An Owensboro Living reader asked us this week for an article featuring “one tank” road trip ideas. Hey, we’re here for you! So of course we got right on it and compiled a list of our favorite day trip adventures for your enjoyment.
[tw-divider]Diamond Lake Resort[/tw-divider]
Starting close to home, our first suggestion is just fifteen minutes away: Diamond Lake Resort. The new ownership has put a lot of time, money, and effort into renovating Diamond Lake into a regional destination. In addition to fishing and camping, Diamond Lake offers several go-kart tracks, putt-putt, and bumper boats with squirt guns. Not to mention quality entertainment at the “Good Times Theater” and a snack bar/camp store. If it’s been a few years since you’ve visited, you really should check it out.
[tw-divider]Evansville[/tw-divider]
Folks from Owensboro usually go to Evansville to shop, eat out, go to a concert, or maybe take the kids to the zoo, but there are lots of other adventures you may not have heard about. Have you been to “Vertical Excape” indoor rock climbing gym? What about “Sky Zone” indoor trampoline park? With trampolines as far as the eye can see you can enjoy the weightlessness of bouncing, flipping and landing in a pit filled with 10,000 foam cubes. Evansville Otters baseball at historic Bosse Field is a lot of fun as well. And every trip to Evansville should include a stop at GattiTown where there’s over 20,000 square feet of family fun!
[tw-divider]Bowling Green[/tw-divider]
Speaking of baseball, the Bowling Green Hotrods are the next closest ball club, and they are actually a farm team for the Tampa Bay Rays. If you’ve been to Holiday World a bunch of times and want something different, Beech Bend Park is definitely worth checking out. It has been given a complete overhaul the last ten years, and now has a waterpark, a steel roller coaster, and an overall fresh look and feel. The speedway and campground next door are still very popular too. If you’ve got any train buffs in the family, the Historic RailPark and Train Museum is not far from Beech Bend. And of course, the Corvette Plant and Museum is really the premier attraction in Bowling Green, especially seeing the Corvettes that were recovered from the sinkhole. Pretty amazing! On the way back from BG, stop off at Chaney’s Dairy Barn for some ice cream. It’s a pretty, country drive off the Natcher and back, but it’s worth the time.
[tw-divider]Land Between the Lakes[/tw-divider]
If the great outdoors is more your speed, then LBL is definitely your playground! Pack a picnic and you can truly spend all day enjoying Mother Nature. Start your day walking through the backyard at the Nature Center, where you can see bald eagles and other animals up close and personal. The Bison Prairie is a drive-through exhibit where you can see bison and elk out on the range. (Yeah, stay in your car!) The Welcome Center has a small museum, planetarium, and a covered picnic area by the lake. Down toward the south end, The Homeplace offers a living history exhibit where re-enactors in period dress do daily chores common for life on the frontier.
