Something Smokey in TN

We're currently on a "southern" U.S. road trip from NH to FL and posting about sites seen & foods sampled along the way. This post shows scenics as we traveled to Chattanooga, TN from Knoxville, KY.

The Great Smoky Mountains are a mountain range rising along the TN-NC border in the southeastern U.S. They are a subrange of the Appalachian Mountains. The range is commonly called the Smoky Mountains. The name is often shortened to the Great Smokies due to the ever-present morning fog, which was still there at mid-day on our travels.

The Great Smokies are home to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which protects most of the range and covers 522,427 acres of endless ridges of never-ending forests.

The park was established in 1934, and, with over 11 million visits per year, it is the most visited national park in the U.S out of 59 national parks. It’s open all day, every day of the year; however, some facilities and roads shut down in winter. (The second most heavily visited national park is Grand Canyon, third is Yosemite, and fourth is Yellowstone.)

Natural fog often hangs over the range and gives the mountains their distinctive bluish tint which looks like smoke. The fog results when vapor is released from the area's vegetation and molecules that make up the gas scatter blue light from the sky. The Cherokees called this “blue smoke.”

While we didn't get the chance to spend extended time in the park, just driving through a portion and seeing some views was awe-inspiring. Thankfully, the weather was great too. An extended drive is definitely on our "to do" list for a future road trip.

Three & Done in Chattanooga, TN

We're currently on a "southern" U.S. road trip from NH to FL and posting about sites seen & foods sampled along the way. This post is about a stop in Chattanooga, TN.

On our travels, we look for local attractions. Sometimes, we find off-the-beaten path ones and (better-yet) free as in the last post. And sometimes not, as when we visited 3 of "most popular" tourist traps destinations here. It was a package deal and definitely a been there and done that or a once thrice and done experience.

Imagine seeing an underground 145-foot high underground waterfall after walking a half-mile underground in a cave estimated to be 30 million years old. That describes Ruby Falls in Lookout Mountain outside Chattanooga, TN. This National Historic Landmark is the tallest and deepest underground U.S. waterfall open to the public (yes, it has lights).

The Ruby Falls tour takes slightly over an hour, and is all underground. Visitors descend 1,120 feet by elevator in timed tours, be warned it's a very well-packed trip down. In terms of comparison, you go as about as far down as the Empire State Building is high. (FYI, there's no rest rooms in the cave, but they're in the gift store which, of course, comes before the elevator line-up.)  

When the elevator stops (and it does), a guide meets the group and leads a ½-hour paced walk through the cave noting many of the formations along the way. (It was difficult to capture many. We were moving along since other groups were also down below.)

The passageways narrow in some spots and they can be slippery. Caves drip because of water seepage in the ground above. Walking is OK, but there’s no room for wheelchairs or strollers in the cave.

Stalactite and stalagmite are mineral deposits found in caves. A stalactite (from Greek stalasso "to drip” meaning “that which drips”) is a type of formation that hangs from the ceiling of caves; stalactite has a letter c, like ceiling, where it forms. A corresponding formation on the cave floor is called a stalagmite.

We really had to watch our heads as some overhangs are quite painfully low as a woman in our group learned. It's not dark in the cave as over 500 lights illuminate the pathways to Ruby Falls. (It's still not like being outdoors, can you tell caves are not my thing?)

On the plus side, no air conditioning is needed in a cave and we learned that the year-round temperature in the Ruby Falls cave is 60 degrees. Add some humidity, and the cave temperature is like 70 degrees. (Definitely cooler than outside when we visited.)  

The Falls has built-in crowd control as each tour group enters. (Your group is one of several in the cave at one time). Here's how —  when the light show starts (this is definitely a tourist sight) — lights illuminating the falls change from blue to red to white with music — when the lights go down, it's time  to go. Of course, there's time to see the falls and take pictures first. The guide says that after the falls experience, you’re a “survivor.”  

WAIT, there's more because now, there’s no need to wait to share your experience. As of 2018, Ruby Falls has high-speed Wi-Fi installed within its cave. You can use social media to share your experience immediately while there. (Doesn't everyone want to do that?)

Ruby & Leo Lambert

How it came about: In 1905, the natural entrance to Lookout Mountain Cave was closed during the construction of a railway tunnel. In the 1920s, Leo Lambert, a chemist and cave fan (spelunker) who thought he could re-open the cave as a tourist attraction, formed a company, and purchased land on the side of Lookout Mountain above Lookout Mountain Cave. In 1928, drilling began through the limestone when a small passageway (how small— 18 in. high x 4 ft wide). Lambert crawled 17 hours to explore the opening finding a formerly hidden cave and waterfall. On a return trip to the cave, he took his wife Ruby, and named the falls after her. Tours began in December 1929. A year later, the Ruby Falls cave was expanded and opened and the two caves were shown on separate tours. The falls cave was more popular and the lower cave trip ended in 1935. 

The entrance building, Cavern Castle, was built to resemble a 15th century Irish castle. Constructed from limestone excavated from the elevator shaft, it  was dubbed the “World’s Most Magnificent Cave Entrance” when completed.

Ruby Falls has over a half million visitors worldwide each year. It's a very unique experience, but once down was quite enough for me; I prefer above ground.

If you like rocks — BIG ones than Rock City on Lookout Mountain in Chattanooga, TN, is the place to visit, just don't try to move any while there. You might hurt yourself.

Besides rocks, you should also like gnomes because there are a lot of them (over 50) in Rock City. The history of Rock City as a world-famous tourist attraction dates back after the U.S. Great Depression. There are gnomes in the photo below...can you see them?

The trail leads through a variety of unique and bizarre rock formations, including the 1,000 short tons Balanced Rock and Fat Man's Squeeze. 

One of the strangest attractions  here is Fairyland Caverns — it’s a cave and the oddest one you may never want to see. Visitors pass through natural and man-made tunnels decorated with sculptures of children's' characters. There are even more strange little gnomes interspersed with weirdly back-lit scenes from fairy tales, nursery rhymes, and children’s books. These are set into blacklist recesses along a dimly lit pathway and really seem more scary than amusing. Seriously, this path was so dark in places, that I was not only thankful Grenville had his small flashlight along, but very happy to see the exit.

Since its start, Rock City has claimed that it's possible to “See 7 States” — TN, KY. VA, SC, NC, GA, and AL from an outcrop called Lover’s Leap, from which no one has jumped. Some scientist have disputed this claim noting that visitors can only see a few states. Rock City has ignored this and provides arrows pointing out the sight lines toward the states. 

Frieda & Garnet Carter and gnome

How it came about: In 1932, Garnet Carter, Lookout Mountain real estate developer (also inventor of miniature golf which he called Tom Thumb Golf) hit on the idea of developing a residential neighborhood on the top of Lookout Mountain. The community was to be called Fairyland, after his wife Frieda’s long-time interest in European folklore. 

The 700 acres of Fairyland encompassed Rock City as Frieda set out to develop the property into a huge rock garden. She marked a trail that went around the giant rock formations, collected wildflowers and other plants and transplanted them along the trail. This gardening was supplemented by imported German statues of gnomes and famous fairytale characters along points on the trail. Carter realized his wife had made something that people might pay to see. And, yet another Lookout Mountain tourist attraction was created.

Rock City officially opened in May 1932 but business was slow as advertising was difficult after the Depression and the mountain-top attraction wasn’t exactly where visitors would stop and look. In 1935, Carter hired Clark Byers, to travel the highways and offer to paint a farmer’s barn if Byers could paint — SEE ROCK CITY on its roof. Soon painted barn signs were seen through the Southeast and Midwest U.S.  

Advertising worked and by the end of the 1930s, travelers started visiting Rock City Gardens. Many barn signs are disappearing now, but these bird house replicas are sold in the Rock City gift shop. 

The Incline Railway on Lookout Mountain is often called America’s Most Amazing Mile and, while it's a short ride at 15 minutes each way, it's a fun trip 9 (no standing on this train). There's an observation deck on Lookout Mountain with food and gift shops, as expected. Plan an hour for the whole experience. 

This funicular (see below) rail system, which has been operating since 1895, is powered by two 100-horsepower winches developed by the Otis Elevator Company. The railway runs on a 1-mile long single track system, except for the passing loop at the midway point  which allows two counter-balanced trains to operate at the same time. It’s both a National Historic site and Mechanical Engineering Landmark sight as of 1991.

A funicular is a mode of transportation which uses a cable traction for movement on steep inclined slopes. A funicular railway employs a pair of passenger vehicles which are pulled on a slope by the same cable which loops over a pulley wheel at the upper end of a track.

The trolley-style cars climb through the area near Lookout Mountain at a 72.7% grade, straight up making it one of the world's steepest passenger railways. (If you want to ride a steeper passenger railway, Scenic World in Switzerland takes the rails as having the world’s steepest —at 52 degrees it has a mind-boggling 128 per cent incline.) We had great views from the observation windows on our ride as well as panoramic views from the observation tower at the Incline’s top station at Lookout Mountain.

The Incline Railway opened in November 1895 and is the second of two incline railways constructed on Lookout Mountain. The first was the Chattanooga and Lookout Mountain Railway, which ran from 1886 to 1898. The current railway is operated by the Chattanooga Area Regional Transportation Authority. 

As stated at the start of this lengthy post, these 3 attractions are tourist stops and, as travelers, we're tourists too. We bought a combo ticket and were able to get to all the same day; they're within a short drive of one another on Lookout Mountain. We've seen them once and that was enough for us (even if we return to the area another time).

Eats & Treats in TN

While on a (mostly) southern states road trip traveling from New Hampshire to Florida, we're sampling foods along the way. It's part of the road trip fun for us. Here's some recent experiences in Knoxville and Chattanooga, TN.

Austin’s Steak and Homestyle Buffet in Knoxville, TN, is a family destination that serves Southern style foods and plenty of other choices too. It's also one-of-a-kind because you won't find another one anyplace in the state or other states as well.

This eatery is a help-yourself, all-you-can, and definitely a come-as-you-are place with a salad bar, desserts and plenty of hot entrees including local favorites of pulled pork, ribs, fried chicken, mac & cheese, collard greens, beans with bacon. Unlike other buffet eateries, this location is not a chain or franchise. According to our TN friends this is a  popular place, all the time. We dined with a lot of family groups. No, we didn't sample many of the plentiful menu items, but the mac & cheese, chicken, pulled pork, and greens definitely made it onto our plates. (Yes, they were very good.)

Calhoun’s in Oak Ridge, TN, is one of nine locations in the state and it's where friends we were visiting took us for dinner. The original Calhoun's opened in 1983 in a two-story barn, complete with a silo. This one  above opened in June 2016 as the newest in this TN chain. While it doesn't look anything like a barn, it has a great location along the banks of Melton Hill Lake and every seat inside has a water view. Diners can arrive by car or boat-in and "park" at the nearby dock. There's a covered outdoor dining patio and a fire pit for nice weather dining. We visited on a hot day, so everyone chose indoor dining. (It was busy when we dined there, and I failed to get an inside photo.)

Over 30 years ago in the mid-1980s, Calhoun’s left with the grand prize ribbon at the National Rib Cook-Off in Cleveland, OH. The restaurant advertises as serving the Best Ribs in America which made our dinner choices easy — Grenville had pulled pork and my choice was a half-rack of ribs, plentiful enough for leftovers. Calhoun's prides itself on its southern hospitality, comfort food and Tennessee barbeque. That's not a misspelling as this was the spelling on many eateries we saw in TN.

Barbecue is the "standard" spelling; barbeque is a recognized North American variant. Barbecue appears in edited writing, and is what dictionaries put first; some don’t even include variations. Barbeque is a secondary spelling that appears most often in the names of restaurants and products. It’s gained popularity in the last few decades, but is still less commonly used than barbecue.

The shortened versions of “BBQ” and “Bar-B-Q” were used in newspapers ads in the 1920s, mostly for barbecue restaurants, and those shorter variations may have saved a few cents each time the ad was published. Soon after, companies began selling outdoor electric “BBQ” and “Bar-B-Q” restaurant signs. This false acronym is one of the few terms in common usage that’s fully capitalized, like an acronym, but whose letters don’t stand for separate words.

Hennen’s in downtown Chattanooga, TN, is in a great location located near the Tennessee Aquarium, close to the River Front district. After we'd spent most of a very warm day exploring around the city, we were looking for somewhere to enjoy a late lunch/early dinner. We were actually looking for another restaurant, but the 2019 Riverbend Festival was being set up for a 3-day run at the riverfront location and our search became frustrating as many downtown streets were closed off. (Did I mention that we were tired and hungry?)

Internet source: Hennen's "wine cellar"

It was after 3 p.m. when we saw Hennen's. The outside view looked very upscale and we hoped (silently prayed) our casual summer attire would be OK, and happily it was (after all, it's summer in the South.) Hennen's, which opened in 2005, is named after the family that owns it and specializes in steaks and fresh seafood using fresh, local ingredients. One distinctive feature is the 2,400 bottle wine "cellar" located in the middle of the main dining room.

Weekday lunch is served continuously from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. We were there on a Wednesday (yeah). The relaxing atmosphere invites diners to linger and that's exactly what we did. Steak dishes are popular here, but we prefer seafood. 

Grenville & Beatrice's salmon entrees at Hennen's. 

Grenville had the stone-seared salmon with pesto served over creamy spinach risotto. My choice was stone-seared salmon, served with the restaurant's signature herbed fingerling potatoes and green beans. We were both so well satisfied with our meal choices that we deliberately did not look at the dessert menu choices. (Admittedly, that was a challenge as we heard the creme brûlée was great.) If you're in downtown Chattanooga, TN and walk or drive by the restaurant and think it's closed, that's only because of the dark tinted windows.

Logan's Roadhouse in Chattanooga, TN, is a restaurant chain founded in 1991 and based in Lexington, KY. There are 194 company-operated and 25 franchised Logan's Roadhouse locations throughout the U.S. The company went public in 1995 and was sold to the Cracker Barrel restaurant chain in 1999.

Logan's uses retro style decorations and gives free buckets of in-shell peanuts at each table, similar to the Texas Roadhouse chain restaurants. Diners are told to toss shells on the floor. The menu includes appetizers, steak, and burgers, side dishes, and homemade yeast rolls. Many folks know of my fondness for onion rings, which were not on the menu. We tried the onion petals appetizer, which couldn't compete with touch onion rings we had at Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen in OH (not even close). 

We can only be good for so long without some treats. Many readers of this blog know of our fondness for ice cream, when traveling (and even when at home).

The Ice Cream Show in Chattanooga, TN, features custom blended ice cream so you can create personal flavor treats from over 17,000 possible combinations. You choose from a list of over 40 fresh ingredients, fruits to chunks of Chocolate Chip cookie dough.

Here’s how it works, select vanilla or chocolate ice cream, or yogurt, select a cone, waffle bowl, cup, or shake, then select and add as many Ingredients as you want (separate cost for each). Everything is then blended together for the finished treat.

The Ice Cream Show was called a “must try” in Chattanooga. We suspect that was self-promoted advertising. It was a very hot day so we took them up on that claim. It was good and cooling.

Thanks, as always, for virtually traveling along with us. We've been reading and appreciating all your comments. Our days are spent on the road touring and eves are spent posting about our adventures. Blog reading may fall behind, but I'll catch up as time allows.