We woke up to something quite different here in North Georgia. 60 degrees. Yep. That’s just one degree away from the dead of winter in Galveston. Brrr.
I had to do something pretty rare in our travels. I turned in a list of problems with our room. Some were just bad design, like you couldn’t reach the bedside light from the bed. It was attached to the wall, and you had to get out of bed to turn it on and off. Others were more really bad maintenance, like the shower curtain rod that was literally hanging by a thread - on one screw. I wrote everything down and turned it in. This would be a dream come true for Chris if we got a survey request from them. She loves to tell it like it is.
As we were loading up the car, I got a request for a FaceTime call from none other than Ezra. He was just checking in to see where we were. He had certainly never heard of “Chickenmauga” or “Chattynooga”. Those really are some funny names.
At Chickenmauga, the event of the stop came when we climbed the stairs in a spiral stairwell of a pretty tall tower on the battlefield. Lots of stairs. It reminded me of some of the lighthouses we have been in. Did I mention, lots of stairs? Oh, and in one place it was dark. I mean, touch the sides dark ‘cause you can’t see the next step. Never fear, though. We made to the top, and the walk back down was much easier. And little did we know at the time that there would be more - Umm - difficulty ahead.
After Chickenmauga (it’s always gonna be that for me now), the battle won by the South, we had to follow their footsteps as they chased the retreating Yankees and climb up Lookout Mountain over in Tennessee. It was actually just a hop, skip, and jump away, so it made sense.
We started at the top. The very top. We ascended to the peak of the mountain to see what we could see. History first … the Confederates lost this battle, and it resulted in Union control of a railroad connection and enabled them to have provisions for the March on Atlanta. The views from up there were amazing. The Tennessee River makes a turn right there, and the water provides for luscious green-ness. We did some hiking in that part of the park that proved challenging to both of our heart rates. All was well, though, and we headed to our next attraction.
We had received numerous notes almost demanding that we go to this next place “or else.” Well, or else we would regret it, I suppose. Since we were on the mountain anyway, and we’d already been to Rock City, that just left … drumroll here … Ruby Falls. That was an actual waterfall hundreds of feet beneath the surface of the mountain. The crowded elevator ride down to the starting point was a good practice run for those who don’t particularly like tight spaces (Chris). But the long walk through the hewn tunnels that occasionally got pretty tight was just about all Chris could handle. She fought through it like the trooper she is.
The cave formations and stalactites and stalagmites along the way were amazing. And the waterfall was just different enough to be amazing as well. It wasn’t one of those Niagara Falls kind that covers a huge wall like a sheet. This one was a stream flowing from one small hole high above our heads and cascading down into a five-foot deep pool. They had a light show going to show it in different colors, but my favorite was the plain white that revealed its natural beauty. I guess I have officially joined the ranks of those who recommend the experience.
Lookout Mountain was the last thing we had on our semi-official list before we left home, so we had a decision to make as to where we’d go next. And since we were in Tennessee, Chris located a few more National Parks - further east. So it was off to Knoxville for the evening, and to locations not completely known beyond that.
But wait. Whose bright idea was it to go through Knoxville? We ran into a serious traffic jam several miles outside their downtown that slowed us down a lot. It wasn’t dead stop like Houston gets, though, so we just plodded right on through.
Philippians 4:9 says, Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
Father, thank you for the chance to see some pretty beautiful slices of your creation pie. Amen.
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