Yesterday we went to Chattanooga. My mom is in Atlanta visiting my sister and her family, and we all met up in Chattanooga to celebrate Nathan's 4th birthday. Our first stop was the Southern Belle Riverboat cruise. We enjoyed sandwiches and a nice ride on the Tennessee River. Chattanooga is a pretty city and we always enjoy going there.
After the riverboat ride, we went up Lookout Mountain to Ruby Falls.
Lisa and I had some fun in the gift shop before heading into the depths of the mountain for our tour. Lisa looks like she should be in the Dixie Stampede while I look like I should be on the Food Network.
We then took an elevator down into the Ruby Falls cave system. It was a short hike through the cave to get to the underground waterfall, and we were able to see many cool geological formations.
At times, the passage was pretty small. Some areas were pretty low and I spent much of the walk stooped over to avoid hitting my head. There was also the fun parts of tours returning from the falls where you stood as tight to the wall as you can get, but still got to experience that "I don't know who you are but let's rub up against each other as we pass in a dark cave" feeling.
When we finally got to the falls, the lights were turned off so you could just hear the waterfall.
After a few minutes, the lights came on to show the falls. It was very pretty.
There is a small path set up where you can walk around and look up at the falls. The lighting makes it look like hundreds of diamonds are falling into the cave.
After our groups turn at the falls, we set off back toward the elevator. While walking back, we noticed that we didn't pass any other groups besides the group waiting their turn to see the falls. This seemed odd as we had to do the Ruby Falls Squeeze past 3 or 4 groups on our way in. When we finally made it back to the elevator we were told why we hadn't passed any other groups: the elevators were broken.
Now, being told the elevators are broken is not something you normally want to hear when you are stuck in a cave. Suddenly little facts from the tour start coming back to you, such as "the elevator shaft was dug through 260 feet of solid limestone. There are no cracks or air pockets in the stone." Signs such as "No Bathrooms or Water Available in the Cave" also come back to you. And then you remember you are in the cave with a four year old and a pregnant woman. Luckily, we were able to wait in the slightly larger photography area, but it was still pretty crowded.
After 30 plus minutes of waiting, they decided to have us exit through the emergency tunnel. The tunnel takes you out to the side of the mountain, no where near the Ruby Falls area or parking lot. It was while we were waiting to get out of the emergency tunnel that we were lucky enough to enjoy some second hand smoke from a traveler who felt a cave being shared by 50 other people deep in the heart of the mountain was a great place to light up. As always, a lack of fresh air makes every situation more enjoyable.
After having to get creative to get the entire group out of the cave, we still weren't done with the adventure. We now had to bused back to the top of the mountain. Lucky for us, Ruby Falls has two vans that hold approximately 10 people, and we were toward the back of the line. After about another 30 minutes of waiting, we finally made it back to the top. After some light persuading, Ruby Falls agreed to refund us for the tour.
Lisa posed for this picture on our way back to the car.
All in all, we survived, so it could have been worse. All parties made it home safely and hopefully Nathan had a great birthday!
2 comments:
Nothing like having a one hour tour turn into a three hour adventure! Loved it though
That sounds and looks so much fun!
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