What a view!

This is what the late evening sky looked like on Saturday from our camper. A portent of good things to come.

Travelers down the East coast on I95 will see a whole series of signs advertising "South of the Border" for miles and miles. Travelers in the South on various routes will see signs advertising "See Rock City", often painted on barn roofs. Well, yesterday, we got See Rock City. It is located on Lookout Mountain just outside Chattanooga. The city has three mountains and a ridge surrounding it so it's kind of in a bowl. There's Signal Mountain that gets its name from the activity of spotters in the Civil War. And then there's Raccoon Mountain, where our campground is, which has a man-made lake on top of it created by the TVA. They pump water up to it from the Tennessee river and then gravity feed it to the area. Missionary Ridge is another rise in the land across the valley.

And lastly, there's Lookout Mountain. It is a limestone ridge that rises steeply from the valley and has shear drops in several places. It's several miles long and large enough for quite a community of houses. Back in the 30's, Freida and Garnet Carter established a set of trails through the rocks on their property and encouraged people to  come and see them. They also built a house on the edge of the cliff that is still used as a private residence. They called the site Rock City Gardens. Garnet started advertising the site by having "See Rock City" painted on barn roofs. By the 1950's it appeared on 900 barn roofs. Of course, they weren't the first to see the sights from the rocks. The Indians had long ago made the journey. But they created the tourist attraction that has drawn people from all over ever since. On our visit, it was interesting to hear the many different foreign languages being spoken.

The attraction is the view from the many vantage points and rock outcroppings, some natural and some man-made. There is a famous sign indicating that you can see seven states from that one spot, and I think we could.

There are paths which wind through the rocks and sometimes go through very narrow spaces. Here is one called "Fat Mans Squeeze".

Here;s what it looks like from the bottom back up to this spot.

The views on a good day, like we had, are really worth the trip. There is a wonderful view of downtown Chattanooga.

At one place near the main overlook, there is a small stream that falls over a rock ledge. A bridge has been built over it and a path leads down into the rocks across from it. It's one of the iconic spots in the place.

They also have a suspension bridge that squeaks and rattles when you cross. The kids love to jump up and down and scare each other on it.

The classic souvenir of the place has evolved into a red and black barn with See Rock City painted on the roof. But one of the other signature items is gnomes. They have a gift shop full of them. As you follow the trails back into the cliffs and caves, the gnomes are often to be seen keeping watch.

We had a great time. We got our bird house and Diane found a shop with home made fudge that just was too good to resist. And anyways, who's trying? It's one of those classic tourist destinations that has been there for generations and is a Southern tradition. It's a great place to take your kids and you can even take your dog. We saw several, both kids and dogs. By evening we could say: