Department of Travel
Plenty of Kentucky Sites to Visit Around Liberty Bowl Travel

You’ve toasted in the New Year and are heading off to Memphis to watch UK play in the Liberty Bowl on January 2.   Before you embark on the trip to or from the game, consider this tempting sampling of restaurants, lodging and attractions located along or near the Kentucky highways north of the Kentucky/Tennessee line. 

Food and Lodging:
Kentucky State Parks will offer special rates at all lodges and cottages at resort parks from Jan 1-3. Barren River, Lake Barkley, Kenlake, Kentucky Dam Village and Pennyrile Forest are near Liberty Bowl routes.  Lodge rooms are $50 on any of those nights and the cottages are $74.95 for a one bedroom, $84.95 for two bedrooms or $94.95 for three bedrooms. Taxes apply and there are a limited number of lodge rooms and cottages available at this discounted rate.  (To learn more about each park, scheduled events or to make reservations, visit www.parks.ky.gov. Use the promo code “bowl” if making reservations on line).

State resort park lodges offer full-service restaurants where chefs prepare Kentucky fare every day and views from the dining rooms are a feast for the eyes.  For more information, go to www.parks.ky.gov and click on the location of your choice within the map of Kentucky.

Charming restaurants, lodging and shopping are worth a stop in historic Glendale just to the southwest of Elizabethtown.  For more information, go to http://historicglendale.com/

Check out the menu at Patti’s 1880 Settlement in Grand Rivers (www.pattis-settlement.com) and see culinary delights that beckon your taste buds.  

For more dining options around the Kentucky Lake area, go to the Web site www.kentuckylake.org/dining.htm

Relax prior to or after the game at a Bloomfield B&B.  Springhill Winery and B&B offer southern charm and beauty any time of the year.  For information or to make  a reservation, go to www.springhillwinery.com/ .

Attractions:
Stop in Bardstown just off of the Bluegrass Parkway and experience part of the Bourbon Trail.  Heaven Hill, Jim Beam, Tom Moore and Makers Mark offer tours of their establishments and tastings of their beverages.  Go to www.kybourbontrail.com for more information.

The longest cave system in the world at Mammoth Cave National Park is a Kentucky treasure where people have been visiting since 1816.  Winter cave tour hours (the caves keep a constant temperature) are in effect now and listed at http://www.nps.gov/maca/  .

Abraham Lincoln was born in 1809 near Hodgenville, Kentucky.  This is one of many sites to see in the commonwealth that have associations with this great native Kentuckian during the Lincoln Bicentennial Celebration.  To learn more about where Lincoln was born go to http://www.kylincoln.org/sites/birthplace.htm and find links to other locations worth a visit.

Corvettes are made only in Kentucky and The National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green tells the sports car’s story.  Their Web site is http://www.corvettemuseum.com/

Everyone in the family can stretch their legs and get a taste of prehistoric times at Dinosaur World near Cave City.  More information is located on the Web at www.dinoworld.net/  .

If your thoughts lean toward gold, why not stop and visit Fort Knox and the Patton Museum?  Get information at www.knox.army.mil/visiting.asp and
www.generalpattonmuseum.com/ .

Munfordville, in Hart County, was the site of important battles during the Civil War. Driving and walking tours are mapped that take you back to this important time in Kentucky’s history.  Go to www.trailsrus.com/civilwar/region3/munfordv.htm or www.battleforthebridge.org/ for local contacts and more information.

Interstate 65 cuts right through the heart of the Caves, Lakes and Corvettes tourism region of Kentucky and Interstate 24 stretches through the Western Waterlands region.  Go to kentuckytourism.com/sitestosee/caves.htm or
kentuckytourism.com/sitestosee/westernwaterlands.htm for additional listings of places to see, stay and visit around game day.

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For more information on the Kentucky Department of Tourism, visit our Web site at http://www.kentuckytourism.com .   For more information about the Kentucky Department of Parks, go to www.parks.ky.gov  .

Kentuckians can log on to the web site www.mykentuckybackyard.com to see the Kentucky Department of Travel’s “Discover Your Own Backyard” promotion that invites residents to visit state events and attractions.