Exploring – Page 3 – Seeing the Scenic City

Just another mountain to climb …

The purpose of this blog is to let our family and friends know about all of our adventures and day to day life in Chattanooga. This, of course, means that there will be some bad mixed in with the good.

If you’re a regular reader of Seeing the Scenic City, you’ll know that I’ve been struggling at my job for the past few months, as well as struggling with depression and anxiety that stemmed from the job.

I went on medication in early September. My anxiety has subsided, and when the medication worked, it allowed me to look at the work problems with clarity.

All of this leads me to say that Friday was my last day at my job. I put in three weeks’ notice in early October. With all honesty, I had wanted to quit my job since the summer months, so I am actually proud of myself for making it that much farther.

I will not go into too many details, but basically I realized that this was not the job for me. I was unhappy with the work I was doing. I was trying my best, but it became apparent that my best was not good enough.

This is probably not the smartest decision, financial wise. But it was the best decision for my health.

I have a few applications already out for some other positions, and I will keep looking for new jobs on a regular basis. In the meantime, I am looking forward to a (hopefully short) resting period.

In related news, yesterday we went on a challenging mountain hike. You can read about that here. One section of the trail lead to a beautiful overlook, where we could see the mountains on all sides, the river and a waterfall.

It was a great metaphor for what I am going through right now. Yes, things are hard, but if you put just one foot in front of the other, you will eventually get to the top of your mountain. Derek and I have made it over mountains before, and we will get over this one, too.

Cumberland Trail

Today we hiked a segment of the Cumberland Trail, starting from Signal Point in the town of Signal Mountain, and going as far as the Middle Creek suspension bridge before turning back, for a total of 2.8 miles.

For some odd reason, I thought this hike would be easier than the hike we did two weeks ago on Lookout Mountain. I was wrong! This hike was extremely rocky. There were very few spots where the trail was flat and even. There were many spots where we had to climb or duck under large trees that had fallen in the path! We just had a large storm pass through this week, so I’m not quite sure if a lot of those trees had always been there, or if some of the damage was new. There was one spot where a tree took out a small section of a wooden walkway, and that seemed new.

We started at Signal Point, and first enjoyed the overlook for a few minutes. The trail starts to the right, and almost immediately there are a ton of steep steps, known as “The Mousetrap.” I am not sure why it is called that, but this is what the internet told me!

After all of the steps, the trail starts out fairly easily, but gets quite hard! There were more rocky areas than flat areas. You had to look down with almost every step.

I was glad that the trail was well marked (white squares either in paint, or screwed into the trees as metal plates) because there were quite a lot of sections where we thought, “Is this really the way we’re supposed to go?”

At 0.4 miles into the hike, you reach Julia Falls Overlook. I have read online that the falls is usually dry, or just a trickle. I am glad that we went after two days of heavy rain, so we could see it!

We had Julia Falls Overlook all to ourselves for about 15-20 minutes. A few groups came in, but by that point we were ready to head on our way. (On the way back, after lunch time, there were quite a few people there.)

After that, we followed the trail for about a mile to the Middle Creek suspension bridge. We were by ourselves for about 5 minutes, and then all of a sudden so many people showed up! We think it’s because the bridge is close to the Rainbow Lake Trail, another popular area.

This hike was hard, but only because of the uneven ground. It was slow going, for sure. If I were to do this again, I would probably only do the first section to Julia Falls. As always, I am glad we did it, and I felt accomplished (and exhausted). This makes two mountain hikes in three weeks!

Signal Point Hike2 — The Signal Point Overlook at the start of the trail.

Signal Point Hike15 — Possible storm damage?

Signal Point Hike23 — The view from Julia Falls Overlook. The waterfall is in the far right of the photo.

Signal Point Hike25 — A close up of Julia Falls.

Signal Point Hike59 — Much of the trail was extremely rocky.

Signal Point Hike65 — The Middle Creek suspension bridge.

Hiking the Blue Blazes trail

I’m so glad that the weather has cooled down, and now we can resume hiking in full earnest! Last weekend we hiked the Blue Blazes trail, located in Moccasin Bend. This was our second hike in Moccasin Bend, the first one being the Brown’s Ferry Federal Road Trail. Read about that hike here.

To be honest, I’m not quite sure how long the trail actually is, because there is conflicting information. I saw it listed anywhere from 1.5 to 3 miles online, and the sign at the trail itself said it was 1.5 miles, but my phone recorded 2 miles worth of steps!

Either way, whether you think it is 1.5 or 3 miles, it is an easy, looped hike.

This is a woodsy trail, and the halfway point follows the river, with a path to get to the riverbank.

Another highlight of this hike is a swampy area that is covered in green algae. In that section, we found a tree that was heavy with fruit. We pulled some down and broke them open. They smelled like peaches. Don’t worry, we did not eat it! It was an interesting find though.

Hunter Museum of American Art

I’ve been having a rough go of things lately. Today, I took the day off from work — boss’ orders. It was nice to gift myself a three-day weekend.

Many of our weekends have been spent sitting on the couch, thanks to COVID-19. I wanted today to feel special. We decided to go to the Hunter Museum of American Art.

The museum has been on my Chattanooga to-do list since we moved here last year. Then we couldn’t go even if we had tried to, because the museum, like so many other places, closed down in March and stayed closed for an extended period of time. They recently opened back up a few weeks ago.

I’m still concerned about being around more people than necessary in an indoor location, but I thought it would be safer to go on a week day. We were by ourselves for most of our time there. It only got crowded later in the morning, when we were on our way out.

The Hunter Museum of American Art is in the Bluff View Art District. It consists of two buildings, a modern building and the historic Hunter Mansion. We both enjoyed our time there. There was a wide range of different types of art. My favorite were all of the landscapes, especially some of the autumn related scenes and ones of Chattanooga.

There was a special exhibit on display, The F Word: We mean Female! This was a whole collection of art by female artists in honor of the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage in the U.S.

A painting of Lookout Mountain, with the Tennessee River in the background.

A painting appropriately titled “Autumn.” I loved this one.

One of the displays in The F Word exhibit.

Soldiering on through this pandemic summer

August has been a hard month. The running theme has been depression and anxiety.

Derek goes back to work next week at UTC and I am scared. Yes, everyone will be wearing masks in the classroom, but knowing that he’s going to be around more people worries me.

I’m worried about Derek getting COVID-19 because his immune system isn’t the greatest. If someone else is sick, he usually gets it. He’s had the gamut of illnesses. It should be noted that whenever Derek is sick, I never catch it from him, but COVID-19 feels like a different beast.

I am struggling with work. It was hard to start a job working remotely from home, and to still be stuck at home almost five months later. Currently I’m working through a big project, and there has been a lot of confusion surrounding it. My anxiety is already high from the pandemic, and I’m an anxious person by default. Couple that with the confusion of the project and still working from home, well, let’s just say I’ve been a mess. My confidence and self-esteem are down. I cry a lot and I’m not sleeping well because work follows me into my dreams at night.

And then there is the long lasting cabin fever. We are still doing smaller activities in general. In a sense, one could argue that I have fulfilling weekends. Today I took two separate walks, worked on my scrapbook, read and watched The Sound of Music. But it’s not the weekend I want.

We still go to parks. We’ve walked the Walnut Street Bridge. We still eat at some of our favorite coffee shops and restaurants, or at least the ones that have large enough outdoor seating areas. But the problem is that we’re not doing anything new. My Chattanooga to-do list is stagnant. This is what I was afraid of in March, which feels like a lifetime ago.

The one good thing to come out of staying at home is that I’ve been challenging myself to take more photos with my macro lens. As the seasons progress, there are different things to photograph. I will attach some of my photos below.

I’m counting down the days until September. I want fall to come. I don’t expect anything to automatically change when the days get cooler, but I just need something to feel different — even if it is only the temperature.

The pandemic is not the only thing that has halted our activities. The heat has done that too. The only things we can do safely are outdoor things. Derek doesn’t handle the heat as well as I do. It’s just better to stay inside and stay cool.

When fall comes, there are some things on my to-do list that can be crossed off. I am looking forward to picking apples at Wheeler’s Orchard in Dunlap, Tennessee. We will also go hiking at Cloudland Canyon State Park in Dade County, Georgia.

With September also comes my birthday. We were thinking of making a lunch reservation at The Cookie Jar Café, also in Dunlap. The family owned restaurant has a large porch with seating, and, specifically for the pandemic, they also set up extra picnic tables.

There are plenty of indoor things open now, but do we really want to do any of it? Everyone wearing masks does go a long way in keeping everyone safe, but it’s better to wait it out for now.

A few hours in Ringgold, Georgia

After we finished blueberry picking in LaFayette, we were kind of hungry, and a drink was due. Derek Googled coffee shops in the area. He asked me if we had been to either Ringgold or Chickamauga before, and which town would I rather go to. I said no to both, and to pick whichever.

And so we ended up in Ringgold for a couple of hours. The town surprised us in a good way. We will more than likely go back there again.

We had a light lunch at Caffeine Addicts. I did not take any photos here, oops! I always get a chai wherever I go, since I do not like coffee. Usually chai doesn’t change too much from place to place, however, Caffeine Addicts featured toffee nut flavored syrup, a flavor I had not seen before. My go-to is usually hazelnut syrup. It was so good! I would definitely come back just to have that syrup.

Also, the people who worked there were wearing masks, and every other table was closed off. We were there before noon, so we pretty much had the place to ourselves.

We headed a few doors down to the cutest store front, A Fern and a Feather General Store. Derek bought moonshine jelly and muscadine cider (non alcoholic) and I bought a spoon holder for my tea that says “Today’s good mood brought to you by tea.”

If you’ve been reading for a while now, you probably know I love Civil War history. The Great Locomotive Chase ended in Ringgold. A group of Union men, led by civilian James A. Andrews, stole a train with the intention of running it to Chattanooga, damaging the railroad tracks in the process. The locomotive ran out of fuel in Ringgold, and the men fled on foot. Many of them were later put on trial and were executed.

We checked out the Ringgold Depot, which was closed at the time. We waited for a few minutes to see if a train would come through, but no luck. We drove about a half mile down the tracks until we came to the General monument. The General is the name of the locomotive that the men stole. I’m glad I texted my dad that we were there, and he gave us directions to the monument!

We will definitely come to Ringgold again, because someday I hope to do an entire Great Locomotive Chase day trip, stopping at each of the railroad stations and towns along the way.

Our last two stops in Ringgold were two antique shops that were next to each other. The one was called Cotton Gin Antiques, named for the business that was established by the Callaway brothers in 1929. The outside of it was so cool looking! It is a treasure trove for people who like to hunt for old items.

Ringgold Feed and Seed Antiques was next door. We were on the hunt for a basket to put on our table by the front door; a place to put our masks and hand sanitizer. We found one that looks great with our overall house decor. By the way, while we were there, that was when the train chose to come through! Oh well.

Ringgold is a nice little town, and there was plenty more that we did not check out during our time there. Because it’s only a half hour away, I am sure we will come back sometime for a half-day getaway.

Ringgold1 — A Fern and a Feather General Store

Monument for The General, the locomotive that was stolen by Union men.

Ringgold22 — There were cats at the antique store. I love this shot! Do you think this makes a good advertisement for Coca-Cola?

Ringgold11 — One of the rooms of The Cotton Gin Antiques.

Raccoon Mountain Caverns

Raccoon Mountain Caverns was discovered in 1929 by Leo Lambert, who also discovered and opened Ruby Falls. (An attraction we haven’t gotten to, yet.) The Caverns was one of the attractions we went to with my parents when they visited.

The Caverns features 5.5. miles of passageways. There are two different tours. We took the main one, the Crystal Palace Walking Tour, which only takes you half of a mile, and the highlight is the main room, dubbed the Crystal Palace. The second tour is the Wild Cave Expedition, which is more for adventurers and explorers! Our tour guide pointed out some of the tight squeezes that the Wild Cave tours go through. As someone who experiences claustrophobia, no thank you!

Raccoon Mountain was the only attraction that we went to that was inside, but oddly enough, it was where we felt the most safe. Our temperatures were taken before we even entered the cave. We were also treated to a private tour, we were the only ones there, aside from the guide. I am not sure if this is something they try to do in non-pandemic times though. Everyone wore masks, too.

Our guide explained the history and formation of the caverns and pointed out formations that were shaped like objects, such as the lizard’s head, Abe Lincoln and Darth Vader’s mask! He gave us plenty of time to look around, ask questions and take pictures.

The Caverns is on the site of the Raccoon Mountain Campground. It is a small campground, but they have the usual gift shop, camp store and pool. They have cabins for rent, which I hope to take advantage of someday. I have not been camping in a long time, and I miss it so much!

Raccoon Mountain Caverns36 — Darth Vader’s mask!

Raccoon Mountain Caverns44 — A view of the campground with Raccoon Mountain in the background.

An afternoon in South Pittsburg

Our pots and frying pans all seemed to lose their non-stick coating all at once, making it really frustrating to cook. We have been looking at different cookware options but couldn’t settle on anything.

I looked into Lodge Cast Iron, which is a nation wide brand, made right here in Tennessee.

Cast iron seemed like a great alternative, one that would last a long time, and I thought it would be a good thing to support a local brand.

Since Lodge Cast Iron’s foundry and main store are only 40 minutes away, in South Pittsburg, I looked into what else we could do for the afternoon.

We arrived in South Pittsburg right before lunch, and enjoyed a few minutes walking around what looked like their “main street” (actually called Cedar Ave.) and snapped some photos. There were some stores open, but we did not stop in.

South Pittsburg is home to the National Cornbread Festival, held every April. This year’s festival was cancelled due to the coronavirus. I would like to visit again for next year’s festival, if possible.

For lunch, we had originally planned to each lunch at a to-go coffee shop called Dragging Canoe. Repurposed in an old bank drive-through building, you can only walk up to the to-go window to order, and eat outside. We thought this was a perfect option in order to stay safer and keep our social distance. However, it was closed for the holiday weekend!

Instead, we ended up at Stevarinos, an Italian restaurant. I had a delicious Mediterranean pizza. Everyone wore masks, us included while we ordered, and the tables were all spread far apart. It worked as a plan B.

After lunch, we headed to the Lodge Cast Iron store. We bought two pans, a small one and a large one, and a dutch oven. For the dutch oven, and the larger pan, we bought factory seconds, meaning that there was a small imperfection in the casting, but it will still work just as fine. We saved a few dollars that way. The larger pan has a neat buffalo nickel design on the back.

Our last stop before going home was to stop at the edge of the river and snap a quick photo of the Shelby Rhinehart Bridge. We took that bridge home, into New Hope, Tennessee, instead of the highway, and we enjoyed some great views of the mountains around Nickajack Lake.

South Pittsburg1 — Derek on Cedar Ave. We decided to keep our masks on for the photos so we could remember these crazy pandemic times!

South Pittsburg9 — Stevarinos, where we had lunch.

South Pittsburg8 — This Mediterranean pizza was so good!

South Pittsburg15 — Yes, I am smiling under my mask!

South Pittsburg16 — A pretty view of the Tennessee River.

South Pittsburg17 — Shelby Rhinehart bridge.

Fort Wood Historic District

Last weekend Derek and I walked around the Fort Wood Historic District, a neighborhood in Chattanooga.

The neighborhood is right next to the UTC campus and is a couple of blocks wide. Two of the biggest homes are the Mayor’s Mansion Inn, which is a bread and breakfast, and the Patten House, a UTC building that houses the The Southeast Center for Education in the Arts.

“A fortification during the Civil War, Fort Wood was constructed by the Union Army in 1863. The National Park Service placed several war-era cannons in the neighborhood. In the 1880s, the fort and surrounding land was auctioned off. In time, Fort Wood became one of Chattanooga’s finest residential neighborhoods,” Wikipedia says.

We enjoyed walking around a new to us section of the city and mused about what it would be like to live in one of the homes. It was a good way to get outside and still practice social distancing. We did not see many people and those that we did were relaxing on their beautiful front porches.

Fort Wood Historic District0 — The Mayor’s Mansion Inn

Fort Wood Historic District14 — UTC’s Patten House.

Green Gorge Park

Derek and I have exhausted all of the walkable areas in our neighborhood. Last weekend we decided to drive somewhere random, to be able to walk in a new, different neighborhood. We found something even better, a small trail.

We drove up to Signal Mountain and parked in a CVS parking lot. We walked two blocks to Green Gorge Park, a skinny, but long trail. Even though there are houses and main roads on all sides, the trail is heavily wooded, so it makes you feel like you are miles from civilization.

The park is a long loop, almost 2 miles long, and passes next to Shoal Creek. There are two bridges crossing the creek on either sides (one of them is a swinging bridge, and there is a bridge in the middle. We took the middle bridge, so we only did one half of the trail.

It was relaxing to walk along side the creek, which formed small rapids and waterfalls. There was a lot of greenery and wildflowers. We even came upon a friendly cat!

One of my goals for living in Chattanooga is to hike as much as possible, so I am glad we found this small trail that we previously were not aware of.

Click to play video.