BEAM ME UP, SCOTTY

Where the heck ARE we?  Patience, Grasshopper.

We exited North Carolina and entered Tennessee.  The views from the road here are a little more open and made for very pleasant driving, here along US 64:

Also happy to report that the road signage is vastly superior to N.C.  Even though they still have multiple numbers for the same road, they are clearly and repeatedly displayed before, at, and after intersections so you have some confidence you’re on the right route.  Our destination was Chattanooga, which has all the usual Southeast attributes:  gorgeous blue-green mountains all around, a river running through it, and several attractions we wanted to see.

The first was Rock City.  Somewhere in Loni’s family album there’s a photo of her as a 4-year-old visiting Rock City.  She had a vivid memory of it, so this was for nostalgia as much as inherent value.

This was a bizarre mixture of kiddie kitsch, great garden layout, and spectacular views.  There are paths that wind through a wild rock landscape:

with overlooks that were amazing (sorry, dear, I ain’t gonna leap):

and a long, winding pitch-black grotto path that had side exhibits for the kids, using black lighting.  They had displays covering virtually every fairy tale or nursery rhyme you can imagine:

If I was five again, I think I’d eat this stuff up!

Next stop was the Lookout Mountain (from whence Grant surveyed the town during the Civil War) Incline Railway.  Near the top, the grade is 72.7% (!!!), which makes it the steepest passenger railway in the world.  It was quite a trip:

It also was brutally hot.  There were only two windows cracked open, and the sun coming in through the side and overhead window glass was giving us the full sauna treatment.  After that, we needed something cool, so it was off to Ruby Falls.  These falls actually reside over a thousand feet underground, and over two thousand feet back in a cave first discovered in back in the 1920’s.  This isn’t much of a spectacular cave.  The discoverer spent 17 hours crawling on his belly or knees before getting to a place where he could stand up and move into the falls room.  What we have today is largely a long passage dug out by man, not nature, but it does have some interesting formations (and, in Tennessee fashion, clearly labeled):

 

But it’s the Falls that are the big deal.  145 feet high, they spurt out of a hole in the ceiling like a giant shower.  Periods of stronger flow caused it to swirl around, etching the rings you see in the rock.  They’ve kinda hoked up the experience with a mini light show (hence the colors in the pictures) and with “ethereal” music, but it’s undeniably a beautiful sight.

Adequately refreshed by the 60 degrees of the cave, we went back out into the 97 degrees and hideous humidity, helmeted up, and took off for the Hunter Museum of American Art in downtown Chat.  They boasted of a collection of big names that even I was aware of.  The museum is housed in a modernistic structure and an old mansion, connected from the inside, and sits on a bluff overlooking the river.

While we enjoyed it very much, the American “masters” were limited to one example each, and that one was usually something 2nd rate. Oh well.  They also had a very good exhibit of blown glass, and great videos on how the stuff is made.  Outside, the museum is adjacent to a revitalized housing/shops area, connected by a glass bridge that freaked Loni out.  She wouldn’t walk on the clear part, but stuck to the middle:

Part of the adjacent revitalization is an old bridge that has been converted to a pedestrian and bicycle bridge over the river.

Very cool (literally; the river helped cut the awful heat).  We thought Chattanooga was a pretty nice place.  It also was the end of our touristing.  From here we’re essentially going to get on I-40 and just drive.  Homeward bound.  It’s been a great trip!