Rocky Top

Rocky Top always brings you home. 

Last week we loaded up the car, and I do mean loaded, kidnapped our oldest neice and nephew and pointed the car South.  We were headed for a whirlwind tour of the hot spots in Tennessee.

In true HollySarah fashion we cram packed our schedule, err, I mean vacation.  Yeah.  Ok, so yes, there was a schedule.  And at times it was tight, I’m not gonna lie.  The 6:30 AM wake up calls were a bit much for the college folks among us. 

Our first stop….none other than good ol’ Rocky Top!  A stop on The Hill, a first for Sweet Sarah, Taylor and Cal.  And it did not disappoint!

Neyland Stadium was wide open for the taking and Thompson-Boling practically rolled out the red carpet.  True story…we were walking down on the floor level of the arena, back by the locker rooms and the storage rooms.  At least three times, one of us muttered, “do you think we should be down here?”  And just as we came around a bend there were some workers cleaning, which caused one of us to sneeze.  Ummmm, you guys!  The workers apologized for stirring up dust while we were down there.  Red Carpet, I tell ya!  [Pretty sure Pat told them we were coming.]

Not bad for a snap in a moving car

Their first shot on The Hill [we drove up]

I think I just convinced them to transfer

Mecca

A lifelong Bronco, now converted to a die-hard Vols fan too!

I wasn't kidding!  Pat told them I was coming.

Pretty sure the heigh difference is real, people.

If this doesn't give you chills.....

From Knoxville we headed to Chattanooga for a few days of exploring, capped off with white water rafting the Ocoee.

A little back story…..when I was in third grade my paternal grandparents moved back to Tennessee to retire [they had moved to Ohio after the war for work].  Needless to say I spent many a summer in Tennessee, to say nothing of the holidays and mid-year trips with my parents to visit.  [oh yeah, have I mentioned my parents would throw three bean bag chairs, a cooler with bologna sandwiches and their three kids in the bed of a pick up truck and head on down the road to Tennessee for eight hours?  Yep.  They did.  Ok, ok, so there was a cap on the truck, but STILL!  Was anyone else ever subjected to this poor man’s mode of travel?]  Anywho, in spite of the possible transit traumas, I grew up always knowing I’d live in Tennessee.  And, sure enough, my first job out of graduate school was in Jackson.  [cue Johnny Cash].  Now, if you’ve ever driven through Tennessee, it’s impossible to not pass at least half a dozen “See Rock City”, “visit Ruby Falls” signs.  Now multiply that by many, many, many trips and living in this state and it’s just plain ridiculous I’ve never seen Rock City or visited Ruby Falls!

All OVER Tennessee.

Aaaannnnnd, that explains why it was FIRST on the agenda our first day in Chattanooga.  We played uber tourists by purchasing the Triple Play pass- the Incline to Lookout Mountain, Rock City and Ruby Falls.  I’d recommend them all if you get a chance.  But an official survey post trip ranked Ruby Falls in the top five activities by 3 out of 4 respondents.  Lookout Mountain was my favorite of the three.  Just beautiful!  I could’ve spent hours up there.

Rock City is a really amazing place.  It has everything that I love about visiting a place, hiking, amazing views and being able to be outdoors.  Unfortunately, we were a bit tainted on Rock City by the ridiculous amount of gnomes planted, displayed, creeping, hanging, shadowed, spying, lurking and nearly museumed [yes, I know that’s not a word] every where at this place.  Dear Lord.  Gnomes are the clowns of the garden world. Why?  Why do people insist on these creepy things?  Why?  Anyway, it kind of tainted our view of Rock City, even though it shouldn’t have, but MAN!  Oh, the gnomes!

This is the beginning of the Incline.  We took it all the way to the top. Pretty cool!

Taylor was excited.  Cal, well....not sure what's going on there.

Sweet Sarah....she was NOT excited.  But ever the trooper

It's so steep you look out the roof at eye level.

The view from the top.

Ready to explore

Heading to the view

I decided to hike up from the river.  Just arriving here.  :)

Cal spotted a football field from the top

One of my favorites.

Time out for Taylor 

A selfie on the edge of Lookout. 

 Ruby Falls...

Inside the cave

A formation that looks like a "donkey headed south"

Here she is.  Ruby is beautiful.

I missed getting the falls in by ONE second.  The lights turned out on us.

Rock City.....

It's tight.  But wait 'til you see Fat Man's Squeeze

Heights and Swinging Bridges...Sweet Sarah isn't a fan.

Face Rock

The Seven States.  Do you see the rain rolling in behind them?  It came a gulley washer within minutes.

Post Rain.  The view from Lovers Leap at Rock City

Imitating their father

here is Fat Man's Squeeze

We rounded out the day with a night at the ball game.  There’s nothing more pure than minor league baseball.  It was a beautiful night and we saw some great ball.

On our third day we headed out for a little history lesson.  We spent about three hours at Chickamauga Battlefield.  It’s rich with history and landscape.  The coolest thing was a self-guided audio car tour.  The NPS always impresses.

We went to the top.  Ummm, my calves are still sore.

The view from the top

We saw this a lot on the trip

We finished the climb and came down.

Then…..we did a little shopping.  BOOT shopping.  Both Taylor and Cal wanted to be booted up for our trip to Music Row.  I think the quote of the evening went something like, “ok, I want boots that say country boy meets suburban Waterville”.  Anyone know what that means?  Yeah, we didn’t either, which would explain why we were in the Boot Barn for an hour and half watching him try on, no lie, at LEAST 35 pair of boots.  NOT LYING ONE BIT HERE.  Meanwhile, his sister had picked her boots in the first fifteen minutes of our visit.  Holy cow!!!!!!  And here’s the thing, you guys, it wasn’t like he was doing his own thing and we were just perusing while he decided.  Oh, no, no, no.  That would’ve been enjoyable.   Reasonable, even.  Nope.  Cal thought all three of his posse should help him and bring him boots as if his throne and crown were the little stool/mirror combo.  Sigh.  After sunset and two pair of boots we headed to dinner. 

Had to make sure they tried Moon Pies and Sun Drop

Sweet Sarah LOVED them both!

Up bright and early Thursday morning for our rafting trip.  HOLY COW IT IS WAS EARLY!  While there is no photographic evidence that we actually rafted, I have a sore bum, a few bruises from said nephew falling into me and an ear that is still full of Ocoee water for proof.  We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect trip down the river.  We were the first on the river and the only raft in our group with a guide that had been making a living for 24 years on the back of a raft.  He was great!  Put us through the Class IV rapids expertly---a little edgy without dumping us.  [Aunt Holly was too cheap to buy the pictures, though they were great!]

I took this post trip.  Water logged.

The next group heading out

From there we loaded our water logged selves, into the car and headed to Lynchburg---home of Jack Daniels. Aaaaannnndddd, apparently every other Tennessee tourist decided to do the same thing that day too!  It was packed.  But the free tour was worth the wait. While I don’t drink whisky, the tour made me wish I did, if only for the pride of being a JD drinker.  It was a pretty cool place. 

Lynchburg will never be the same

He was beyond excited to be here.

What a handsome young man!

They burn this sugar maple wood to distill the whisky....this is what makes it Tennessee whisky

That blue can contains whisky.  They use it as the fire starter

Jack Daniel on the rocks

The safe JD kicked, which eventually led to his death

Downtown Lynchburg for a Moon Pie break

Here’s a holy crap fact:  Jack Daniel’s pays $8 MILLION in taxes every….wait for it, wait for it, wait……….every TWO WEEKS!  In the humble  words of our tour guide, “if you want to stimulate the economy, drink more Jack Daniel’s whisky!”  Man, oh, man, I’m in the wrong business!

Without any free samples in our system, a box of Moon Pies from the General Store [Sweet Sarah has found a new favorite!] we headed north to Music City.  We ventured out to Music Row for dinner and a little live music.  And apparently, so did every other Tennessee tourist! It was packed.  But, of course, that always makes it more fun and interesting.  Unfortunately, Aunts Holly and Sarah were showing their age and we headed for bed around, ahem…..ten.   Don’t judge!  Not nice.  Hauling around two college kids and keeping them busy, busy, busy is hard work.  Don’t judge.  Ok, you can judge.  I don’t care, nor apologize.  This girl needs her sleep.

Our final day we hit up the Country Music Hall of Fame.  Let’s just say in our official post-trip survey, it didn’t make the Top Five list for any of the four respondents. 

We were also thrilled our cousins and their new babies were willing to meet us for dinner.  The babies are beautiful and it was fun seeing them as parents.

Nothing like family!  Look at those cute babies!

And….for the grand finale……..A night at the Grand Ole Opry. Oh, yes.  You wanna win big points with your niece and nephew, plan to have The Band Perry and Carrie Underwood at the Opry the night you’re there.  Yep, that’s right.  We’re THAT good.  Ok, we’re not really.  Good timing and luck ever be on our side.  [Thank, goodness!]  I tell you, there’s nothing like live music.  And Carrie Underwood….well, the girl’s got some pipes!

See those boots???!!!!  Two beautiful young adults!

Super excited!

So I mentioned the post-trip survey, if you ever traveled with me, you’ll learn there is always the “what was your favorite part of today?” dinner question, rounded out by the post-trip survey.

This trip’s survey: List your top five favorite things, followed by one thing you’d change or do differently and you can’t say Rock City [the gnomes dropped Rock City to the Rock Bottom of everyone’s list pronto!]

Here are the unofficial, as best as I can remember, corrected to be accurate by Sweet Sarah:

Taylor:

1.     Grand Ole Opry

2.     White Water Rafting

3.     Ruby Falls

4.     Jack Daniel’s

5.     Lookout Mountain

Do differently: no changes

Cal

1.     White Water Rafting

2.     Grand Ole Opry

3.     Jack Daniel’s

4.     Ruby Falls

5.     Music Row

Do differently: Stay out later on Music Row [I may have failed to mention above, said nephew is 19 years old and was unable to get into any of the bars.  So staying out later would’ve meant…….???? We’re still unsure.  But he still thinks we should’ve stayed out later.]

Sweet Sarah

1.     White Water Rafting

2.     Grand Ole Opry

3.     Ruby Falls

4.     Jack Daniel’s

5.     University of Tennessee

Do differently:  As always, Sweet Sarah is sweet. And has no changes.

Holly

1.     Grand Ole Opry

2.     Lookout Mountain

3.     Chickamuaga

4.     Jack Daniel’s

5.     White Water Rafting

Do differently: Make a stop at Tootsie’s.  How did we miss Tootsie’s?  See parenthetical comments in Cal’s list

Good Ol’ Rocky Top.

Rocky Top Tennessee.

Rocky Top Tennessee.