Rock City

On our way down to Georgia for a wedding and to visit Katherine's friend Ruth, we caravanned with the sister of the groom, her kids, and one of her nephews.

We stopped for lunch at the Kentucky Fried Chicken in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, which was rather average.

We stopped at Lookout Mountain, Georgia to See Rock City (were we lured by the countless barn roofs?).

No, they're not jaywalking! They're rushing en masse to see the wonders that await beyond those iron bars.

The entrance, by the way, has been totally revamped since we visited last year--coincidentally, when we were visiting to attend another wedding! You now can't get to the gift shop, fudge shop, etc., until after you have paid admission and gone through a new gate area to the north. Are the prices so good in their gift shop that riff raff would come in off the street to take advantage of them?

"I'm not a goblin, I'm not a goblin! I'm a...er...a rock...nymph. Yeah, that's it, a rock nymph!"

The brave among us took the swinging bridge. Andrew and Katherine, sensible and (yes, she confesses) lily-livered, took the stone bridge. Because Katherine says she would have to be stoned to even consider the alternative of the swinging bridge.

"Children, you will look thrilled to be at Rock City, and you will be happy about it!"

One of the most famous aspects of Rock City, Lover's Leap. Chris's picture does it great justice. I have to say, though, that from a grammar standpoint, this site leaves me discomfited. Why "Lover's"? Which lover is leaping? Why only one? Wasn't the point for both lovers to leap? Wait, why were they leaping? Despair because they couldn't find all seven states in the viewfinder? Did they drop a quarter? As you can see, this raised more questions than it answered.

And here is a final picture of (almost) all of our motley crew, as we prepare to enter the most terrifying, mind-boggling, haunting area of Rock City. Yes, yes, we did indeed screw our courage to the sticking place and enter the twisted and oddly aglow Fairyland Caverns. All right, no, we didn't have a choice, as there is only the one path. I'll say this, though, about the caverns: I don't know what the sculptor had against the "Old World," but it must have been massive to render all those children so grotesquely. And they glow, people! It's not natural!!

We parted ways with the Howies after Rock City, and they went on to see Ruby Falls. We drove on to Dalton, Georgia, where we had dinner at an interesting place called Curt's Restaurant.