Lookout Mountain!

This Fall we welcomed a new Sasser to the family through a beautiful wedding up in North Georgia, right across the Tennessee line.  Taking advantage of the trip up there, we decided to explore Chatanooga and had a wonderful time!  From all the things on Lookout Mountain, a fun and charming downtown area, the aquarium, and wonderful Fall weather, we enjoyed it all.  I have to break up the trip into a few posts because I have so many fun pictures.

We took the kids out of school on Thursday and Friday due to the long drive up to Chatanooga (and hopes to get as much exploration out of the trip as we could).  I hated to do this, seeing as we had missed multiple days a week, the past few weeks, due to storms (AND the school actually closed down that Thursday anyway due to another storm, geez Louise!)  Still, worth it for the time together and all the cool stuff we got to see. 

On Friday we spent the entire day exploring Look Out mountain, which included Ruby Falls, Rock City and the Incline Railway. First stop, Ruby Falls, where we went deep into the mountain, following the (now excavated) path of Leo Lambert to see a beautiful, underground waterfall - named for his true love - within the mountain itself.

I don't think I realized that we were going INTO the mountain when we took the elevator down, and I had to force myself not to think about it.  I cannot imagine what the first cave explorers must have felt, crawling on hands and knees through the tiny passages. 

Hard to describe the beauty of these Falls - especially considering how deep within the mountain!  

After we came out of the cave (and I could breathe easily again!), we headed over to Rock City for further exploration, - this time, above ground.  I may have had trouble with the inner depths of the mountain, but some of the group had trouble with the heights on top of it!

(Note who's not in these pictures - JB and Gia. They did not want anywhere near the edge!)

After Rock City we had a great lunch at a local brewery and then got in line for the Incline Railway.  What beautiful views!  Albeit a little scary :)

It's more than a little nervewracking getting off the Incline at the top, as you hover at an odd angle and get the feeling you could plummet at any time.  We had to practically drag Gia off so we could look around at the top - but glad we did because the views were breathtaking! 

Hard to believe this Incline has been running for so many years!

The weather could not have been more perfect and we had a great time exploring Look Out Mountain.  I'll treasure all the pictures and memories!