We got up hoping to see Rob and Estelle before they left the house to say thank you and goodbye, but alas, we were too late to see them! So we sent a virtual message to Rob to thank him for his hospitality and letting us stay with them over the last couple of days. Fortunately we got to spend a bit of time with April (and Munchie!) before she headed out. It was so fun to hang out, and hope to see you all again soon!
Last Stops in Georgia
We had a lot of driving today, as we planned to cross the state border and return to Tennessee (we'd just been there recently, mostly in Nashville). As we headed northwards, we saw a ton of incredible homes (mansions!), many in gated communities, with country clubs. There were some really posh houses! We eventually arrived at a house viewable from the busy street that wasn't as posh but was definitely unique: the Dwarf Castle, a private residence that's shaped like a castle, complete with a moat around the house that is a swimming pool! Around the iron-wrought fence were numerous gnomes, and the garage is accessible via a drawbridge. It's a quirky, but fun concept for someone's home!
Further along we spent some time wandering around the Rock Garden, a free garden that's maintained by volunteers, and is part of the Seventh Day Adventist ministry. The garden has a map that details the 24 stops on the paved trail, with miniature, folk art structures depicting buildings including a Japanese castle, the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, the Colosseum in Rome, and many other castles and churches, along with religious quotes. Materials including glass, China, rocks, tile, and cement are used, and there were a couple of friendly volunteers there, watering and cleaning up the garden.
Lookout Mountain & the Incline Railway
Over an hours' drive later, we crossed into Tennessee and snaked up the road to get to Lookout Mountain, a prominent ridge just outside of downtown Chattanooga. It's known for its spectacular views (apparently from the top you can see 7 US states), as well as attractions like the underground waterfall Ruby Falls, the world's steepest passenger railway called Incline Railway, and activities like zip-lining and hiking.
We got to the top of Lookout Mountain to Rock City, which was back on the Georgia state side, a park that has botanical gardens, rock formations, and panoramic views. We're guessing the attractions were set back from the entrance, as it didn't look like there was a lot going on from the outside, and there weren't many people around. But... all of the attractions around here were expensive, and would definitely add up if you did all of them. Rock City costs $43 per person, and while Ruby Falls and the Incline Railway were cheaper at about $27 and $15 per person respectively, we'd decided that unless we really, really wanted to do a particular activity, we'd save our money.
We made our way back down Lookout Mountain, crossing back into Tennessee to arrive at Incline Railway, the steepest passenger railway. It was already late in the day when we arrived so they were doing their last round trip for the day. From the train platform we could see the railway tracks ascending up the mountain, with the tracks cutting across the trees. It was indeed very steep, and it looked like there was virtually vertical ascent up on the mountain as you got to the top! It would've been cool to do the railway trip, and if there was one thing we would have picked out of all of the attractions here, this would have been it.
That evening, we stayed at the parking lot of Bass Pro Shops, a sporting goods retail store. While it wasn't as big as the one we slept next to in Memphis, these stores are still huge and filled to the brim with everything that an outdoors enthusiast would need (or want): fishing rods, camoflauge gear, camping equipment, etc. Like the last one, there was an aquarium of fish at the back, including various gar and trout, and the store is decorated with taxidermy animals including bears, moose, duck and others.
Day 210: Chattanooga Highlights
The next morning after a peaceful night's sleep, we went to the Sculpture Fields at Montague Park, a free park with over 50 cool sculptures scattered across 33 acres. The park opened in 2016, but there are sculptures there that date back to at least the 1960s. The huge sculptures are mostly abstract and thought provoking in nature, including ones titled "Courage", "Temple Mayan" (several metal squares), and "After Bathsheba" (a man made shimmering like a silver disco ball). It's also dog-friendly, so Sheila enjoyed the stroll along with other dogs who were trotting on the paths around the park.
In downtown Chattanooga, we visited the Chattanooga Choo Choo (also a song by Glenn Miller Orchestra in 1940, which Michael's mum told us about--we had no idea!). It's a historic train station, and the last train leaving the Terminal Station on August 11, 1970. The station seemed fated to demolition, but inspired by the Glenn Miller song, it was saved, renovated and reopened as the “Chattanooga Choo Choo Hilton and Entertainment Complex” in 1973. Today, it has a hotel, restaurants, bars, and event venue, with the historical Chattanooga choo choo train and railway at the back of the building.
For more history, we headed to the Tennessee River, where the Southern Belle Riverboat has a MoonPie store, a baked treat that was invented in Chattanooga in 1917, which consists of 2 graham cracker cookies with a marshmallow center, coated in chocolate. Today, the southern snack has comes in a variety of sizes and flavors, including chocolate, salted caramel, and seasonal flavors like peach and pumpkin. We went inside the riverboat (it costs extra to tour it, but free for the shop on the ground floor), and got a few small cookies--including chocolate, salted caramel, banana, pumpkin, and guava (the latter had a cookie top). The chocolate one tasted stale--not sure if it's because of the quality of the chocolate or because it was actually old? But fortunately the other flavors were much better. Lisette recommends the pumpkin and guava ones from the lot, but she may be biased because she picked those!
We drove along a bridge that ran parallel to the Walnut Street Bridge, which was currently undergoing extensive renovation. It's a historic, 2,376 feet (724 meter) long pedestrian bridge spanning the Tennessee River, connecting Chattanooga's North Shore to downtown. On the North Shore, one of the most amusing attractions are the North Shore Dance Paving Stones, a series along the ootpath that provides instructions for various dance steps (just follow the numbers!), including the tango and the rumba. They're all partner dances, and it's helpful to get an idea of the steps involved and fun to give it a try! The last of the series is of "The Kiss," inviting the two dancers to give each a smooch at the end--very sweet!
Rural East Tennessee
We left Chattanooga, driving in a northeast direction to what quickly became a very rural landscape. The only stores that tend to be out here are Dollar General stores (these and gas stations are typically the only places where people living here can access groceries), as well as small businesses like mechanics, agriculture equipment, and maybe a mom & pop restaurant or two. Meanwhile, pick-up trucks driving around us hauled hay, and the landscape was rolling plains, with cows, cornfields (of course), and the like.
Ensconced in this area is the Fortress of Faith (otherwise known as Greenback Castle), a castle that's been designed and constructed for decades by Floyd Banks Junior, a fervently religious man who has built a castle and other various sculptures, with various religious symbols and messages scattered throughout. It's equal parts fascinating and creepy! We had seen the sign for the castle, pointing to drive up a narrow gravel path to get there, but we weren't sure how our RV would fare, and if we could find a spot somewhere to park. Luckily, there were a couple of teenage boys on an ATV, and one of them kindly guided us inside, showing us a spot in front of his friend's house where we could park (he got the ok from them that we could park there).
Still, Lisette felt a bit cagey as we walked up to the castle, not wanting to encroach on the people's home where we'd parked. So we didn't spend as long there, but as we were walking down the road back to the RV, we saw an elderly man walking towards us. It turns out this was Junior, the owner and creator of Greenback Castle! He was more than happy to chat (he probably could have talked to us for hours), although he had a thick accent and a lot of missing teeth, which admittedly made it hard for us to understand his words and eccentricities. What we could make out was that he built the castle initially to attract the ladies, has a harem, and that there were many other parts he'd built that we'd missed out on ("did you go in and sit on the throne?", "did you sign the guestbook inside?). While we hadn't noticed some of the things he'd mentioned, we happily got a photo with him, which he suggested and was eager to take with us!
Knoxville Highlights
Despite the very rural surroundings, about 32 miles (52 kilometers) away is the city of Knoxville, which is world's apart despite being about 40 minutes drive away! We stopped first at Fort Denison Quarry, which includes a park with 4 miles of hiking trails. We drove up and there's construction happening that looks like it'll be the "fort," which we suspect will be built to look like a historic building. We walked to the lookout, and could see the 350 feet-deep quarry below, which turns out is a popular spot for people to go swimming and paddle in--we saw a few folks hanging by the pier, and on stand-up paddle boards, which looked like a lot of fun!
Making our way downtown, we parked by the World's Fair Park, a free public park that used to be the fairgrounds of the 1982 World's Fair hosted in Knoxville. Today the park has evolved to be a place for people to relax or attend a variety of festivals and events, but the Tennessee Amphitheater and the Sunsphere are the two remaining structures from the exposition. The Sunsphere in particular stands out, a tall structure with what looks like a golden disco ball perched at the top. It also has an observation deck inside that you can go into to take in views of the city.
Venturing further downtown, there's a cute sculpture park across the road from a Weather Kiosk, a relic prior to TV and phone app notifications, when people would walk over to its panels on each side to get weather updates, including weather maps, forecasts, and details on humidity, rainfall and the like.
As soon as we'd arrived in Knoxville, we'd seen scores of people dressed in orange, clearly wearing the colors and merchandise of the University of Tennessee, signaling to us that there was a college football game that would be on. But weirdly, the game against Georgia University wouldn't kick off until 3.30pm the following day--so why's everyone decked in orange now? We had to stop a few folks to ask, and it turns out that the football fever would be on all weekend, and people were out pre-gaming--we know that college football is a big deal, but didn't realize how significant it is, with the streets lined with people out and about already!
The city was abuzz with energy, and we definitely felt that we saw Knoxville in its best light: the weather was warm, it was a Friday evening, the mood was festive, and besides people heading to restaurants and bars to go out, there were still families and kids out at Market Square, a historic, pedestrian-only plaza packed with shops and places to eat. So many kids were still having fun running around the city water fountains, or playing with the free hula hoops and games that it seemed like the city provided for the evening. It was nice to walk around a family friendly area, that also catered to people of all ages. We were tempted to stay for longer, had we not recognized that we still have a lot of places that we plan to visit on this trip!
Heading back towards the RV, we checked out what's apparently the World's Largest Rubik's Cube, that was a gift from the Hungarian government for the 1982 World's Fair, to commemorate its invention by Hungarian architecture professor Erno Rubik in 1974. We've seen a lot of "world's largest" things (especially in Minnesota), but we have to admit, the Rubik's Cube was rather underwhelming. It didn't look big enough to claim the title of "world's largest," and perhaps if it's sides could still move (it used to be motorized), it would be more impressive?
We stayed overnight at a Cracker Barrel within Knoxville, the second time we've done so (we'd stayed in one for a couple of nights in Oklahoma). We've noticed that they are friendly to RVs (typically have spaces for us to fit into), and are ok with overnight campers. Plus, they seem to be quieter and preferable compared to the general busy traffic at Walmart!