Destination: nearby

By Cheryl Truman - ctruman@herald-leader.com

Jim Madden of Lexington has this mini-vacation thing down: two gallons of gas each way, and he and his companion, Dewey, an Australian shepherd, are on vacation.

In their RV camper.

Where to go and what to do if you're staying close to home
Although this is by no means a comprehensive list, we have a few ideas for inexpensive destinations if you're staying in the area for vacation:
■ University of Kentucky Art Museum, 405 Euclid Ave. (859) 257-5716, www.uky.edu/ArtMuseum/. See Gilbert Stuart's classic portrait of George Washington and much more.
■ The Headley-Whitney Museum, 4435 Old Frankfort Pike. (859) 255-6653, www.headley-whitney.org. If you live in Lexington, you really should know your decorative arts and bibelots.
■ The Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning, 251 W. Second St. For a complete list of summer 2008 workshops and classes, go to www.carnegieliteracy.org or call (859) 254-4175.
■ Take the kids fountain-jumping downtown in front of the courthouse complex at Main and North Limestone. It has become a community gathering spot, particularly on steamy summer evenings. Follow that with a walk to Third Street Stuff, 257 North Limestone, for dessert and a cold Jones soda.
■ Raven Run, the Lexington park system's 734-acre nature sanctuary on Jack's Creek Pike. Hike down to the Kentucky River overlook and take a gander at the palisades. (859) 272-6105, www.lfucg.com/parks/raven.asp
■ Mary Todd Lincoln House. 578 W. Main St., (859) 233-9999, www.mtlhouse.org. It's the bicentennial of the birth of Abraham Lincoln, and yep, he slept there.
■ An off-the-beaten-path special store that you haven't visited before. Some suggestions: Morris Book Shop, 408 Southland Dr., or the eclectic jewelry/reading material/bumper stickers at Sqecial Media, 371 S. Limestone.
■ The pool, the park, the library. Ask yourself: Will your kids really remember the day you saw the Disney World tower, or will they remember when you spent the day at the pool, had a leisurely picnic and came home with armloads of library books?
Coming this week
■ Fun facts of the Fourth of July. Thursday in Free Time.
■ Cheap fun for the holiday. Friday in Weekender.

At Herrington Lake.

Madden and his dog go on ”stay-cation,“ a phenomenon born of inflation and nearly $4-a-gallon gas prices. It's a combination of ”staying put“ and ”going on vacation“ — having a rest at home or very close to it.

”I've seen a lot more people spend a lot more time down there,“ says Madden, who sells commercial building materials. ”Everybody down there talks about gas every week.“

Pam Hedge of Irvine has a slightly different take on stay-cations. She and her husband, Dave Severson, hope to visit all of Kentucky's state parks during the next several years. Hedge moved from Idaho six years ago to be closer to her father. The couple runs a monthly newspaper called All Things Country (www.allthingscountryky.com).

”I don't plan on leaving,“ Hedge says. ”Two reasons: the cost of gas, and I'm new to Kentucky, relatively. ... I'm always trying to push for people to stay in the area in my magazine. I can't see even going to Gatlinburg and taking Kentucky's money to Gatlinburg. ... If we don't support our own state, where are we going to be in the long run?“

Crystal Dempsey-Gillum of the Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority takes the stay-cation concept even further: She and her husband are down to one car to try to save gas — which is challenging given that the pair live in Winchester and that he works in Lexington and she works in Frankfort.

”With gas and everything, finances are just getting tighter,“ she says. ”I work in Frankfort, so I commute a long way, and my husband works in Lexington. I drop him off every morning. ... To save gas money, we're just taking one car now.“

Gil Lawson, a spokesman for Kentucky's Tourism, Arts & Heritage Cabinet's Department of Travel, says the state's campaign urging Kentuckians to visit Kentucky tourist attractions is drawing lots of attention from strapped Kentuckians. The promotion gives away prizes every day, usually passes to a Kentucky attraction, and urges Kentuckians to discover the attractions of their own back yard — which runs, conveniently, from Murray to Maysville.

Christopher Oakford, a spokesman for the Bluegrass branch of the American Automobile Association, says AAA employees preparing the organization's TripTik maps get constant earfuls about the price of gas. He says people are taking road trips out of state, but they're keeping costs down in other ways. They're parking the SUV at home and taking a smaller vehicle, reserving cheaper lodgings and eating at less-expensive restaurants.

Says Martha David of Lexington, who works for the University of Kentucky: ”With no raise this year for UK employees and the price of gas at what it is, I will not be making any trips outside of Lexington this year. Although a small trip to the Cincinnati Zoo has been thought of, I decided that taking my granddaughter for a 11/2-hour horse-riding lesson maybe twice this year at $60 a session would be cheaper in the long run.“

With gas prices so high, David says, ”I barely like to go from one end of town to the other.“