If you're like I was, you may be wondering "What's there to do in Bowling Green that would make us vacation there?". I had never been to Kentucky and really didn't know what to expect.
The city of Bowling Green welcomed us with open arms. We all discovered that this southern city has so much to offer for families! Their slogan is #Geared for fun and it is very fitting!
After flying into Nashville, TN (an hour drive away from Bowling Green), we met at our host hotel, the Fairfield Inn & Suites Bowling Green. They had a welcome sign for us at the hotel and the front desk staff were all friendly and helpful. The rooms are comfy & clean and the hotel also serves a wonderful complimentary breakfast, which is a big plus for family vacations when you want to save money by not eating every meal out.
Some of the places I really enjoyed on this trip:
National Corvette Museum- We loved seeing one-of-a-kind Corvettes, learning about the history of Corvettes and shopping in the museum's gift shop. This place has a lot of interesting history. In Feb of 2014, a previously unknown underground cave under the museum caused a huge sinkhole in the middle of the museum, swallowing 8 Corvettes into a hole 30 feet deep. The amazing thing was that on surveillance video from that day, you can see the sinkhole open up at 5:39 AM. Museum staff begin arriving at 6:00 AM daily and the timing of this incident, when nobody was there or injured, is incredible. We were able to see & walk in the now completely repaired area where the sinkhole was, and even see some of the crushed cars on display. Kids will also enjoy the Kids Zone and the room where there is a simulation of standing in the floor of the museum as the sinkhole happens.
We left the Corvette Museum and headed to the GM Corvette Plant, where we broke up into groups for tours of the Corvette assembly line. It was absolutely fascinating to me to see how they make these special cars, from start to finish. We even saw a finished Corvette come off the line and one of my fellow Macaroni Kid publishers got to start it for the first time. The Corvettes go through a very extensive testing process, including the finished cars having hundreds of gallons of water dumped on them to ensure they are waterproof. Anyone age 10 & up can schedule a tour of the plant on their website. Even if you aren't much of a car person, you'll find this place very interesting!
We also visited the Kentucky Museum, which features fun & educational exhibits about the Civil War, history of Kentucky and notable people from Kentucky like Duncan Hines (yes, he was a real person!).
Our most adventurous stop was the Lost River Cave. This is the only underground boat tour in the state of Kentucky. The cave history is fascinating and an area at the opening that was years ago used for parties can now be rented for weddings and other special events. Aboard a boat, we traveled down the river in the cave, amazed at the natural beauty. We also visited their butterfly house, where each of us got to release a butterfly. I loved this experience. Lost River Cave is a must-see place if you travel to Bowling Green.
We enjoyed wonderful southern food while in Bowling Green, including homemade delicious baked goods at the Historic Railpark & Train Museum, compliments of The Pie Queen of Bowling Green, including no-bake cookie sandwiches filled with peanut butter!
We went to a Bowling Green Hot Rods baseball game, enjoyed a hometown fish fry at an 1880's general store turned restaurant, The Boyce General Store and more.
One of my favorite places we visited was Chaney's Dairy Barn. This dairy farm has been family owned for over 100 years and serves homemade ice cream & delicious lunches. My favorite part was watching their brand new robotic milker for the cows. A stop here will definitely be fun for your kids!
If you're looking for a fun, affordable family vacation, I recommend checking out Bowling Green. Beautiful scenery, friendly & welcoming people and plenty of history plus family fun make this a great vacation destination for families.
The Bowling Green Area Convention & Visitors hosted Macaroni Kid for a three-day press trip. Accommodations and most meals and activities were complimentary. No other compensation was received in consideration of this article and all opinions are that of the writer.
