Attractions – Page 4 – Seeing the Scenic City

The Blueberry Farm

We picked blueberries at The Blueberry Farm in LaFayette, Georgia this morning. We had a nice time, and we picked enough blueberries to last us a while!

The Blueberry Farm is open every day except for Wednesdays. Because of the pandemic, there was no contact with anyone during the process. There were clean buckets (labeled as such) on a picnic table by the parking lot. There are three different ways to pay: you can scan a QR code and pay digitally, or drop cash or a check into the payment box. The blueberries are $10 per gallon. You have to bring your open type of container to bring the blueberries home.

We arrived early, before 9 a.m. (it is open earlier than that) and we only saw one other person. We headed to the very back of the fields and did not see another soul until we left.

When we lived in Pennsylvania, we lived near a blueberry farm, and we went every summer. Those blueberry bushes were tiny in comparison to the ones at The Blueberry Farm, which has been established for a lot longer. Their website says that some of the original bushes are from the 70s! They are super tall! It is helpful that Derek is much taller than me. We made quick work by him picking at the top and me picking near the bottom.

I am looking forward to blueberries as a breakfast side and snack for the next few weeks!

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.

Southern Belle Riverboat

When my parents visited last weekend, we asked them what they wanted to do. The thing my mom wanted to do the most was ride on the Southern Belle riverboat.

There are a couple of different rides that you can take on the Southern Belle, which sails from downtown Chattanooga on the Tennessee River. The regular hour and a half sightseeing cruise is the most popular one and runs most frequently during the summer.

If you are looking for something a little more special, there are lunch and dinner cruises, sunset ones, fall foliage cruises and a cruise through the Chickamauga Dam locks. We picked the regular sightseeing one, mostly because that is what we were limited to, pandemic and all.

The sightseeing cruise comes with unlimited popcorn (not really unlimited, but you get a big bag that is plenty to go around) and souvenir plastic cups for unlimited soda. Honestly, we thought the popcorn was stale, and we didn’t get any soda, but we weren’t in it for the food. We did bring the cups home though!

The neat thing about the Southern Belle is that in order to dock, you have to first enter a larger dry docked riverboat. That’s where the gift shop is, where you buy tickets and there’s even the 3rd Deck Burger Bar.

The boat ride first takes you south about half way through Moccasin Bend, alongside Lookout Mountain. It was neat to be able to see the top of the New York Monument in Point Park, a place that Derek and I visited last fall. Then the boat turns back north and goes under all of the four main bridges near downtown. The trip is an hour and a half total.

The trip features narration, where you learn facts about the river, what you see on the shore and some of Chattanooga’s history. We were treated to music from the Southern Belle’s calliope, or steam organ.

We enjoyed our time on the cruise. This is something I would like doing again in the future.

Southern Belle10 — The Southern Belle getting ready to dock.

Southern Belle13 — The inside of the boat, where you would eat during lunch/dinner cruises.

Southern Belle32 — The third deck of the boat. Too crowded for us! We were lucky and found a table by itself on the front of the second deck.

Southern Belle40 — Lookout Mountain from the river.

Southern Belle49 — One of many groups of barges.

Southern Belle67 — The Market Street and Walnut Street bridges.

Rock City

My parents visited us for a long weekend and we did a lot of outdoor activities in an effort to try and stay safe.

Advertisements all across the south say to “See Rock City.” It’s been ingrained in my brain so much that I accidentally call the attraction “See Rock City,” when I’m supposed to drop the See. But now I can say that yes, I have seen it!

Rock City is at the top of Lookout Mountain in Georgia, and it features a 3/4 of a mile trail. The trail meanders through different themed areas featuring gardens and scenic views. You can sort of get a feel for what you are going to experience by looking at the website, but we truly did not know what we were in for until we experienced it ourselves.

Because of the pandemic, and a poorly timed computer update, our experience wasn’t exactly the best, but I can’t see how social distancing at Rock City is even possible. They are offering timed entry every 15 minutes. When I bought the tickets, we were the only four at 8:45. However, there was a computer update which backed up the 8:30, 8:45 and 9 a.m. entries. Even though we went to Rock City on a Friday morning, there were still so many people. At first we tried really hard to keep our distance from others but it was impossible. I wasn’t exactly happy about it, but we eventually just had to let our guard down a little and weave in and out of the other people as best as possible. We wore masks, but hardly anyone else did.

Some of my favorite parts of Rock City were the swinging bridge, the rainbow room and of course the view from Lover’s Leap. There are different shops and restaurants at the beginning of the trail, and some in the middle as well, around Lover’s Leap.

We went on a cloudy morning, and the Saharan dust cloud was approaching, so we did not have the best, clearest views. This is just an excuse to come back, maybe in the fall. Rock City is definitely something I would do again, and my parents agreed. They offer different types of events throughout the year. I am most looking forward to Enchanted Garden of Lights, which is their Christmastime event. You go at night and walk through the trail to see the Christmas lights.

Rock City33 — There were a lot of cute, whimsical doors to walk through, which signified different sections of the trail.

Rock City42 — The swinging bridge. There is an alternative, stone bridge if you are scared!

Rock City57 — We probably did not see all seven states on this cloudy day …

Rock City62 — At the top of Lover’s Leap.

Rock City86 — Posing with Lover’s Leap in the background.

Rock City109 — Fairyland Caverns featured scenes from fairy tales. Here is Little Red Riding Hood.

Rock City114 — Mother Goose Village, featuring scenes from different nursery rhymes.

Rock City72 — Can you make it through “Fat Man’s Squeeze?”

Lookout Lavender Farm

My first job while living in Chattanooga was working for a start-up newspaper in Dade County, Georgia, which is just over the Tennessee/Georgia state line. One day this past winter, while searching for article ideas, I found Lookout Lavender Farm. While the farm is not in operation during the winter, it would make a great story come summer time. Well, the paper has since shut down, so no article could materialize, but that didn’t mean that Derek and I couldn’t check it out for ourselves!

Lookout Lavender Farm is located on Lookout Mountain in Rising Fawn, Georgia. Every year the farm opens up for a short two-week lavender season. People are invited to pick bundles of lavender, but if you don’t want to pick, then you can just come up to enjoy the fields.

It cost $10 to get in, $5 a person, and a u-pick bundle is $7. They were also selling their own line of lavender products. We bought lip balm.

It was a lovely morning, and the lavender fields smelled amazing! We spent some time picking our bundle, and then we just enjoyed walking through the lavender. We made sure to get a lot of photos! The fields are the perfect place for portrait photography.

Chickamauga National Military Park

I love Civil War history, so a visit to Chickamauga National Military Park was a must. My co-workers had said that the park had opened back up, and they had enjoyed their time there.

Let me just say … the beginning of our visit was a disaster! One co-worker told us about these trail maps that had questions that corresponded with the monuments and sites, almost like a scavenger hunt.

We printed one out for the General Bragg Trail and on Saturday morning, we set off. And we immediately got lost. So lost in fact, that we walked half a mile out of our way, one mile round-trip. Not to mention that Derek had already drank all of his water. So we went back to the car, bought a 24-pack of water and more snacks at a grocery store at the entrance of the park and started again. And we got lost again … and again.

It made me feel really stupid, especially because my co-worker had done that exact trail a week before, and she said the map with the turn by turn directions really helped her. What were we missing? We saw the marker for the trail where it started, but then we immediately lost the trail after the first monument.

There was a lot of arguing and a few tears that threatened to come out, but we managed to salvage the day. Eventually we just gave up on trying to find the General Bragg Trail, and we got into our car and saw everything by driving around.

The park is beautiful and easy enough to get around (unless you’re like us and can’t read a map apparently). There were a lot of interesting monuments with beautiful relief details. I enjoyed seeing the different cabins, some that were turned into on-site hospitals.

We were there all morning, and we only saw about half of the park. I would like to come back and explore more. Plus, the Visitor’s Center was closed, so I’d like to see that next time.

The Battle of Chickamauga was fought September 18–20, 1863. The Union lost, but they retreated to Chattanooga, where they would win a series of battles in November.

Tennessee Aquarium

Last weekend Derek and I went to the Tennessee Aquarium. We went much sooner than anticipated, because February was designated “College Days.” Anyone who was a student or a faculty member got half off for everyone in the paying party. Why wait when we can get in for half off now?

According to multiple sources online, the Tennessee Aquarium is one of the top rated attractions in Tennessee. People who have visited Chattanooga themselves, or those who are living here, have also recommended it to us.

The Aquarium is large, with two separate buildings. One building is River Journey and the other is Ocean Journey. Your ticket allows you to go back and forth between the buildings all day.

We started out with River Journey. It started out strong with otters and alligators, but I’m sorry to admit that I was soon bored. It was fish, and more fish, and more fish. There were some really large fish to ooh and ahhh at, but they all kind of looked the same to me. This is just my opinion of course, with no offense to the aquarium!

Ocean Journey was excellent however, with more of a variety of animals to look at. There were penguins, stingrays, starfish, sharks, seahorses, tons of bright colorful fish, and even a small butterfly garden! There was also a question and answer session with a diver inside one of the tanks. There were some other animal shows but our walk through did not time up with any of these.

I am glad that the Aquarium extended this offer to college faculty, so that we were able to go in the winter. It was nice to spend a day inside doing something different and fun, on a cold winter day.