Day 3

So, I didn't quite get our trip finished last week like I planned to. The Olympics are definitely taking up a lot of my freetime! :) 

Day 3 of our trip was a VERY BUSY day! We did the Lookout Mountain tour! We met up with our good friends the McKennas who were in Chattanooga for the week visiting family. So fun to hang out with friends on vacation....we started up at the top of the mountain at Rock City. This is a super fun place to walk around. The highlight is standing out and looking at 7 states from the lover's leap lookout point. Ana's favorite part was the Fairyland Gardens because "it meant that was the end of Rock City." Not her very favorite place. :) 

 On the fun suspension bridge

 Standing at the place where you can see 7 states. 

 Taking a shower in the misters! 

 Can you find the three little birds???

 Nolan was off jumping in puddles with Olivia....

 A 1,000 ton rock perfectly balanced. Aren't my boys strong??

After leaving Rock City, we went to the bottom of the mountain to check out Ruby Falls. Ruby Falls is the world's largest underground waterfall. It is 140 feet and beautiful. In order to see it, you must first walk about a half a mile through really cool underground caverns. 

After checking out Ruby Falls, we ate a little lunch and then the kids all did a ropes course that included a zipline. Braden, Olivia, Ana, and Nolan all had to do the smaller course because of their age and height. Logan got to do the adult course. 

 Having a blast

 In order to watch them zipline, we all had to wear hard hats. Aren't we so cute? :) 

 Ana was hilarious....she had no fear and her favorite thing to do was jump up and down on the rope while Nolan was going across. Look at that sly smile on her face!

 Braden desperately wanted to do the adult course, but he just couldn't reach the clips. 

Logan had fun. So much fun because he got to do TWO ropes course. We watched him zipline the first time and waited and waited for him to join us so that we could go on the incline railway. However, he never showed up. When we asked our guide, he told us there were two courses. So, we had four little ones waiting for an hour....to pass the time, they climbed trees, rested, collected rocks, had a date, etc. 

These two were inseparable! 

Finally, we were able to ride the inclined railway. There is a slanted train that you can ride straight up and down the side of Lookout Mountain.....a 72 degree slant. I have always been scared to try it because it is soooooo steep. However, I got talked into it this time. I am so glad I did. It was one of my favorite things! The train moves very slowly so it wasn't really that scary. The view was spectacular. The train car is actually slanted as well. We rode up to the top of the mountain first, and then walked to Point Park, a civil war battleground and monument....memorializing "the battle of Lookout Mountain." Then we rode the train back down to the bottom of the mountain where our car was. 

 The train car

 Taking pictures on top of one of the many cannons at Point Park

 Steve pointing out all of the important places in Chattanooga 

 Looking down the mountain

And if we weren't exhausted yet. we then headed to downtown Chattanooga where we ate at Mellow Mushroom, played in the fountains, and walked across the bridge twice! It was such a fun day!