I hardly remember my first visit to Lookout Mountain near Chattanooga, Tenn., some forty or fifty years ago, but I was amazed by what I saw there last week. The area has developed a hundred fold, interstate highways take you practically there. Organized tours are available or you can get around on your own, but the area is flat-out big business seven days a week. The place was overrun with families on the summer holiday and my wife and I jumped in to enjoy it right along with them.
En route, we stopped in Aiken, SC, for a night and visited the historical and railroad museums in that city. The historical museum is located in an old home built in the early 1900s by Yankees with railroad, oil and banking money who loved to winter in Aiken. They lived a good life.
At Lookout Mountain visitors have the opportunity to see Ruby Falls by descending on an elevator into a cave and walking about a mile underground to the falls. This was more of a challenge than we wanted so we bought a video to savor the experience and drove on to one of the mountain lookouts.
It is possible to reach this point by riding an incline car but we elected to take the drive around winding roads and experience more than could be seen on a straight ride up the mountain inside a closed cable car. We were not disappointed. The drive is suspenseful and challenging, especially when you come up behind bikers in your lane and meet an on-coming vehicle in the opposite lane.
When we came off the mountain we visited the Tennessee Aquarium in nearby Chattanooga and it was well worth the time. Again, the locale was crowded with families, not only out-of-area tourists but locals taking advantage of the weekend. One of the more interesting features was the butterfly house with hundreds of beautiful butterflies. Their colors were gorgeous. It is not easy to capture a picture of a butterfly
as adults and children keep passing through and disturbing them, to say nothing about a couple of beautiful macaws, who loudly entertained sightseers, young and old.
It is a great part of the United States to visit - and re-visit if you haven't been there since your own children grew up and moved out on their own.
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