Day 225: “See Rock City!”… and more adventures

10/23/18 Tuesday:  It was a no-hurry kind of morning.  It wasn’t too cold or too cloudy outside, so it was a nice day for an adventure!  Enterprise Car Rental came to pick us up at about 9:30.  We got our car, and adjusted our rental to be just until Thursday.  With the crummy weather that is coming, Kenny & I decided that we would not stay until the weekend.  We were only thinking we would extend our stay if we were going to Gatlinburg and the Smokeys – and that didn’t sound so fun in the rain.

Once in the car, I suggested breakfast.  There was a place that sounded really great – The Maple Street Biscuit Company.  So we went to check it out.  It was nice and far different than your normal Denny’s or Waffle House for breakfast!  You order at the counter, and since it’s close to Halloween, they asked what your costume would be if there were no budget constraints.  I said IRONMAN, since Stark is our name.  When our order was ready, they called IRONMAN.  How fun!  Then they have lots of long-table seating along with regular 4-square tables.  Their philosophy is all about community and conversation, so you may end up sitting at a table with people you don’t know.  I had some amazing Gouda cheese hash browns smothered in country sausage gravy with an egg on top.  Kenny was in HEAVEN! with his biscuits and sausage gravy.

And they had this fantabulous orange juice machine.  100% fresh squeezed OJ flowed out into the cup and was full of out-of-this-world yumminess!

Next up was the adventure that we stayed in town for:  Rock City.  We drove up a squiggly road to the top of Lookout Mountain, and found Rock City.  In 1924, Garnet and Frieda Carter were going to develop a neighborhood called Fairyland, based upon Frieda’s love for European folklore.  But the depression hit, so it never took off.  However, Frieda had begun a project of her own. Her 700 acres of Fairyland also encompassed the legendary Rock City, and Frieda set out to develop this property into a rock garden to top all other rock gardens.  She marked out paths, and over the years this place developed into an amazing park of natural beauty and wonder!

On the weekends in October, they do Roctoberfest (I don’t know what that includes)… but this was Tuesday, so we just sat and posed with Giant Earl the Squirrel.

Since 1935, Rock City Barns have been seen all around the area as “genuine highway Americana”.  Big red barns would have bold white-on-black roof signs painted as advertising, compelling both snowbirds and Sunday drivers to this spot near Chattanooga, where they could “See Rock City.”  These fun “road signs” were a welcome sight as people recovered from the depression and started pleasure driving and seeing places just for fun again.

This was just the beginning of our scenic adventure.  The foliage was just starting to turn into some beautiful autumn colors.

Frieda enjoyed European folklore, and that included gnomes.  This doesn’t show them well, but there were several little gnomes in this little woodsy village.

The rock formations here were so amazing!  The walkways are all ‘paved’ with slate, so it is comfortable and not uneven to walk through.  But the formations are not manmade.  This narrow passage was fun – but once in there, Kennedy did not want to stop moving through it.

Kenny’s favorite part was getting me out on a suspension bridge, and bouncing.  AAAGGGHHH!  Fortunate for me, there were three senior ladies behind us who weren’t sure they liked it either, although they laughed and had fun with us.  Thankfully he couldn’t be quite as ornery as he wanted to be.

We found this beautiful view over a huge valley.  The Smokey Mountains are off in the distance.

We could see a corn maze below that spelled out something, but we couldn’t make out what it was.  There is a red barn on the left with “See Rock City” painted in white paint on the black roof.

From this vantage point, it is said that you can see seven states.  Rock City is actually in Georgia – yep, we hopped the state line on our way here.  Someone said there needs to be border lines out on the landscape so that we can actually see the where the state borders are.

I believe that this is the original home of the Carters, set way up high on this hill.  The picture doesn’t capture the stones and construction – it looked pretty neat.

We found ourselves being squeezed again.  This was was appropriately named Fat Man Squeeze!  Kinda scary for those with claustrophobia.

Kenny had to turn sideways to get his shoulders through…. and turned his hat to fit.  It was skinniest at the top and could be a real head bonker!

We came out and saw this lookout platform.  That is Kenny & Kennedy getting their picture taken out there.  Do you see that platform is suspended over NOTHING?!?!?  Nothing but AIR?!?!  ….  No – I did not go out there!  What?  Do you think I’m nuts???  No way JOSE!

The view of the waterfall was spectacular!!  This really is the signature scene for Rock City.  It was beautiful.   In another week or so, the leafy trees will have more color and it will be even prettier!  This is kind of a fairy tale scene all its own!

Frieda loved fairytales and folklore.  There was a whole big giant underground cavern section that had all kinds of fairy tale and storybook scenes.  This was Hansel & Gretel.  Kennedy didn’t want to stop for very long – I think being underground wasn’t her favorite part of the day.  I have a fear of falling and going splat.  She doesn’t like being where she can get squished.

After all the walking, Kenny enjoyed a minute in this cool log swing.

Here’s Kenny with his crew.

I didn’t even begin to capture how cool this place was!  There was so much beauty, from the gardens and all of the magnificent rock formations, tunnels, pathways, caverns, water features.  They were stringing lights for the holidays, and I’ll bet it transforms into something even more magical.  I’m glad we came to see it.

From Rock City, we headed back down the mountain, and found ourselves a Distillery.  Yes, of course!  Chattanooga Whiskey.

We did not do the tour, but we did do the tasting.  They have a big distillery in another location, so this one is just their experimental distillery.  They do all kinds of small batch stuff here.  And we learned that although you might think that Tennessee has always been big on whiskey…. think again!  Up until about 2010, distilling was only legal in three counties!  There are still 13 out of 95 counties that are dry, but at least the state now allows distilling statewide, if the local governments do.  And Chattanooga Whiskey played a primary role in getting the state laws changed.

I am still not a whiskey drinker.  But I must be slowly killing my tastebuds, because I drank all of my samples without choking or spewing.  But I still don’t like it.  The two on the far right were cocktails, and the ice had melted a lot, so they actually weren’t too bad.  An Old Fashioned and a Whiskey Rickey.

This was a really great old brick building, repurposed into the experimental distillery, and then more shops and such down the way.  I thought this wall that was done out of the whiskey barrel slats was really a neat idea!!  Look at all that texture, color and variety!

From here, we walked across the street to the Chattanooga Choo Choo.  Yes!  For real!  Another cool old brick train station building, turned into a hotel.

Check out the ceiling!!  So many train stations had big dome ceilings, huh?  It was interesting with the steel arches.

Out back was the old depot with various trains, tracks, gates, and the clock of course!  I remember my mom telling me that it was the railroads that instigated standard time and time zones, because they needed everybody synchronized for time schedules.  Seriously?!  Yep – it’s true!  I looked it up!  Standard time in time zones was instituted in the U.S. and Canada by the railroads on November 18, 1883. Prior to that, time of day was a local matter, and most cities and towns used some form of local solar time, maintained by a well-known clock (on a church steeple, for example, or in a jeweler’s window).  Standard time in time zones was established by U.S. law with the Standard Time Act of 1918, enacted on March 19. Congress adopted standard time zones based on those set up by the railroads, and gave the responsibility to make any changes in the time zones to the Interstate Commerce Commission.   My momma was so smart!  So there’s your history lesson for today!   We’ve only known what time it really is for 100 years!

There really was a Chattanooga Choo Choo.  It wasn’t just a made-up Glenn Miller song.

And here is this beautifully restored train!

This whole depot area is just getting developed, and it was great!  There were huge bocee ball courts, lots of corn hole boards, benches and nice seating areas.

There were a few rail cars that you could peek into.  One of them was a dining car that was being refurbished into a really nice dining room.  Others I couldn’t see into, but the plaque on the outside of the door said “hotel guest only”.  I think the sleeper cars are being turned into hotel rooms.  And then there was the taproom.  It was open for business.  They had several taps that were self serve.  You just get a touch card to use, go to the tap you want, and pour as much as you want.  It charges the card by the ounce.  Then when you’re all done, you settle up with the balance on the card.  It was pretty fun!  We got to taste a few different beers this way.

Pretty cool, huh?  I liked it because I could pour just an ounce at a time to try.

This was part of the complex – another cool old brick building being repurposed and refurbished.

The Chattanooga Locals store was full of things made here, and we found Moon Pies.  Who knew they were from Chattanooga?!  (Besides our friends Kent & Jane who live here.)

Speaking of Kent & Jane, it was getting to be time to go meet them for dinner.  There was nothing going on at their yacht club tonight, so we had the whole place to ourselves.  It’s a low-key kind of place.  Jane brought pizza, salad, pie & wine for our enjoyment.  The view was beautiful, and we saw two of their sailboats on trailers in the yard.  Even though they have a 34’ PDQ power cat (Rising Tide) that they spend their winters on in Florida, they are sailors at heart.  We saw Leap Frog and Frogzilla.  I forgot to ask what it is about frogs.  Kent has always enjoyed sailboat racing in his 22’ Catalina.  They actually did the Great Loop in 2013 in a 32’ Catalina sailboat before they got Rising Tide.

We just love these two!  It was so great to see them again, and we’re looking forward to seeing them this winter when they’re in Fort Myers…. and in the Bahamas.

And Jane had a special treat for us to save for when we cross our wake.  That’s the term for when we complete our Great Loop and are back to where we started.  Look at this wine!!  It was made for such a special time as that!  Thank you sweet Jane!!

It was a full day of fun, adventure, and friends.  It’s what the Loop is all about, right?  😁