Detour

We were originally going to head towards New Orleans from Savannah, but it turns out the time we would have been there was the tail end of the New Orleans Jazz Festival.  Since that makes things twice as expensive and crowded we made the tough decision to pass on New Orleans and headed north to Chattanooga, Tennessee because we read about what sounded like some cool things there.

First, however, we stopped in Macon, Georgia at the Ocmulgee National Monument.  Those mounds behind us were created by ancient Native Americans and were used for a variety of things.  The ranger there was very nice and gave us some suggestions for our trip into Tennessee.

This is Ruby Falls.  It is a 145 foot waterfall that is about 1120 feet underground in Lookout Mountain next to Chattanooga.  Fun fact: Lookout Mountain is the southern most mountain of the Appalachians.  It's a total tourist trap but our guide was really fun and the waterfall is really cool to see.  The man who discovered it in 1928 supposedly crawled for 7 hours before being able to stand up and discover the chamber with the waterfall.  He then brought his wife to show her and named the falls after her.  Our guide joked convincing the wife to crawl through the cave was a bigger feat than actually discovering the falls.

These three pictures are from Rock City which is another tourist trap on Lookout Mountain but nonetheless fun and beautiful if a bit weird.  At the top lookout point they make the dubious claim that you can see seven states.  It was originally created by eccentric rich people.  Basically the owner wanted to create a neighborhood at the top of the mountain.  His wife was really into European folklore and gnome statues (like, really into gnome statues) and turned it into a big rock garden with one section that is all scenes from fairy tales and nursery rhymes.  Fun fact: part of their wealth and ability to finance the gardens was because the owner invented mini golf.  He wanted a golf course but a big one would take too long make, apparently.

This is while we were riding the Incline Railway which goes from Chattanooga up Lookout Mountain.  Towards the top of the mountain the grade is 72.7% which makes it the steepest passenger rail in operation.  A cool fact and the last section is really steep which is an experience but the ride doesn't have the best views compared to Rock City.

The Chattanooga Choo Choo here is at the site of Terminal Station which used to be an important railway station in years past including during the Civil War.  Now the building and old train cars are a hotel.  It's a pretty cool site.  Overall, Chattanooga was a really fun place to visit which is awesome since it was never on our original list.