Roadtrip: Chattanooga, Tennessee

David, Zara, and I left Atlanta on the 5th of July to begin our return trip to California. We had debated all the way up to the night before on what itinerary we would take to get there. We had to be in Poway by the 15th of July for my mom's 60th birthday and family reunion so we had to cut out some of the spots that we wanted to visit in order to make it back in time. Savannah and Charleston were at the very top of my list of places to visit but I knew that I wouldn't really be happy to spend only one day in each place. We figured that since we'll be back in Georgia many more times in the years to come that we could save that trip for another time. So instead we pointed our car northward and journeyed to Tennessee. Our end point for the day was Nashville. but we spent a delightful afternoon in Chattanooga, which is just across the Georgia border, in Tennessee.

While we ate a delicious lunch at the Mount Vernon Restaurant at the base of Lookout Mountain, we looked up some of the other attractions in the city. Just up the mountain, not far from where we sat, was Ruby Falls, a 145 foot waterfall located inside a mountain cave.

Being a fan of caves, we decided to head up Lookout Mountain to Ruby Falls after our meal.

We rode an elevator 1120 feet below the ground and met up with our excellent cave guide who explained all about the history of the cave and the falls, its discovery by Leo Lambert in the late 1920s, and the various types of cave formations we could see along our journey to the falls.

There were some truly awe-inspiring sights along the way.

My only complaint was that the journey to the falls took a long time not because it was a long and difficult walk, but rather because you had to wait for other tour groups to pass you as they exited the cave and many had very slow stragglers holding them up.

The nice thing was that our return trip took half the time (since other tour groups had to wait for us) but I'm sure on a slow day, a visit to Ruby Falls would be a quick and pleasant journey.

Still, it was nice and cool inside the cave, which was a pleasant break from the heat of a Southern summer day. Finally, slowly, we made our way into the chamber of the cave. It was completely dark when we first entered. And then the light show began:

The waterfall all light up was breathtaking. We were able to walk all around it, look up at it falling and take pictures. They don't know where the water comes from and the guide said that the water pressure varies and can shoot halfway through the room.

You only get five minutes at the falls before you have to leave so that the next group can come in.

Our guide was nice enough to take a photo of us at the falls. I'm really glad we stopped to tour Ruby Falls. We were planning on visiting Mammoth Caves on our way through Kentucky but that ended up not happening, so I was glad that we were at least able to visit on cave system in the Southeast. Apparently the South is full of caves and I'd love to spend more time exploring them in future.

After our pleasant stop in Chattanooga, we hopped on the I-24 and drove up to Nashville where we checked in the Hampton Inn near the Nashville Airport, ate some local BBQ, and planned our next day's adventure.