Last year we did Nashville for our after Christmas getaway, so this year we decided to head up to Chattanooga for a quick one night visit. It was extremely cold the previous couple of nights, but our days in Chattanooga were supposed to be a bit warmer, and were not really that bad. Our mom was fighting a cold and basically walking around in a fog for most of this first day driving up and going to visit Rock City. We picked up Sam and Noel in Cullman, so our drive was a little longer than usual, but there were some roads that I don't remember ever driving, so it was a fun little road trip. I think at one point, I was the only one awake, but usually I saw at least one pair of eyes in the back. Mom was asleep most of the time, sometimes with a tissue in her nose.
Rock City has always been a part of the Scott and Magan story dating back to 1998 with our first visit. Rock City is a popular tourist attraction atop Lookout Mountain, Georgia, known for its unique rock formations, gardens, Fairyland Caverns with blacklight dioramas, and the famous "See Seven States" panoramic view, all connected by a whimsical walking trail featuring bridges and tunnels. Originally developed by Frieda Carter in the 1930s with fairy-tale themes, it's famous for its charming, slightly kitschy atmosphere and the iconic "See Rock City" barn signs. And I wanted one more visit while we had all of the kids together.
But before you get to Rock City, we made the required stop at the Tennessee Welcome Center to play on the mosaic playground. Even when Magan and the kids are not with me, this place holds enough magic that I must stop to sit with the lizard. If you close your eyes, time slowly will come to a stop, and then begin turning back. I see little Sam and Davis' face looking through those holes in the seats. A little skip in the heart remembering young love in our first trip out of the state. Stopping to capture a picture on an actual film camera. Oh well, I saved a blog for the recreation pics later, for now, we just forced the kids to do silly pics that they had done before. Sam went along with this, but I could tell he was just being polite. And Davis for some reason would not recreate the picture where he looked like he was humping a turtle.
We filled up at Zaxby's before driving up to Rock City, and after missing a turn and allowing Waze to take us all over lookout mountain, we finally arrived at our destination. If you are going to Rock City, I would recommend you buy tickets early, as I learned that I could have saved some doh, and doh times 7 equals mucho dinero. But we were here, and we began our journey in the grand corridor. The weather was perfect, and we slowly shed layers as we made our way through the trails and paths of gnomes and fairies. The first section has never been a problem for me until the very end, where you cross the swinging bridge. And strangely enough, I feel fairly secure here, but almost get dizzy and fall over just looking at the Lovers Leap bridge. My legs go to jello, and my toes point completely backwards for most of the second part of rock city on these ledges.
Ruby had several areas where she kept up a running gag of "Ruby Falls". The boys and Belle apparently had nostalgia visions of the best kettle corn they had ever eaten being at Rock City, but when we got to it, it did not open until that night. I think there was some cropdusting that occurred in the Rainbow tunnel (Davis?), but I was just glad it did not occur at the Fat Man Squeeze. The end of the second half of the trail has been redirected significantly to make you walk a pretty decent hike before getting to the Fairytale Caverns. But we finally made it and finished the final portion of this historic trail. Perhaps a bit of the magic and amazing views is best when you are a kid, but I hope all of these kids will always remember these visits, and one day take their little guys up here. It was a pretty clear day, so maybe we did see all 7 states. It was clear enough that we saw mountains and pretended they were in those states claimed to be seen.
All of those memories at Rock City, and Davis' favorite memory was of the little eggs in the gift shop, so he had to get one as a pet. And Belle got a little Dinosaur at the gift shop she named "Dandy Nuggie". We drove back to the city and checked into our hotel directly across from the Aquarium. The Alabama vs Indiana championship game had just started, so some watched/slept thru that, while me and Ruby walked around Chattanooga a little bit. That was probably one of my favorite things of the day, just hanging out with Ru, and walking over all the big stairs in front of the aquarium, seeing the horse and carraiges (her favorite was the Grinch one), and then walking a couple of blocks around the city to see some sites.
That night, Mom had to have her New Years Day food, and while I could not find a place for all of it, we did find a Pucketts that had greens, beans, and some pork...not perfect, but it worked. Me and Sam shared "The Farm" and got a ton of food, of which Sam ate the majority of, then Sam continued eating what everyone else left. Davis looked up at Sam with eyes of pure astonishment at the amount of food that Sam put down that night. I don't remember much more of that evening. Alabama was embarrassed by Indiana. Anabelle walked out of pucketts with toilet paper on her shoe in true comedy movie style. Sam sent me the picture of Magan at the pucketts table still with sinus issues (Do NOT show this picture to mom everyone). Back at the hotel, the girls wanted to swim for a bit, and I went down there to watch them. Ruby will remember that I scared her to death when it was time to leave, by bending down in front of her face as she was coming up out of the water. After wiping the water from her face and seeing my crazy dad face, she screamed loud. Later she told me "it was embarrassing" with those other people also swimming. But she said is smiling, so I think it was OK. And then we all went soundly to bed in adjoining rooms. At least most of us slept ok...Davis described the symphony of snoring amongst Magan, me and Sam to be a "Chainsaw Convention".
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