Chattanooga, Part 5: Incline Railway

As a child, I clearly remember asking my mother if we could ride the incline railway in Chattanooga.  It runs up Lookout Mountain and you can see the tracks from downtown.  I don’t remember the entire conversation, but her reasoning for not riding was: “I would get on that thing and fall to my death.”  I’m not sure of the exact wording, but she used the exact phrase “fall to my death.”  For some reason, that stuck in my young mind and I have never had any desire to ride the Chattanooga Railway or any other railway, for that matter.

And I should have just stayed with that idea, but we got package tickets with Rock City + Ruby Falls + the Railway.  So it was our last stop on the way out of town.

It was PACKED.  Seriously.  We stood in line for over an hour to get on and it was SO HOT.  Plus there was a live reggae band that I really enjoyed, but Brent not so much.  It was really loud and chaotic at times, but they were so into it, and I love watching that.

We finally got on the train and began the backwards ascent up Lookout Mountain.

At the very top there were some technical/mechanical difficulties and we totally stopped on the tracks.  They assured us it was “no big deal” but Mama’s words kept coming to my mind and I wondered if I was about to “fall to my death.”

We didn’t really realize that there would also be a line at the top to get back down the mountain and I’m not going to lie, when we stepped out onto the platform and saw the massive crowd waiting to get on and go back down, I almost cried.  But the views from the observation deck were nice.  Obviously, I am a sucker for a good view.

   

Ready to go:

We actually met a TN football player and his parents on the observation deck and stood in line with them for over an hour to get back down, talking football (of course I was just nodding and trying to look interested – ha!).  Finally, finally we were back down on the ground and we practically RAN to the vehicle.  Probably won’t go back to the incline railway.  At least not on the 4th of July.

So, Mama, just for the record, you are not missing out on anything. In fact, you would have absolutely HATED it and would have been tempted to jump to your death. Next time I’ll listen, I promise.

Chattanooga, Part 4: Celebration!

Saturday afternoon, we bought tickets to see Avatar in 3-D.  The show started at 8.  At 7, we were frantically looking for somewhere non-crowded to eat + realized that we were going to miss the sunset over the river while in the movie.  We started feeling rushed, decided that we didn’t want to feel rushed, and sold our Avatar tickets back.  We got a full refund!

Best decision EVER!

We ate supper and decided to walk across the Walnut Street Bridge.  However, when we got there we realized that Chattanooga’s 4th of July celebration was being held that night!  There was already a huge turnout.

And then….FIREWORKS!  Maybe the best I have ever seen?!  The first time I have ever tried to photograph a fireworks show.

    

After the fireworks we headed back to the hotel, exhausted.  At 10:45, it was way past our bedtime!  Ha!

Chattanooga, Part 3: Never Smile at a Crocodile

After our delightful experience at Ruby Falls, we headed downtown to the Chattanooga Aquarium.  Can you believe this is one of the best aquariums around and I have never been?

The major exhibit was the jellyfish, which was interesting.  They were displayed as “living art” and after seeing all of the exhibits, I was convinced.  Not that I am any less scared of them! But I must admit, they are beautiful. And I never knew there were so many different kinds!

The upside-down variety:

This is an actual…..animal?…..fish?….sea creature?  We were fascinated.

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And plenty of reptiles, naturally:

I can’t stand turtles!  I don’t think they are cute at all and they give me the same eewwwwww feeling as a snake does.  I don’t CARE if they are the slowest creatures on the planet and have no defense mechanisms except for the shell!  Just look at this guy!  Something about him is just so creepy.  Those eyes!  Those claws!  That neck!!!

But I do think penguins are super cute!  I don’t know if I had ever seen a penguin in real life before the aquarium.  Maybe at a zoo?  Anyway, they are so funny to watch.  The waddle is hilarious!

Miscellaneous fish and sea life:

And more jellies:

I love otters just about as much as penguins.  This is not a good picture, but he is swimming straight toward me and I thought it was so funny.  The otters just swam frantically around the tank.

  Tons of seahorses, and they were so cute!  They even had pot-bellied seahorses!  One fact about these creatures that I did not know: the males do the whole pregnancy thing.

Jelly glass art display.  I loved these things! 

So the aquarium was really interesting and there were lots of other creatures that we didn’t get pictures of or the pictures didn’t turn out great.  We saw an octopus!  And piranhas!  And tree frogs!  And sharks! And sting rays!  Actually, they had a supervised stingray tank so that all of the little kiddies could touch a stingray.  Me and Brent get right up to the edge of the petting tank, in the middle of the crowd, and I say: “Did you want to pet a stingray?”  He answers: “Um, no, you couldn’t pay me a million dollars to pet one of those things. They’re dangerous! They’ll kill you! Don’t you remember what happened to the Crocodile Hunter?”  My goodness.  Right in front of the little kids with their hands in the water touching said creatures, their parents who no doubt remember the tragic fate of the Crocodile Hunter, and the employee who was teaching the kids about the gentle ways of the stingrays. We just kind of slunk off after that.  No choice.

But all in all, it was fun!