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Central Kentucky
With more than 8,000 restaurants in Kentucky, you have to figure about half are in the eastern part of the state, the Herald-Leader's primary circulation area.
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In central Mississippi, the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians has seen its fortunes soar with the Silver Star Resort & Casino (800-557-0711). Along with gaming, Silver Star features the championship Dancing Rabbit Golf Club and bigname entertainers. In Louisiana, Grand Casino Avoyelles (800-946-1946), owned by the Tunica-Biloxi Indians, and the Coushatta Tribe's Grand Casino Coushatta (800-584-7263) both have added family fun centers, concerts, and sports events to their resorts. Tamahka Trails Golf Club opened at Grand Casino Avoyelles this year.
The Tesque Pueblo Tribe of Santa Fe, New Mexico, owns and operates Camel Rock Casino (800-GO-CAMEL) and the Tesque Flea Market. Camel Rock Suites (877-989-3600) is a hotel with complimentary breakfast and a kitchen area in each suite. Acoma Pueblo, 60 miles west of Albuquerque, operates Sky City Casino (888-SKY-CITY). Isleta, Santa Ana, and other New Mexico pueblos also offer gaming action.
EAST COAST/WEST COAST. Perhaps you've never heard of the Mashantucket Pequot in Connecticut. Because the British massacred hundreds of Pequots in 1637, history often recorded them as extinct.
In the 1970s, a handful returned to the reservation, determined to restore the tribe's vitality. They hit the jackpot with Foxwoods Casino (800-369-9663), launched in 1992 and progressively expanded into New England's mega-casino with luxury hotels and country inns, health spas, and the hottest names in show business. Not bad for a tribe of 600 that secured federal recognition in 1983.
Next the Mashantucket Pequot conceived the largest and most sophisticated native-owned museum (800-411-9671) in North America, opened in 1998. Memorable encounters with history, science, and nature through sensory-enhanced exhibits such as a simulated glacial crevasse, an 11,000-year-old caribou kill, and a 16th century Pequot village join research libraries dedicated to all Native Americans.
In central Oregon, the Confederated Tribes (Warm Springs, Wasco, and Paiute Indians) of the Warm Springs Reservation developed Kah-nee-ta Resort (800-554-4786) to blend into their 600,000 acres of stunning high-desert terrain. Starting in 1964 with an RV park and overnight teepees along the Warm Springs River, they added a hillside lodge in 1972, an impressive museum in 1993, and a casino in 1995.
The resort's double Olympic-size pool and Spa Wanapine, added in 1998, both draw from mineral hot springs. Families can ride horses, mountain bike, kayak, hike, or play miniature golf. Adults enjoy challenging golf or steelhead fishing with an Indian guide. On summer weekends, native entertainers enliven fire-roasted salmon feasts.
SOUTHEASTERN SAVVY. To escape their removal to Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) in 1838, some 1,000 Cherokee hid in the mountains. Their 20th century descendants have long drawn tourists to their North Carolina reservation, which abuts Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
For Cherokee history, take a guided tour of Oconaluftee Indian Village, replicating their 18th century lifestyle. Attend the 50-year-old outdoor drama "Unto These Hills." See the multi-million-dollar renovations at the Museum of the Cherokee Indian and buy premium handiwork at Qualla Arts & Crafts. Outdoor lovers choose tubing, whitewater rafting, horseback riding, or trout fishing in streams regularly stocked by Cherokee Fish & Game Management. Fun parks and petting zoos cater to youngsters, while Harrah's Cherokee Casino lures adults year-round. Everything is spelled out in a compact Visitor's Guide (800-438-1601).
The 3,000-member Seminole Tribe of Florida, renowned for their legendary alligator wrestlers, has also plied the tourist trade for decades. Big Cypress, the largest of six reservations, offers Billie Swamp Safari eco-tours (800-949-6101) through remote wetlands on airboats or swamp buggies and invites visitors to sleep in thatched "chickees." More in-depth cultural exposure prompted the opening of the Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum (863-902-1113) in 1997 with an orientation film, exhibit hall, and a re-created village. Travelers' basic needs are met at the Swamp Water Cafe and a multi-use campground.
PLAINS PAGEANTRY. The spirit of our native peoples shines forth in their vibrant powwows, often open to the public. South Dakota's summer powwow circuit affords travelers weekend opportunities to learn about the Great Sioux Nation at each of their nine tribal locations. The state's "Guide to Indian Reservations & Art" (800-732-5682) details events, cultural sites, art galleries, and facts on casinos owned by eight of the tribes.
Since Oklahoma boasts the largest population of American Indians and serves as headquarters for 39 tribal nations, powwows fill its "American Indian Events" brochure. Patrick Redbird, a Kiowa and director of multicultural travel, suggests using I-40 to sample "Native America." Easy detours off the interstate lead to tribal museums and historical sites, all listed in Oklahoma's "Travel Guide to American Indian Attractions" (800-652-6552). Here's a preview:
Southeastern tribes led to Indian Territory in the 1800s settled in eastern Oklahoma. In Tahlequah, capital of the Cherokee Nation (now close to 130,000 strong) since 1839, the Cherokee Heritage Center consists of re-created villages and the Cherokee National Museum. Cherokees, Chickasaws, Choctaws, Creeks, and Seminoles are honored in the Five Civilized Tribes Museum in Muskogee. The Creek Council House Museum in Okmulgee completed an award-winning renovation in 1993.
Western Oklahoma integrates the heritage of tribes embedded in frontier history, such as the Apache, Arapaho, Comanche, and Kiowa. Anadarko created Indian City .A. in 1954, an outdoor museum with mini-villages representing seven tribes. The town's Southern Plains Indian Museum showcases tribal arts. And a primitive teepee encampment, Wolf's Heaven (405-247-3000), immerses adult guests in Plains Indian culture for a week (mostly Europeans) or a weekend.
SOUTHWEST SCENES. The Navajo Nation, largest among American Indians, holds a vast reservation. The fabulous mesas, buttes, and spires of its Monument Valley Tribal Park (435-727-3287) in Arizona and Utah get perhaps more media exposure than any other Western scenery. You may take a self-guided tour from the visitor center on a 17-mile unpaved loop road, or pay for a more extensive guided tour in a four-wheel-drive vehicle or on horseback.
Of exceptional beauty, Canyon de Chelly (d'-SHAY) National Monument near Chinle, Arizona, encompasses smooth-walled canyons and prehistoric ruins. Except for one self-guiding trail, all canyon trips are guided only. Navajos conduct tours in six-wheel-drive vehicles or on horseback, scheduled at Thunderbird Lodge (800-679-2473).
Pueblos throughout New Mexico preserve the heritage of native peoples. Acoma Pueblo, built atop a mesa for defense against raiders, is known as "Sky City." Acomans claim their 70-acre village is the oldest continuously inhabited city in the . Guided walking tours are available, and vendors sell the traditional white, orange, and black Acoma pottery, along with other crafts. The 150-room Sky City Hotel is set to open in January. The pueblo's Acomita Lake, which opened in April for its first full year of business, is stocked with thousands of catfish and rainbow trout.
In December, Hyatt Hotels Corporation, in conjunction with the Santa Ana Pueblo, opens the 350-room Hyatt Regency Tamaya Resort and Spa (505-867-1234), 20 miles north of Albuquerque. The largest resort ever developed on Native American land, it overlooks the majestic Sandia Mountains and Rio Grande River. Facilities include an 18-hole golf course, fitness center, and three swimming pools. The resort's design, from open-air courtyards to an adobe-style lobby decorated with tribal artwork, is reminiscent of an authentic New Mexico pueblo community.
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