Year Three - Day Thirteen

Sam's View

Today we packed up again and drove to Horse Cave, KY which is near Mammoth Cave. We left at about 10:00 and got there at about 2:30. The drive was about 285 miles.

Summer's View

Yes, we drove to the big metropolis of Horse Cave, not to be confused with the equally large city of Cave City.  :)  Quaint little towns, although it was still off season, so everything was looking a little deserted.  As we arrived, you guessed it - RAIN!

Year Three - Day Twelve

Sam's View

Today we did a boat ride on the TN River. The boat was called the Southern Belle Riverboat. It was a 1 ½ mile boat ride. It was really cool! We also saw a purple martin bird that was awesome! :)

Summer's View

Although the boat ride was a short one, only about two hours, it was nice and relaxing.  The river was so high from all the rain the boat only cleared one of the bridges by a few inches!

Year Three - Days Ten and Eleven

Sam's View

Today was another rain day. I did some more minecrafting, watched some tv, and some more bike riding.  Next day, we did the Incline Railway. You start at the bottom of Lookout Mountain and go to the top. At the bottom the seats are at about an 18 degree angle leaning back and at the top the seats are facing forward at about a 2 degree angle. Also the incline is the steepest train ride in the world. The track at its steepest point it is a 77 degree angle going up! It is pretty cool.

Summer's View

Like he said, day ten was another rain day, although it did stop periodically.  Sam and Jim managed to spend a little time doing some metal detecting around the campground, finding some loose change, and, what Sam considered an "antique" - a pull tab from a soda can!  LOL  No luck finding any Civil War artifacts, though.

The ride on the Incline Railway was cool, and provided quite a view!  While at the top, we walked down to Point Park, and wandered about, reading about the Civil War battle that had taken place there, and enjoying the awesome views of the TN River below.  We hiked a short trail to the little museum there to see some old photographs of the soldiers sitting on the rocks of Lookout Mountain.

After we descended on the Incline Railway, we walked down the street to a little place called Mojo's and had the best salsa I have ever eaten!  They had great food, all fresh and Mexican themed!  Yum!

Year Three - Days Eight and Nine

Sam's View

Today it was raining all day so we stayed in the rv all day. I did some minecrafting and some bike riding.  The next day, we went to the TN Aquarium. They had lots of fish and other animals there. I got to sit next to piranhas and lay down under huge fish. It was really cool!

Summer's View

It rained a LOT while we were in Chattanooga.  This big rain day I believe they had over eight inches of rainfall - wow!

On day nine, we went to the TN Aquarium, which was pretty large!  They had the ocean creatures in one building, and the fresh water creatures in another building, although there was a special exhibit of seahorses in the fresh water building - haven't figured that one out! LOL

Outside, the landscaping was arranged to resemble an earthquake had come through and broken up all the sidewalks and bridges - interesting and different!  And when you enter the ocean building, we rode the longest escalator to the top floor for viewing exhibits that I have ever seen!  I believe it took us up four floors!

After the aquarium, we ate at a local place called Sugar's BBQ, which I had read good reviews about in a local mag.  They were right!  It was delicious!

Year Three - Day Seven

Sam's View

Today we went to Ruby Falls. The 3^rd most visited cave in the world. 1^st is Carlsbad Caverns 2^nd is Mammoth Cave. Ruby Flls has an elevator that goes down 360 ft then when you get out of the elevator you walk 4/10 of a mile. In that 4/10 you go down another 800 ft then after that you go into a huge room 145 ft tall with a waterfall in the room. Every 6 to 7 minutes they have a really cool light show!

 

 

Then later that day we went to Rock City. They had lots of cool stuff there. We walked under a 1000 ton balanced rock and went through a tunnel of crystals. Also we could see 7 states from there! :) After we saw all 7 states daddy had a beer then it started raining again for the rest of the day!

 

 

Sam was a little nervous about going across the swinging bridge above.

 

 

 

 

Summer's View

 

It's a good thing Sam knows all the statistics about Ruby Falls, because all I remember is elevator ride, cave hike, cool falls!  :)  The tour guide was really funny, putting on a heavy country accent, like making fish a two syllable word - fi ush.  lol

 

When I was a child, my parents used to winter in FL every year until I started school, so we drove right by Ruby Falls and Rock City every year.  I always wanted them to stop, but it never happened, so now I FINALLY got to see what all the fuss was about!  It was better than I thought it was going to be!  :)

 

Just the drive up to Rock City was awesome, and even though it was lightly raining, we still really enjoyed Rock City.  What a beautiful place!  The town around the area was so idyllic, I could live there, if not for the cold, yucky winter.  It was so great to watch Sam running and jumping and chattering up a storm about all the sights in the rock garden, rather than sitting inside in front of something electronic.  :)

 

Here are a couple more pics of Rock City - one called Fat Man's Squeeze, and the other is the pic on all the postcards of Lover's Leap.

 

 

 



Year Three - Day Six

Sam's View

Today we packed up and left at about 10:00 and drove about 120 miles to Chattanooga TN. We got there at about 12:00 and at about 1:30 we went to Cracker Barrel again :)

Summer's View

He forgot to tell you it was raining AGAIN!  :(  As you can see, we like Cracker Barrel. lol

When we got set up at the campground, we saw an ad that said Chattanooga has the fastest internet in the country.  They are right - it was awesome!!

Year Three - Day Five

Sam's View

Today we hiked on a couple of birding trails with Buster. I wanted to do it because I am doing a minor big year but we didn’t see any new birds :( After that we went back to the rv for the rest of the day. I did a little minecrafting :)

Summer's View

The morning view of the lake from the campground was breathtaking!

Buster loves to go on the hikes with us when we can take him.  He has to be in the front, however, so he and Sam are constantly competing for the lead.  :)  Everything in GA is lush and green from all the rain - just beautiful!

 

Sam said I need to explain what a "big year" is all about.  There is a fairly recent movie out called the "Big Year" that explains it all, but it is what avid birders call it when they go for the gusto and record every bird they have seen in one year, and they try to see as many as possible.  The movie is pretty good, by the way - Steve Martin, Owen Wilson, and Jack Black.