Adventure! Day 2 - Cloudland Canyon, Rock City, Chattanooga
Book by Beth, Illustrations by Tara.
We did not get eaten by a bear. Not even close. There may have been some complaints about the bus sleeping, but I barely heard them. Something about a very long very tall person taking up a very amount of space. We were happy for the AC, but it wasn’t epic really. We might not use it again tonight. Tent sleepers fared better.
Our battery did really well - charged all our stuff and kept our fridge cooler cold. The Ego battery ran the fan all night on medium speed.
Breakfast was delicious: French toast with peach syrup, fresh peaches and sausages, and orange juice. Our snack shopping was epic and we have lots of food still.
Today’s adventures include Rock City, where we have tickets for 11, and a waterfall hike to follow. We want to remember to buy wood so we can have a fire tonight.
It was interesting last night to see it go from bright out to very dark so quickly. And the darkness was more absolute than we are accustomed to (and no mosquitoes!).
We have acquired firewood. I’m ever-hopeful there will be cappuccino at Rock City. Cross your fingers for me.
The best thing about Rock City so far has been the Starbucks cappuccino, though I will say that the view was pretty nice once we got to the lookout point. We were able to see 7 states at once. I don’t know, I think I’m not the target audience. The cattle walk up the rocks felt embarrassing or something. It was sort of like I was at Disney. I did like the underground portion but mostly because it was cold. The fat man squeeze was entertaining.
We are headed downtown to lunch at Bluegrass Grill. It’s a breakfast place, and it’s currently 12:40. But we will arrive in 9 minutes and it closes at 2. We are thinking of finding indoor things to do until we head back for the waterfall hike. Some of our crew does not like the driving in the hills with the sheer drops, hairpin turns and crumbing shoulder. But our drivers so far have been amazing. So far we are enjoying our E450.
Ok, lunch was amazing and after a relatively short walk, we’ve ended up at the public library. We happened to walk past the TVA, which will be fun to Google later. The public library won’t let you sleep, so that’s interesting (a polite way to say annoying). On the walk back to our van we stopped at Clumpies for ice cream. It was cold and that’s the most I can say for it. I got the little cup and it was enough. We all enjoyed the AC for a minute. A 3-minute walk later we found our van. We put a new driver in so it’s an adventure again. I think it’s a 30-minute drive back and then we will relax for a minute and then we’re going hiking. I do not relish the idea of a two-mile stair climb down or up. Really, if you’ve seen one waterfall, you’ve seen them all. There is talk of people doing the 9-mile hike in the morning before we get on the road. I am not people.
Cloudland canyon waterfall was a big hike down. We wore sneakers mostly. That was the right choice. Despite the signs, most people took off shoes at the bottom and put their feet in. I am not most people. I think the hike would be worth it to me if I could stay at the bottom all day. But basically it was down and back up again like some brutal workout - 4 miles of treacherous pseudo-stairs.
Tonight we will make a fire, and I’m thinking we might have pastries for dinner. Bluegrass Grill sent us home with some scones for breakfast but I’m thinking we will be hungry and they will be too tempting to wait for morning.
Our group is mostly all very athletic and I’m glad we don’t have small children, but I wouldn’t be sad to have an athletic husband or two. The teen boys are all go and no woah and I feel the pressure of being the person who would be gluing them back together and figuring out how to get them back up the hillside.
We made it back up, but some of us were very worn out. The campground lady told me they have ambulances here every weekend and I believe it because if there had been a medivac team at the bottom I would have hopped in that helicopter so fast. I have no idea how they help people, though, because no gurney is making it down or up that hike. I don’t know how they do things in Georgia or Tennessee or wherever we are, but that hike was not moderate difficulty. It was an advanced hike and they could save people the trouble by calling a spade a spade.
I’m finishing day two on day three because last night I was too worn and weary to type with even the smallest movements of my thumbs. We did make a fire and it was beautiful. There was roasting of hotdog and singing of song. Someone else made my bed and our most restless van sleeper slept in a tent last night - I wonder how the tent sleepers did. Van people managed better, though the fan died around 2:30am. We had the windows open and it was not too hot even though it’s July.
Day 2 in the books and day 3 is upon us.
