the site of the nation’s first commercial winery and more than 200 years later, vines are yielding great wine vintages. Many offer dinner and music on weekends and others have restaurants and gift shops. For more insight to Kentucky wineries and the actual Kentucky Wine Trail route, go to www.kentuckywine.com.

So as the leaves begin to fall, gear up for travels in Kentucky. Less than a day’s drive from more than half of the nation’s population and easy on the pocketbook, the Bluegrass state is the perfect getaway location.

The International Museum of Bluegrass Music

Whether you view Kentucky’s Bill Monroe as the father, grandfather or godfather of bluegrass music (he’s been called all three), there’s no question that his music has influenced the world. From the strains of Monroe’s “Blue Moon of Kentucky” and his magic mandolin to today’s lively and plaintive sounds of Ricky Skaggs and Sam Bush, Kentucky’s proud bluegrass heritage runs deep.

In Owensboro, Ky., there is a museum wholly dedicated to preserving the history and culture that surrounds the rich music that Monroe created and that is revered throughout the world. Located right on the banks of the Ohio at the foot of the blue bridge, the International Bluegrass Music Museum is part of the fabulous RiverPark Center complex in the heart of Owensboro. Here visitors can listen to the unique strains of harmony, instruments and voices even before crossing the museum threshold. Artfully co-mingled sounds from the resident radio station, RBI, can be heard as you approach the center on land and water. The museum has positioned itself to be instrumental in the future of bluegrass music and to welcome visitors to an environment where the texture of this rich music can be experienced by all ages, ethnicities and country of origin.

From Owensboro it’s just a short drive to Bill Monroe’s homeplace in nearby Rosine. The house is available for tours and will add a dimension to your visit to the museum that celebrates all aspects, past, present and future, of bluegrass music and its relationship to the world.

Come and visit the birthplace and remarkable motherland for Kentucky’s bluegrass music and experience the Unbridled Spirit of both in charming Owensboro, Kentucky.
http://www.bluegrass-museum.org/

Prehistoric Travel Stop

Think Kentucky and horses, bluegrass waving on scenic rolling hills and bourbon come immediately to mind. Bogs, swamps and great salt licks where huge herds of prehistoric animals once roamed, don’t necessarily sync with the Kentucky we see today with its urban and rural centers.

But once, ancient creatures like the mammoth, mastodon, ground sloth and bison tarried around mineral springs, salt licks and swamps near the Ohio River that are now grassy plains covered with trees and shrubs. Massive herds of early buffalo created traces through the area which later paved the way for today’s roads and provided the name for one of our world-famous bourbons: Buffalo Trace. Early Native American tribes eventually reserved Kentucky as a hunting ground to fell the wild bison, the largest of all North American land mammals, for food, clothing and shelter. The last wild buffalo was seen in Kentucky around 1800.

So it’s a bit unusual that today one of Kentucky’s great state parks, marks the site where much of this activity occured. Located between the Boone County towns of Beaverlick and Rabbit Hash, Big Bone Lick State Park (the name comes from Pleistocene megafauna fossils—now there’s a mouth full) was a travel destination for these long-ago animals that eventually met their demise after becoming mired in the bogs. Long after most of expired at the dawn of the 1800’s, famous explorer William Clark dubbed Big Bone State Park as the “birthplace of American paleontology.” Designated a National Natural Landmark by the National Park Service, Big Bone Lick is also an official Lewis and Clark Trail Site. Mary Ingles, the first Caucasian person believed to have seen the Ohio River Valley after being captured from her Virginia home by a tribe, was held in this area of the state prior to her escape.

Today, brought back from near extinction, a small bison herd grazes near life-sized recreations of their long gone animal ancestors. “Frozen-in-time” sculptures can be seen feeding on models of carcasses and skeletal remains. A Discovery Trail winds through several habitats that existed there, including grassland, wetland and savanna. A park naturalist is on hand to explain survival skills required by early inhabitants to survive the area, including fire starting, water purification, making tools from bones and the making of pine pitch glue.

This gem of a park is within easy an easy, short drive off I-75 just south of Covington. The accessible board walk and visitor’s center allow people to roam where Kentucky prehistoric history is wonderfully documented. Big Bone Lick State Park is at 3380 Beaver Road in Union, Kentucky. Check out the site at www.kyparks.com or phone 859-384-3522.