With just a few Ironman stragglers left we were able to settle into Chatanooga and explore. What better way to start than the Lookout Mountain Incline Railway. Wow what a ride, and talk about an incline, it is definitely an incline. We went to the top and wandered around a bit -most things were getting ready to close, that did not stop us from scoping things out for the next day.
Point park was a short walk from the incline. Before returning down the mountain we stopped there. You will find the National park service’s Chicamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park. There was a clash between the Confederate and Union army in Chattanooga, so much civil war history in this area, this could be almost a day stop if chosen wandering different mountain trails and becoming immersed in the history. We made a quick stop at the gift shop before carefully climbing into the incline and starting our journey back to the valley.
You know are love of everything vintage so of course the obvious choice of hotel was the Chattanooga Choo Choo -once a 1909 railway terminal it is spectacular. The room was an oasis. A nice hot shower was greatly appreciated and necessary before dinner!
Just a quick evening walk through the Glenn Miller gardens over to Nic and Norman’s for dinner (owned by Norman Reedus and Greg Nicotero)-that was a fabulous meal. How could one not have a fantastic night’s sleep after such a relaxing time-we were definitely going to be ready for the big activities planned for the next day.
We repeated our evening walk in the morning and had breakfast at the Frothy Monkey -local sourced ingredients and fresh roasted coffee. This led to a discussion that helped make the decision to book the room for an additional night. No rushing for us to figure out anything later, we imagined we would be tired after the day’s adventures.
We are truly suckers for old gift shops and we passed one riding the incline up the mountain. Since the mountain road goes over the incline and by Mountain Memories Gift Shop we stopped, Purchased a few items and continued up the winding mountain where Ruby falls awaited us. This was a classic tourist thing to do for sure. Mr. Trent remembered it being exactly the same when he was little. There were a lot of steps and some tight passages which was good prep for fat man’s squeeze at Rock City. The views were incredible, just the beginning of many beautiful views for the day-starting more than 1120 ft below the mountain surface to an incredible view of seven states from Rock City Park. Believe it or not the view of seven states was not the last one on this trip!
I had never been to either of these places -a little further than the normal vacations my parents took my brother and I on. I know my dad would have loved all the photography opportunities and mom would have loved the miniature scenes in fairyland caverns. Both parks were a delight with breathtaking views and very cool rock formations below and above ground.
More later on our excapades.
Point park was a short walk from the incline. Before returning down the mountain we stopped there. You will find the National park service’s Chicamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park. There was a clash between the Confederate and Union army in Chattanooga, so much civil war history in this area, this could be almost a day stop if chosen wandering different mountain trails and becoming immersed in the history. We made a quick stop at the gift shop before carefully climbing into the incline and starting our journey back to the valley.
You know are love of everything vintage so of course the obvious choice of hotel was the Chattanooga Choo Choo -once a 1909 railway terminal it is spectacular. The room was an oasis. A nice hot shower was greatly appreciated and necessary before dinner!
Just a quick evening walk through the Glenn Miller gardens over to Nic and Norman’s for dinner (owned by Norman Reedus and Greg Nicotero)-that was a fabulous meal. How could one not have a fantastic night’s sleep after such a relaxing time-we were definitely going to be ready for the big activities planned for the next day.
We repeated our evening walk in the morning and had breakfast at the Frothy Monkey -local sourced ingredients and fresh roasted coffee. This led to a discussion that helped make the decision to book the room for an additional night. No rushing for us to figure out anything later, we imagined we would be tired after the day’s adventures.
We are truly suckers for old gift shops and we passed one riding the incline up the mountain. Since the mountain road goes over the incline and by Mountain Memories Gift Shop we stopped, Purchased a few items and continued up the winding mountain where Ruby falls awaited us. This was a classic tourist thing to do for sure. Mr. Trent remembered it being exactly the same when he was little. There were a lot of steps and some tight passages which was good prep for fat man’s squeeze at Rock City. The views were incredible, just the beginning of many beautiful views for the day-starting more than 1120 ft below the mountain surface to an incredible view of seven states from Rock City Park. Believe it or not the view of seven states was not the last one on this trip!
I had never been to either of these places -a little further than the normal vacations my parents took my brother and I on. I know my dad would have loved all the photography opportunities and mom would have loved the miniature scenes in fairyland caverns. Both parks were a delight with breathtaking views and very cool rock formations below and above ground.
More later on our excapades.
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