Ruby Falls, Rock City, Incline
Railway & Point Park - Chattanooga, TN & Lookout Mountain, GA - July 18
We got up super early today to make
our reserved Cave tour time at Ruby Falls. Ruby Falls is the nation's tallest and
deepest underground waterfall open to the public. Discovered in 1928, Leo
Lambert and a team of excavators found a breathtaking waterfall deep within
Lookout Mountain in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Lambert named the falls after his
wife, Ruby, and opened the Chattanooga attraction to the public in 1929.
As caves go, it was under-whelming as
far as quantity of formations. However, the tour guide was very good at
building the excitement. (in a Andy Griffith kind of voice and demeaner) They
also used colored lights to highlight some of their formations which made them
very unique.
Cactus & Candle
looks like the donkey's butt
Dragon's Foot
bacon
potato chip
tobacco leaves
Niagara Falls
When we got to the falls, it was dark
except for the 5 foot deep pool at the bottom. At first everyone just gazed up
wondering if that is all there will be to see, when the guide turns on the
light and music plays. It really was dramatic and quite beautiful. It’s a 1
mile round trip, so it’s a small cave.
the pool
Annette
Greg
the ceiling
the ceiling
desert sunset
Ruby's Drapes
elephant's foot
After the tour we went up to the
observation tower for awesome views of the Tennessee Valley and the Cumberland
Plateau.
From there, we went about 5 miles to
visit Rock City Gardens. Rock City is a walk around a 4,100-foot Enchanted
Trail set amongst incredible rock formations, magical caves, and breathtaking
views. They did a great job of incorporating the existing rock formations with walkways and a fantasy land of garden gnomes and stone and
swinging bridges.
There were many narrow areas to walk
through such as Fat Man's Squeeze and Needle's Eye. The views from Lover’s Leap
were beautiful. You can see seven states from Lover's Leap. This is one of the earliest "tourist attractions". He also invented Tom Thumb golf.
Annette
Greg
Greg in the bird house
swing bridge we walked across
Lover's Leap
junk yard in the distance
We had a great lunch at Café 7
overlooking the beautiful view next to Lover’s Leap.
Beef Brisket with crispy fried onions and sweet potato fries
Cuban sandwich & sweet potato fries
After lunch we finished the walkways.
he invented Tom Thumb golf (miniature golf)
Our next stop was at The Incline
Railway aka “America’s Most Amazing Mile” which is a funicular railway system
over a hundred years old. It's powered by two 100 horsepower winches developed
by the Otis Elevator Company. The Incline Railway is an approximately one-mile
long single-track system, except for the passing loop in the middle, allowing
both counter-balanced trains to operate at one time.
The Incline’s trolley-style cars
climb through the natural beauty surrounding historic Lookout Mountain at a breathtaking
72.7% grade – straight up!
We did something similar in
Montserrat, Spain to a monastery which to me seemed steeper. Maybe, it was just
taller, and the incline wasn’t as much. It still was a fun round trip. At the
bottom we had some ice cream before riding it back to the top.
at the bottom
our ice cream stop
We took in the panoramic views from
the observation tower at the Incline’s top station.
From there we walked 3 blocks to The
Point Park which is a National Park where the “Battle Above the Clouds” was
fought in 1863. We hiked around there for a while and took in the small museum,
before heading back to the hotel.
walking the 3 blocks we watched the funicular head down the track
Point Place Park
On the way we stopped at a lookout to
watch the Incline Train start at both ends and meet in the middle and separate
and continue in their direction to the end of the line. We grabbed a soda at
the convenience store and headed back home.
Tomorrow, we travel to Jacksonville, FL.
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