I have been planning for months to take Michael to Lookout Mountain, which is just outside of Chattanooga, about 2 hours from here. Yesterday we made a day of it.
Lookout Mountain was the site of a famous Civil War battle, the "battle above the clouds" - which ultimately ended in defeat for the Confederates and opened the door for the Union to push into Georgia, and ultimately end the war.
Lookout Mountain is also a place where my mother's family has gone for years, to take a picnic in the lovely park at the top, and enjoy the amazing views of 7 states, and the city of Chattanooga below.
Before we got there, we stopped to eat lunch at Waffle House and have a visit with my friend Kate and her son Tommy. Kate lives in Acworth and I don't get to see her very often, but she's a dear friend. She's from Khabarovsk, Russia, and we met when she started translating all my letters to Alesia in 2003. Tommy was just a toddler then.
Now Tommy is a 7th grader - a handsome young man, and honor student at school and a star baseball player. He and Michael went outside and played with a tennis ball while Kate and I talked, and at one point Tommy just threw the tennis ball up and over the Waffle House.
I let Michael drive from the time we left the Waffle House until we actually got into the parking lot at the base of the mountain. He did fine, although I was a nervous wreck. He hadn't done much driving on the interstate, and the big trucks were out in force. He says I kept yelling at him to slow down. I wasn't yelling. I was muttering under my breath...
Anyway, we got there and rode the incline railway up the mountain.The photo below shows the view from the top. You can also drive up there, but I wanted Michael to have the experience of riding the little train.
Here's what the website says about it:
The thrill of riding “America’s Most Amazing Mile” has delighted guests for over a century. The Incline Railway up historic Lookout Mountain is the world’s steepest passenger railway. In operation since 1895, the Incline is a National Historic site and Mechanical Engineering Landmark.
The trip up was a little scary. I don't mind hieghts but I get very uneasy if I'm in motion going up or over something. For instance, high bridges [like the ones around Charleston SC] freak me right out. When I am going up or down something steep I'm afraid the car I'm in will lose control and I'll plunge to my death. However, Michael thought it was great fun.
Of course the first thing you see at the top is the gift shop. That white shelving on the right has rock candy. We got Michael some of it before we went back down.
You leave the gift shop and go outside and walk several blocks to the park.This is Michael checking out the view with our binoculars. They are very nice ones that Bruce bought for Mother years ago.
There was a family that was making pictures and I took their photo, and the mama took this one of me and Mike. It was quite windy, as you can see.
We were also fascinated by the private homes atop the mountain. Some were new but most are historic homes. Below is one example:
I love how the walkway goes up to the house. It's a HUGE house, too, if you notice how far back it goes. Anyway, we kept walking and eventually got to the park entrance.We ducked into the gift shops just outside the entrance, and I was irritated. Everything in there was idiotic expensive - like $38 for a tee shirt! I wanted Michael to watch a film about the battle for Lookout Mountain but it cost $8 each, and that's ridiculous. So we skipped it.
The park at the top is really lovely. Below are the photos from there. All in all it was a great day. In the car going home, Michael fell asleep and slept for over an hour. He said his brain was tired.
I left this one large because you can really see the view. It looks like Michael could jump right into the Tennessee River, although it's actually waaaay below..
On the way back, before we got on the incline railway, we had some great views too. You can see 7 states, including Kentucky.
The bottom of the photo shows the fence, which looks like fork tines...below, Michael gets the 25 cent view
I told you he got his hair cut the other day right?! He would look right at home amongst Marine recruits now... LOL
On the way back down we took this ghost photo out the window of the railway car.
The "ghost" is a reflection in the window. I like that it's sorta crab shaped!
