Near Chattanooga, Not IN Chattanooga

We left Putty and Terry in Memphis headed for Chattanooga.  Before leaving we left them with a business idea.  As Memphis has so few major attractions, we suggested another.  A small herd of deer regularly visit their backyard to devour their rose bushes and among the heard is Tripod.  Tripod is so named because he only has 3 legs.  He gets around with a limp but his missing left rear leg doesn't seem to impede his ability to eat the neighborhood bushes.  We thought that, if 5 ducks who know how to use a hotel elevator and swim in the hotel lobby fountain can be a major attraction for 83 years, certainly a three legged deer could draw a crowd for their time in Memphis.

World Famous Tripod

Our drive to Chattanooga took us to Nashville so we could visit the famous Loveless Cafe and Hotel.  We stopped for lunch and the Loveless biscuits, the Loveless jam, the Loveless pulled pork, the Loveless barbecue sauce and the Loveless parking lot.  If you like southern cooking the Loveless would be a stop for you.  Our waiter was efficient.  The hostess was brain-dead.  She seated us at a remote table wedged in between the bathroom and the opening to the kitchen.  Sue noticed the several other open tables and requested a change.  Our hostess walked us back to the front and to a room on the other side of the restaurant and seated us next to the other doorway into the kitchen.  Certainly an upgrade but not much of a change.

Loveless Cafe

We left the Loveless and were privileged to witness the traffic around Nashville at 4 p.m.  The HOV lane was flying along at just over -3mph.  The other lanes were even slower.  We managed to pull into the town of Kimball, Tennessee around 7 p.m.  We could have driven a little further but we would have crossed into the eastern standard time zone and 8 p.m. was way too late for us.

We woke up the next day and made our way to the breakfast trough at the Hampton Inn.  After overloading on carbs, we zipped on down the road to see Rock City.  We had both seen the signs for this place for years.  See Rock City has been painted on over 900 barns in 19 states since 1936.

Rock City is a fascinating place situated atop Lookout Mountain.  The name Lookout Mountain is said to have come from a Cherokee term meaning two mountains looking at each other.  This story may be questionable since any two large mountains in this area of the country are just called Dolly Parton.  Rock City is situated in Georgia and we crossed the Tennessee and Georgia state lines three times just getting there.  At a little over 2,000 feet, most folks from the Rocky Mountain states would call this a foothill.  As a resident of Miami, anything taller than a stepladder qualifies as a mountain.  I wouldn't want to fall off either.

Lovers Leap at Rock City

Upon our return from all of the exercise we got at Rock City we wiped out any benefit at the Cracker Barrel near our hotel.  Sue was good and had salad for dinner with grilled chicken.  I was bad and had chicken and dumplings (bad), with broccoli (good), garden salad (good), mac 'n cheese (bad).  Then we walked past the candy display which is conveniently placed before you can get to the cash register to pay your bill.  Then we were both very bad.  Ten minutes later we walked into our Hampton Inn to find out we were just in time for their nightly offering of free homemade cookies.  Up in our room we polished off coffee, cookies, and most of a 9 oz. bag of chocolate mints.  Tomorrow we both plan to shop for larger clothes.