Tourists

We couldn't leave Chattanooga without hitting some of the tourists spots, so our first couple days there we headed to the historic Incline Railway. After some confusing customer service, we ended up with tickets for all three of Chattanooga's tourist attractions: Incline Railway, Ruby Falls and Rock City.

The Incline Railway is one of the world's steepest railways in the world. We boarded the train at the bottom and rode in it for ten terrifying minutes, backwards, up the mountain until we reached a 72% incline. I was relieved to finally get off the train and pleasantly surprised to look around at our view. 

A few days later, we made the most of a surprisingly sunny day and explored Rock City. Beautiful, massive rock formations and an incredible panoramic view over-looking seven states. And then, confusingly, an enchanted trail with faded gnomes and outdated fairyland caverns featuring glow-in-the-dark Mother Goose stories. Unfortunately our camera battery was dying, so we only took a few shots that day but trust me, no picture could do that place justice...

We headed over to Ruby Falls after that and barely made it into the last group tour of the day. After I held up the group buying some overpriced snacks at the gift shop and cramming them into my purse, we piled into the crowded, carpeted elevator and descended twenty-something levels underground. Ruby Falls is a massive, underground waterfall that is featured at the end of a guided tour through a cave. They keep the tour interesting with labeled rock formations, most of which resemble some sort of food. The waterfall was pretty incredible, and although the light show was a bit unnecessary, it was still really beautiful. We finished out our adventurous day with a huge feast of sushi and a pretty early bedtime.

This is the only photo I have of Ruby Falls and it was taken with my phone. I'm a terrible tourist, but trust me, I looked the part with my dead camera around my neck and an informative pamphlet in my hand.

I usually skip on tourist attractions when I'm visiting new cities, but all three places were fun, historic and cheesy in a really endearing way. It was like a fun, adult field trip. (Plus we had to use the tickets we got bullied into buying...)