No Title 1062

Supplement to “Planning a Park Vacation?”

The inside scoop on planning your visit to one of Kentucky’s 52 state parks:

• According to Kentucky Department of Parks Information Officer Jim Carroll, 75 percent of lodge guests are Kentuckians who yearly make these resort parks the busiest in the state: Lake Barkley, Lake Cumberland, and Kentucky Dam Village.
• Reserve your park vacation several months in advance for summer holiday weekends and during fall foliage season.
• The biggest misconception about the parks: “Most folks believe it is impossible to get a room in the summer,” says Carroll. “It might take some flexibility on an arrival date or a park, but in most cases, a guest can find a room even in the summer.”
• Kentucky state parks do not have accommodations for pets. Pets are permitted in the campgrounds, but not in lodge rooms and cabins. Each park maintains a list of local kennels.
• Rough River Dam State Resort Park and Lake Barkley State Resort Park offer wireless, high-speed Internet access at no charge. Guests may use their own laptop computer’s network card to log on or borrow a device from the park (refundable deposit required).
• Kentucky state parks are a showcase for made-in-Kentucky products. They have a policy that ensures that products made in the Commonwealth will be stocked in the gift shops.
• These state resort parks have full-service airports: Rough River Dam, Lake Barkley, and Kentucky Dam Village.
• Breaks Interstate Park, located on the Kentucky-Virginia border, and featuring the largest canyon east of the Mississippi, is also in the Kentucky state parks family.

To read the Kentucky Living April 2005 feature that goes along with this supplement, click here: Planning a Park Vacation?