Monday, January 17, 2011

Chattanooga Anniversary - Incline Railway & Point Park

After Rock City we drove over to the Incline Railway. We decided that we would start at the top, but would just do a round trip adventure. It was super crowded and we had to wait forever to get on the train. Then when we were at the bottom, the line was even longer! We decided to eat some lunch and check out a second hand clothing store. We even bought some items, but unfortunately left them on the train.  Had the ride on the railway not included the huge amount of waiting time it would have been a lot better.
Here is the view:
P1080580P1080583P1080584P1080587P1080588P1080592
Waving to the other train!
Here’s the view from the bottom and then on the way back up. We got to stand where the “conductor” stands. The guy felt bad for us, and let us on even though the train was packed. It made for some awesome shots and a little video.
P1080597P1080599P1080601P1080608P1080609P1080612P1080616P1080622
P1080623P1080630P1080632P1080636P1080637
Here’s the nice guy that hooked us up.
After the sweet ride on the railway we drove down the street to Point Park, which is also the Lookout Mountain Battlefield.
P1080640P1080638P1080641P1080642P1080643P1080644P1080645P1080646P1080648P1080649P1080650P1080652P1080656P1080659P1080660P1080661P1080662P1080663P1080664P1080666P1080667P1080669P1080671P1080672P1080674

Chattanooga Anniversary 2010 - Rock City

We decided for our anniversary, April 10th, we would go up to Chattanooga, TN to see some new things. Specifically we planned to see the Lookout Mountain attractions. We started with Rock City, which was very interesting. Basically it’s a bunch of rocks that you walk through. There are some cool parts, where you are slinking your way through two huge boulders, but there are also some super strange things like Fairyland Caverns and Mother Goose Village; it’s a good thing they save the super strange things until the end.
P1080308P1080310P1080311P1080312P1080314P1080316P1080317P1080319P1080320P1080323P1080326P1080327P1080330P1080329P1080331P1080332P1080333P1080338P1080343P1080346P1080358P1080360P1080361P1080364P1080368P1080371P1080372P1080349
There was this crazy guy chainsaw carving these huge trees. I think he made some furniture and things.
P1080375P1080378P1080379P1080384P1080380P1080381P1080382P1080385P1080386P1080387
P1080390P1080389
Sweet Bog Garden!
There were lots of pretty flowers
P1080352P1080359P1080391P1080394P1080396P1080400P1080401P1080439P1080414
Then there are a few things that aren’t so pretty:
P1080397P1080398
Here is Fat Man Squeeze:
P1080399P1080404P1080405P1080406P1080407P1080408P1080409P1080411P1080412
P1080417P1080419P1080421P1080422P1080423P1080425P1080434P1080435P1080441
P1080444P1080415P1080445P1080446P1080448P1080449P1080450P1080452P1080454P1080455P1080456P1080457P1080458P1080459P1080460P1080465
I took tons of pictures in Fairyland Caverns because it was totally bizarre. Check it out in my Picasa album:
Fairyland
You can also see more pictures of Mother Goose Village, which was also very bizarre.
P1080510
Overall Rock City was worth seeing, once. Walking through the rocks and seeing the scenery was nice, but there were plenty of weirdo things involved that made it not awesome. They had plenty of “unnatural” plantings around on the rocks, the waterfall was also man made, and they had a track of ambient woodland sounds playing when you initially walk through the rock garden. It’s very touristy. We experienced the difference between a National or State run park/attraction and a privately owned one, including Ruby Falls, which you’ll see soon.