Day 13-Ruby Falls

Since I did not want to unhook the RV and drive up a narrow, curvy mountain road, I decided that we should take a taxi (Uber would not pick us up in our rural area) to Lookout Mountain to see Ruby Falls. As you might expect, the taxi smelled...like a taxi, spearmint trying hard to cover up fast food and cigarette smoke. However, once we arrived, we were treated to a great view of Chattanooga.

We walked into the visitor center and purchased our tickets to see Ruby Falls and while we waited for our tour, we ate lunch in oversized wood chairs on the front porch.

One of the things that was not advertised on the many highway signs promoting the falls is that there is a 160' elevator ride down to the cavern that leads to the Falls. Kristen was doing all she could to get in the elevator...and eventually did, but once we got to the bottom we stepped out to a very low rock ceiling and narrow path, she just could not move on. So Kristen took a quick return elevator ride back up and the kids and I moved on with the tour.

It was a good thing that Kristen did not continue on the tour because the path squeezed in tighter at some points and the ceilings were as low as 5'. Along the way, the path was well and lit allowing us to see several different rock formations including stalagmites, stalactites, dripping spires and spiraling columns.

After about 45 minutes of walking through the caverns, we finally reached a dark room where we could hear the falls, but we could not see them. Then, slowly the multicolor lights turn on and the falls are revealed. We managed to get a few good pictures in the 3 minutes that we were allowed in the room. The tours run every 20 minutes, so we had to move on to make room for the next group. That said, the falls were magnificent! We then made our way back through the caverns and met back up with Kristen on the upper view deck located outside.

After leaving Ruby Falls, we took an Uber ride back to our camp site, with a side trip into Alabama just to say we visited...and to collect more dirt and rocks.

#Tennessee #Chattanooga #RubyFalls #Alabama