Leaving Nashville...

And arriving in Chatanooga!!!

I hit the road after getting my HOT YELLOW (NEON-for sure) Cobalt. It was a very fun, sporty little rental that made me want to speed. I can't really do that since I recently have two tickets in OR and another one would, uh, not be good.

Anyway. I stop and eat at Macaronni Grill and it was so tasty. See, Amity has no restraunts and MAC, not that many more. I had my choice of fun, tasty restraunts on vacay. Anyway, my server was so sweet and friendly. This was my first contact with Southerners outside the "Opry Bubble".

I was so excited to be on vacation and to be in the South. The drive was just dang beautiful. The first thing you notice is that it's GREEN~!

Check out these pics of the lake. I wish I could remember what it's called, but it's HUGE!!! I could probably look it up but what sort of fun would that be? lol...Nickajack Lake. Looks like it might be a resevoir or tributary of Tennessee River.

How beautiful is this view and the lake? It was so gorgeous and I saw only one small boat with a family fishing at any/all view points. I did a little bit of snooping and buying a rental cabin out there probably is only $100K. Probably less even. This is maybe an hour south of Nashville.

Not far from the lake signs began popping up all over the place about RUBY FALLS. I began thinking that these Ruby Falls had better be something special because these were HUGE red billboard signs, and there were a lot of them.

I got into town with lots of time before needing to be in Atlanta. Kami had to work until 7 and wouldn't be home until 8 anyway. So, I stopped and got my hair cut. Then I thought I'll just get my eyebrows done and then some one suggested that I'd look cute with highlights in my hair. They suggested that WalMart was the only place I could get it all done. I headed over there and there was this black gal doing her own hair and flirting with a guy. I was like, oh boy. But she acknowledged me right away and was so sweet. We spent the next like hour and a half laughing and I got to know something about the South. Something hilarious happened - as soon as I told her I wanted to get highlights about 5 other people walked in. She cut one little boy's hair as school started the next day for him and the rest she got rid of. I thought she was just so hilarious and I tipped her a ton. Plus, she didn't charge me for the brows...a little perk at least.
While there, I asked about these famed Ruby Falls and such. After getting the scoop, I headed out to Lookout Mountain. I had heard that you could either drive up or ride up to the top. If I chose to ride, I take the Incine railway. Check these out. Ah, the stories I could tell you.

Pic #1

This is the car at the top and simply does not do justice to my psyche at this point or the steepness of the rail.

Pic #2

From inside the railcar on our way down. I am not angling my camera in any way.

Pic #3

Taken by an employee and I am literally just standing there, and they are standing straight up. It's at like 77 degree angle.

The truth of the matter is that I was all excited to get up there and take this cool ride but I didn't look up the Mt. to see what sort of ride it would be. Just after embarking, we weren't going very fast but it started to get steep. I couldn't face forward because I was getting spooked about the drop. I couldn't turn around because now the view was tremendous and steep!! I get a little (ok, a lot) scared and I begin to get very nervous. Other riders start asking me if I'm going to be ok. Then, we get to the top and they park the thing at 77 degrees! I'm like, pull into the garage or something for goodness sakes. You can't leave me hanging up here in the air at this angle. Kami and I were talking on the phone at that point and she was like "Is everything alright?" You don't sound too good and of course I had to tell her I was a big, fat, chicken butt!!! I didn't want to get off but they said everyone had to disembark. Once I did, I was able to take pic #1. 2 & 3 were taken on the way down.

This is probably enough for tonight. More tomorrow, or whenever I get around to it.

I had insomnia so badly last night that I only slept for 1 hr and wasn't able to go to church. During the day I probably slept only about 3 hrs. I don't know what is wrong with me! The dang stress?

Hugs, Sharon