Road Trip 2018 - Day Twenty, The Mirror Image

Yesterday, we were not sure what we were doing and ended up having a really great day both in terms of experience and picture taking. Today we were doing things that were high on our list and honestly, we were pretty disappointed both in the experiences and the picture taking. But you know in travel you have good days and bad days. But a not so good day of traveling is way better than a whole lot of other things you can be doing in life!

So our agenda for the day was taking a river cruise on the Southern Belle and then driving up Lookout Mountain for the views of the city and the history of the Battles of Chattanooga - a National Parks site.

We got to the boat (which we had to reserve in advance) to find THREE school buses there. And entire middle school was their for their we didn't have the money for the Washington D.C, trip fill in. All the older folk who would normally come at this time kind of looked in aghast and tried to find some spot on the boat that was not overrun by early teen energy. But there turned out to be lots of interaction opportunities which I love and I had no problem finding space to take pictures. We were looking forward to the photo ops but honestly, the views of the city, the bridges, the terrain were way better seen from the Walnut Street Bridge.

Then going up to the mountain there are all kinds of promoted sites like 'Ruby Falls' and 'Rock City' and the 'Incline Railroad' but they all cost a small fortune. We could have easily dropped $100 a person doing them and they just reeked of touristy kitsch. So we drove up to the actual National Park Service battle park, paid $6 for parking and got in for free with our Senior Pass (one fee for life young'uns). The history of the battle was pretty interesting. But you were really too far up to see much and the air was very hazy.

So there you have it. Tomorrow we are off again. We are going to conclude our Road Trip with some real free form travel focused on wandering scenic roads starting by heading northeast to the Smokey Mountain area and then west through the rest of Eastern Tennessee. We've had good luck with finding things where we least expect them so we'll see.

Today's Photos

Fellow Refugees from Middle Schoolers

Three Generations

Grandfather originally from New Jersey

Mom works for Vanderbilt U

And daughter/granddaughter

Middle Schooler with Teacher

She was cool

Used to work in restaurants but knew she wanted a family so went back to school and became a teacher to have more time

Every student felt the need to reenact Titanic

The high point of any travel day

Being with Captain Spouse

Up on the mountain

Captain Spouse contemplates the bridges of Chattanooga

Tennessee River

THE Lookout Rock