So, this trip started out a couple of months back when I decided I wanted to start getting out of Pensacola to see sites outside the area but not too far that I’d have to take a weeks vacation. The plan was to find a three day weekend and take an extra day off to turn it into a four day weekend. This should give me one day to drive to my destination, one day to drive back, and two days for site seeing or just relaxing. I started by drawing a circle around Pensacola at 560 miles. I figured that’s about an 8 hour drive and I really didn’t want to go any further than that. When I did this it surprised me how far I could get from Pensacola in a day. I could go as far west as Houston, as far east as the Atlantic Ocean, South as far as Port St. Lucie FL, and North as far as just over the Kentucky border. As far as I was concerned, the sky was the limit.
With Veterans day approaching I was having a hard time deciding on where to go. I had pretty much narrowed it down to Atlanta Ga., Savannah Ga., Gatlinburg Tn., or Nashville Tn., I decided Atlanta was out as I wanted to stay away from big cities for now and I’ve been to Atlanta. I also ruled out Gatlinburg as I been there already. I decided I wanted something North as I’ wanted to take some pictures of the leaves changing. I know, it was fairly late in the year but I was hoping. That knocked out Savannah. With Nashville left, I started looking on Google for sites to see around Nashville. In the process I ran across some pictures from Chattanooga. While they were interesting, at the time I was set on Nashville. After a a day or two researching Nashville, I decided it didn’t really have the sites I wanted to see. Remembering the pictures from Chattanooga, I went back and looked at it. To make a long story short, the Monday night before the Friday I was due to take my vacation, I made my hotel reservations in Chattanooga and bought my site tickets on-line.
Off to Chattanooga –
So I left Pensacola at about 8AM Friday. The drive was pretty easy. I used my Smart Phone GPS and it worked like a champ. I got to my hotel the Days Inn at Lookout Mountain at about 1PM. (They are on EST so it was actually 2PM local) I chose the Days Inn because it was only a couple of miles from the sites I’d be seeing and the cost was $52 a night for two double beds. The hotel wasn’t the best I’ve stayed in but it was still comfortable. The first night there I had to get out and do something as I didn’t want to stay in the hotel. I searched Google for some popular restaurants in the area and ran across The Terminal Brewhouse. This is a micro brewery in Chattanooga and they server Bison burgers which I figured was not something I’d get in Pensacola. It turned out to be pretty crowded so I made a good choice. The burger was good and so was the atmosphere and staff. Here are a couple of Pics from the hotel.
The Sites –
Saturday I got up early, about 9AM to get a start on my site seeing day. The first stop would be Ruby Falls. 
My kids know how I like driving up mountains so this was an adventure for me. The road up the mountain is two lanes and the speed limit ranges between 35 and 40. That means I drove 30MPH. The wait at the elevator going down to the cave wasn’t too long. We took the elevator down 260 feet. We walked through about a mile of cave before coming to the Falls. By then we had over 1000 feet of rock above us. The guide was very good and pointed out many sites along the way. The Falls are really awesome looking. The colors are made by the lights they have lighting them up. The lights shifted through colors it was pretty cool. One thing I learned was that if you use your flash, your camera will end up focusing on all of the water droplets in the air. It’s best to turn the flash off. We then walked the mile back to the elevator. I was wondering what would happen if they lost power and it turns out right next to the elevator is a door that leads right out the side of the mountain. Click for more Ruby Falls pictures. (I’ll add descriptions when I can)
Next stop, Rock City at the top of the mountain. Again, I had to drive to the top of the mountain for 
this and it was worse than the drive up to Ruby Falls. I made it in one piece, though. This site was not what I was expecting. It was better. You walk through these trails that wind through large boulders. Along the way, they’ve created scenes based on a gnome and fairy tale theme. At one point you enter a set of caves that are made up based on the Mother Goose tales and other fairy tales. I have really good pictures in the photo album link at the end of this article. The picture above is of “Lover’s Leap” along with a the water fall next to it. No, it is no Ruby Falls. Click for more Rock City Photos. (I’ll add descriptions when I can)
The last stop was the Incline Railway. This was the one site that disappointed me.
Basically it’s a train car that goes one mile up the mountain. The grade is 72 degrees making it the steepest grade train in the U.S. It still wasn’t that impressive. They have two train cars that run and the have a cable on a pulley system between them. When one car is at the top the other one is at the bottom. When the top car starts down it acts to pull the bottom car up. Of course it needs a little help or they’d both get stuck at the halfway point. The trip up or down the mountain takes a whapping 10 minutes. Click for more Incline Railway Photos. (I’ll add descriptions when I can)
