Living Our Dream

World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest

Southaven, MS - Events of Friday, May 17, 2013

As we said in our last post, we love the barbecue in Memphis. By happenstance, our arrival in the Memphis area coincided with the start of the World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest. Is this our lucky day or what?

The contest is part of the month-long Memphis in May celebration which also includes a music festival on Beale Street earlier in the month and the Sunset Symphony later in the month. The barbecue contest was held this year from Thursday, May 16 through Saturday, May 18. There was free admission on Thursday and Friday from 11:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. We decided to go on Friday to take advantage of the free admission.

The barbecue contest is held in Tom Lee Park down along the banks of the Mississippi. The water was high, but it didn't flood the park so the event went off as scheduled. Parking near the park is hard to find and expensive during special events. Since we wanted to stop at the visitor center to pick up some information on other things to do in Memphis anyway, we decided to leave the car in the visitor center parking lot and take the trolley to Tom Lee Park. Trolley rides only cost $1 per person per trip, which was a whole lot better than $10 or $20 for special event parking we saw near the park. There is a trolley stop right across the street from the visitor center, and there are also stops conveniently located at both ends of the Tom Lee Park.

Memphis trolley

Tom Lee Park is about a mile long, and it was filled from end to end with competitors' booths. The photo below shows only about a third of the park.

Barbecue contest competitors' booths at Tom Lee Park

There was a threat of rain in the forecast, so we took along our trusty Frogg Togg raincoats. We ended up not needing them this time because the rain held off; but it was nice to have them with us just in case. They are easy to carry because they are light weight, and they came with carrying bags that we can easily sling over our shoulders.

Unfortunately, there was rain for one or two days prior to the event which caused much of Tom Lee Park to become a mud hole. The competitors setting up on Wednesday and the crowds who attended the event on Thursday churned up lot of mud. Fortunately, the walkways in the park are all paved, and some of the mud had dried or had been cleaned off the pavement by Friday. We had to be a little careful where we stepped, but the mud looked a lot worse than it was.

Tom Lee, for whom the park is named, was a Memphis hero. When a steamer capsized in 1925, Tom Lee rescued 32 people from the Mississippi River in his small skiff. There is a monument in the park to Tom Lee.

Monument to Tom Lee, who rescued 32 people from a capsized steamer

Teams who enter the barbecue contest vie for cash prizes totaling over $100,000 and for bragging rights. If we had to venture a guess, we would say the bragging rights are more important than the money as evidenced by the extensive displays of trophies and banners boasting many of the teams' past wins.

Display of trophies and banners from past wins

The large banner to the left in the photo below indicates this team (the Red Hot Smokers) was the Grand Champion of the 2013 Memphis Barbecue Network Invitational held in March. The entire tent in the center of the photo was filled with more of the the team's trophies.

More banners and trophies

The World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest has 5 main categories - pork shoulder, ribs, whole hog, anything but and patio porkers. Anything but is anything other than pork and includes a number of subcategories such as poultry, beef, wings, sauces and seafood as well non-food categories of best booth and best T-shirts. Patio porkers is a class intended for small, amateur teams.

Due to health department restrictions, the competitors are not allowed to serve food to the attendees. However, there are food vendors that sell barbecue as well as the all usual types of food one would find at a carnival or fair (we call it fair fare) like turkey legs, funnel cakes, ice cream, hot dogs and French fries.

Food vendor aisle at the barbecue contest

The most popular activities at the barbecue contest, such as the announcement of winners of the day's judging and concerts, take place in the evening. That's the reason for free admission early in the day on Thursday and Friday. However, preparation of the meat and the smokers, which takes place during the day, are interesting to watch. The whole hog teams were scurrying about on Friday preparing their hogs and smokers so they could slow-cook the hogs all night in time for judging during the day on Saturday.

Whole hog on the table covered in bags of ice

Another team preparing their hog for smoking

Previous winners working on their hog

Some teams use charcoal to cook, some use wood and some use gas to fire their grills and smokers. The team in the next photo was using wood.

Team member tending the fire

In addition to watching the preparation of the meats and smokers, it was also fun to see some of the elaborate booths. Quite a few are two-story affairs, and there were even a couple that were three stories.

Two and three-story booths

Some booths were decorated with various themes like the western flair of the Best Little Boarhouse in Memphis.

Best Little Boarhouse in Memphis

Then there was the tropical theme of the Parrot Head Porkers.

Parrot Head Porkers

Some of the team names are a hoot. There were names like Aporkalypse Now, Sweet Swine O' Mine, Boars R Us, Pig-A-Licious, Bush Hogs, Big Al and the Butt Rubbers, Butt Cassidy and the Pork Dance Kids, and The Count Bastie Porkestra.

As is often the case as we travel around the country, we found a Pittsburgh connection in Memphis. One of the teams had a Pittsburgh Penguins "Let's Go Pens" towel and a Pittsburgh Steeler Terrible Towel displayed at their booth. Memphis in May also salutes a different foreign country each year, and the country this year is Sweden. That's the reason we saw so many Swedish flags on display like the one in the next photo.

"Let's Go Pens" towel and Steelers Terrible Towel

In spite of the mud and the clouds, we had a good time at the contest watching all the preparations and seeing the elaborate booths. We stopped for one more photo on the way out of the park to commemorate our visit to the World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest.

Paul and Margery at the World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest

We caught the trolley back to the visitor center where we had parked.

Riding the trolley back to the car

Smelling the aroma of barbecue all afternoon certainly made us hungry. We were tempted by the fair fare; but most of it was expensive, and there was no place to sit to eat. Therefore, we decided to stop for lupper on the way back to the motor home at the Bar-B-Q Shop, which is one of our favorite Memphis barbecue joints.

Bar-B-Q Shop

We both had a large chopped pork sandwich on Texas toast instead of a bun with fries and slaw for our sides. The pork is tender and moist, and we love their sauce. The sauce is tart (but not sour) and a little sweet. The barbecue is nicely complimented by the slaw, which is sweet and a little tart. Sandwiches range in price from about $4.25 to $6, and sandwich plates (with two sides) are about $7.50 to $10. Dinner plates cost $10 for chopped pork to around $15 for ribs.

Margery and her chopped pork sandwich

With our bellies full, we headed back to the motor home where we spent the evening and the weekend relaxing. There is more planned for Memphis, so stay tuned.

Chattanooga, TN Part IV: Ruby Falls

Hixson, TN - Events of Friday, October 12 to Sunday, October 14, 2012

We had one more thing to do on Lookout Mountain, but it wasn't outside. Therefore, the weather didn't matter, so we scheduled it for Friday during the clouds and rain.

Ruby Falls is another roadside attraction that dates back to the 1920s. Ruby Falls is a 145-foot tall waterfall that is in a cavern over 1,100 feet underground.

Cavern Castle - entrance building to Ruby Falls

The story of Ruby Falls begins with Lookout Mountain Cave, which was known to Native Americans, cave explorers, outlaws and Civil War soldiers. The cave had an entrance at the foot of Lookout Mountain on the banks of the Tennessee River.

In the early 1900s, a railroad was built along the banks of the river. The construction of a tunnel through part of the mountain intersected with the cave's natural entrance, so the railroad sealed off the entrance to the cave.

Leo Lambert, who had explored the cave as a youth, longed to reopen the cave to the public. Lambert devised a plan to drill an elevator shaft from another location on the mountain to intersect with Lookout Mountain Cave and access it from above. He rounded up a group of investors and began drilling in the fall of 1928.

In December, a worker detected a void in the rock below and felt a gush of air. The void was at the 260-foot level, which was still 160 feet above the level where Lookout Mountain Cave was located.

When the workers investigated, they found the void was 18 inches high and about 5 feet wide. Lambert and several others climbed down the shaft to explore the new opening. They ended up crawling on their bellies for 7 hours before they came to a place where they could stand. The crew discovered many unusual formations as they explored deeper and deeper into the cave until they eventually reached a 145-foot high waterfall. The crew rushed back to the surface to share their news about the magnificent falls they had discovered. They were underground for a total of 17 hours in their initial exploration of the newly discovered cave.

Lambert took his wife, Ruby, with him on his next trip into the cave. He named the falls in her honor.

Lambert decided to develop both Lookout Mountain Cave and the newly-discovered Ruby Falls Cave and offer tours of both caves. Those tours took up to 4 hours back in the day. However, Ruby Falls Cave proved to be so much more popular than Lookout Mountain Cave that tours of Lookout Mountain Cave were discontinued in 1935. Today's tour of Ruby Falls Cave takes about an hour and a half.

The tour starts with an elevator ride down 260 feet into the earth. It is interesting to note that if the elevator shaft had been drilled 6 feet from where it actually was drilled, it would have completely missed both caves. The initial part of the tour passes through the area where Lambert and his crew had to crawl on their bellies. The rock has been excavated so visitors can now walk upright, but the ceiling is still fairly low so you need to watch your head, especially if you're tall. Leo was only about 5 feet 4 inches, so he apparently thought the passage was quite adequate.

The photo below shows a typical passage through the first part of the cave. The ceiling is original, and the white arrows indicate the depth of the original opening. The walkway below the arrows has been excavated. Limestone from the excavation was used to build the entrance building shown above.

Arrows show the original depth of the passage at the beginning of the cave.

Within a short time, we came to our first formation. It is a stalagmite that has been named the Cactus.

Stalagmite called the cactus

Ruby Falls Cave doesn't have any large rooms except for the room where the falls is located, and that room isn't all that huge. Instead, there are tall, narrow passages. Many of the ceilings have small, hollow stalactites called soda straws.

Soda straws (dark areas) on the ceiling

A little farther along, we came to a circular collection of soda straws named the Chandelier. Below it is a stalagmite called the Totem Pole.

The Chandelier (above) and the Totem Pole

Groundwater seeps through the earth picking up minerals, and it flows down the insides of the soda straws depositing the minerals as it goes. As the soda straws close off, they begin to grow into larger stalactites. The next photo shows several stalactites and flowstones. Flowstones are where the mineral deposits are beginning to form sheets.

Stalactites and flowstones

Tours going into and out of the cave use the same passages. Tours coming out have the right of way, so those going in must stand to the side to allow outbound tours to pass. We took advantage of one of the waiting times for a photo.

Paul in Ruby Falls Cave

We passed numerous formations on our way to the falls.

Flowstone formation that looks like a fish

More flowstone that looks like tobacco leaves

Finally, we arrived at the falls. Except for a few dim lights near the floor so you can see where you are going, the room where the falls is located is dark as each tour group enters. Once everyone is in, the lights come on and music starts.

Ruby Falls

Lighting of the falls continually changes.

Margery at Ruby Falls

Although Ruby Falls is 1,100 feet underground, you are actually standing 10 feet higher when you're at the falls than you were when you got off the elevator. That's because as you travel the cave passages back into the mountain toward the falls, the mountain above gets taller.

On our way back to the elevator we passed several different formations that were easier to see on the way out than they were on the way in. One area had a reflecting pool (at the bottom right of the next photo). Although the pool was only a few inches deep, it looked liked it went way down.

Cave formations with reflecting pool below

After the tour, the elevator lets visitors off at the upper level of the entrance building where you can climb another flight of stairs to the observation deck. Ruby Falls is at a lower elevation on Lookout Mountain than either Point Park or Rock City, but the view would still have been beautiful had the weather been better.

View from the observation deck atop Cavern Castle

We relaxed around the motor home on Saturday and watched the campground empty out on Sunday. On Monday, we hit the road ourselves and continued on our way south.

Chattanooga, TN Part III: Chickamauga Battlefield

Hixson, TN - Events of Friday, October 13, 2012

The other main part of Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park is located about 20 minutes south of Chattanooga just over the line in Georgia. It is here Union and Confederate forces clashed on September 19 and 20, 1863 prior to the Battles of Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge that we reported on in our last post.

It was a good thing we went to Lookout Mountain on Thursday so we could enjoy the spectacular views because Friday morning was cloudy and rainy. Fortunately, the rain stopped before we got to Chickamauga Battlefield, but the clouds persisted.

Chickamauga Battlefield Visitor Center

Chickamauga Visitor Center has more extensive information about the battle including an excellent video. That and the fact the Battle of Chickamauga Creek took place before the Battle of Lookout Mountain are good reasons why it would have been better to see Chickamauga Battlefield first. However, we wanted to take advantage of the clear weather to see Lookout Mountain, so Chickamauga had to wait until Friday.

When we arrived, we had about 30 minutes until the next showing of the video, so we checked out the displays of battlefield artifacts in the small museum in the visitor center.

One of the displays of battlefield artifacts

The visitor center also houses the Fuller Collection of American Military Shoulder Arms, which is a collection of 346 long guns, many of which are rare or even one of a kind.

A portion of the Fuller Collection of American Military Shoulder Arms

An electronic map at the visitor center is very helpful in visualizing troop movements before, during and after the battle.

Electronic map showing troop movements

Following the Union capture of the city of Chattanooga on Sept. 9, 1863, the Confederate troops withdrew to Lafayette (pronounced la-FAY-ette), Georgia where they received reinforcements. The Confederates were determined to re-take Chattanooga, so they began to march northward on Sept. 17.

The Confederates encountered Union troops south of Chattanooga, and there were a few skirmishes on Sept. 18. Fighting began in earnest on Sept 19 near the banks of Chickamauga Creek. Both sides fought hard all day, and the Confederates eventually pushed the the main body of the Union forces back to Lafayette Road. The following day, fighting resumed, and the Confederates tried to maneuver themselves between the Union forces and Chattanooga to cut the Union off.

As the Confederates were trying to outflank the Union forces, a gap suddenly opened in the middle of the Union line due to a miscommunication on the Union side. The Confederates smashed through, and the rout had begun. Some of the Union forces withdrew to Chattanooga right away, and others retreated to Snodgrass Hill where they took a stand. The Union troops on Snodgrass Hill held their ground against repeated Confederate assaults during the day, but they also eventually withdrew to Chattanooga.

After we watched the video, we headed out on the 7-mile, self-guided driving tour around the battlefield. Most Civil War battles were fought in open fields, but this area is heavily wooded which made keeping track of troops and communicating very difficult. That may be what caused the the gap in the Union line that allowed the Confederates to break through.

The road shown below passes the main area of the Union lines. Most of the monuments in this area were for various divisions from Ohio and Indiana.

Monuments line the road that passes the Union lines.

We found a monument for a regiment from our old home state of Pennsylvania.

Over on the Confederate side, the Georgia had one of the largest monuments. That is only fitting since the battle took place in Georgia.

Georgia monument

The largest monument in the Park is on Snodgrass Hill and is dedicated to the Union soldiers under the command of General Thomas who became known as "the rock of Chickamauga" because of the heroic stand he and his men took there.

Monument on Snodgrass Hill

Following the defeat of the Union Army at Chickamauga, the Confederates failed to follow through and capitalize on that defeat and re-take Chattanooga. The Union forces in Chattanooga were reinforced by October, and as we described in our last post, they eventually ousted the Confederates from Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge and most of the entire area.

The failure of the Confederates to re-take Chattanooga sounded a death knell for the South. Sherman's Atlanta Campaign, a.k.a Sherman's March to the Sea, was launched from Chattanooga the following spring. That campaign totally demoralized the South. General Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox Courthouse on April 9, 1865.

On our way back to the motor home from Chickamauga Battlefield, we stopped at Qdoba in Chattanooga for a late lunch. Chattanooga isn't huge as cities go, but this is the first and only Qdoba we have ever seen in a downtown setting. They are usually in suburban strip malls.

Qdoba in downtown Chattanooga

With our bellies full, we headed back to the motor home for an evening of relaxation. We have one more report from Chattanooga. Stay tuned.

Chatanooga, TN Part II: The Battle of Lookout Mountain

Hixson, TN - Events of Thursday, October 11, 2012

As we said, the weather forecast was predicting clouds and/or rain for much of the remainder of our stay, so we did our outdoor sightseeing on Lookout Mountain on Thursday while it was still sunny. In addition to visiting Rock City, the other thing we did on Thursday was to stop at the part of the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park that is located at the northern tip of Lookout Mountain.

The Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, which was the nation's first military park, was established in 1890 to preserve sites of both the Battle of Chickamauga and the Chattanooga Campaign that took place during the Civil War. Although there are several separate sites in the area relating to these battles, we visited the two main sites during our stay - the one on Lookout Mountain, and Chickamauga Battlefield, which is a little farther south right over the border in Georgia. We'll have more on Chickamauga Battlefield in our next post.

Chattanooga is located on the Tennessee River, and it grew rapidly in the early 1800s as a result of river commerce. The railroad arrived in Chattanooga in 1850, and Chattanooga subsequently became an important railroad hub.

With the river and railroads, Chattanooga was a location of strategic importance during the Civil War. Union forces began bombarding Chattanooga in early September, 1863, and they were able to occupy the city on Sept. 9. By controlling Chattanooga, the Union could not only cut off supplies to the Confederates farther south, but they could also use the railroads and river to supply their own troops and use Chattanooga as a base from which they could launch attacks into the Deep South.

After being ousted from Chattanooga, the Confederate forces withdrew a short distance to northern Georgia. They were determined to reoccupy Chattanooga and to keep the Union Army from advancing any farther south. After receiving reinforcements, the Confederates moved northward again and defeated the Union Army at Chickamauga Creek.

Following their defeat at Chickamauga, the Union forces withdrew back to the safety of Chattanooga, and the Confederates took up positions on several areas of high ground near the city - namely Lookout Mountain to the south and Missionary Ridge to the east.

Lookout Mountain is a ridge that starts at the south bank of the Tennessee River just below Chattanooga and runs about 85 miles south-southwest down into Georgia and Alabama. The northern end of ridge ends at a sharp point that sits 1,400 to 1,500 feet above the Tennessee River overlooking Chatanooga. This point is appropriately named Point Park, and it is part of the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park.

There is a small visitor center at Point Park that has a few Civil War artifacts and a series of story boards showing the sequence of events during the battles that took place in the area from September through November, 1863. The Battle of Lookout Mountain was fought on November 24, 1863.

One of the main features of the visitor center is a 13' x 33' mural done in 1874 by James Walker depicting Union General Joseph Hooker as a hero on a white horse surrounded by his men below Lookout Mountain as they prepare to charge the Confederates. The Battle of Lookout Mountain was called the "Battle Above the Clouds" (which is also the title of the painting) because of all the clouds and mist that surrounded the mountain on the day of the battle.

Mural at the visitor center

Across from the visitor center is the entrance to Point Park. Admission to the park is $3 per person. America the Beautiful passes are honored for free admission. Point Park was built in 1903-1904 by the Army Corps of Engineers, and the entrance gate is in the shape of the castle symbol of the Corps.

Entrance gate to Point Park

Point Park features several plaques, a monument and panoramic vistas of the surrounding countryside like the one below looking toward Chattanooga. The spectacular views were the reason we wanted to be sure to visit Point Park on a clear day.

View of Chattanooga from Point Park

Although Confederate cannon fire from the mountain was ineffective against the Union troops that occupied Chattanooga because of the distance, the Confederates could easily see movement of troops and they could keep track of supply boats on the river.

Another view of Chattanooga

Panoramic view of Moccasin Bend of the Tennessee River with Chattanooga in the distance

Now on to the battle. On Nov. 24, 1863, Union General U. S. Grant authorized Major General Hooker to attack the Confederate forces on Lookout Mountain, but he did not authorize an all-out assault. As it turned out, however, Hooker more or less ignored the restrictions in Grant's orders, and the Union forces ended up successfully routing the Confederates from Lookout Mountain. The last Confederates escaped from the mountain after dark assisted by a total lunar eclipse.

On the following day, the Union Army defeated the Confederates on a lower ridge to the east of Chattanooga called Missionary Ridge. The Confederates withdrew the day after that farther south into Georgia again. These battles were the beginning of the end for the Confederacy.

In addition to the museum in the visitor center, there was also a small museum inside the park itself that had a display of numerous Civil War-era photos taken on Lookout Mountain. One prominent photo features a man standing on a pile of balanced rocks.

Old photo showing a man standing on balanced rocks

View of the same rocks today from a slightly different angle

Also in Point Park is the New York Peace Memorial that is topped by a Union soldier and a Confederate soldier shaking hands.

New York Peace Memorial

In our next post we'll tell you about our visit to Chickamauga Battlefield.

Chattanooga, TN Part I: Rock City

Hixson, TN - Events of Thursday, October , 2012

As we said, we found a lot of potential things to do in Chattanooga. Thursday was predicted to be the clearest day of the next several, so we decided to head to Lookout Mountain because a couple of the things we wanted to do were outdoors and would be much better to do in clear weather.

Lookout Mountain is a narrow ridge that lies just to the south of the city of Chattanooga and extends down into Georgia and Alabama. One of the things we wanted to see on Lookout Mountain was Rock City. Rock City is a roadside attraction for which Paul remembers seeing advertisements back when he was a kid traveling to Florida with his family on vacation. Much like the "Chew Mailpouch" signs on barns, Rock City had hundreds of barn roofs as far west as Texas and as far north as Michigan painted with "See Rock City." The Highway Beautification Act passed in 1965 controlled outdoor advertising within 1000 feet of the highway and put an end to the painting of advertisements on barns.

Rock City barn roof - photo courtesy of Rock City

In the past, Lookout Mountain was inhabited by Native Americans. Two missionaries went to the area in 1823 to minister to the Indians, and a journal entry of one of the missionaries mentioned a "citadel of rocks" on top on the mountain with immense boulders that had paths and lanes running between them. Afterward, sightseers and hikers came from all over to explore what they nicknamed Rock City.

Garnet Carter, who had moved to Chattanooga from nearby Sweetwater, TN, was a promoter and entrepreneur. In the early 1920s he decided to develop a residential neighborhood on Lookout Mountain. He named the development Fairyland because of his wife Frieda's fascination with the Old-World folklore of fairies and gnomes.

A golf course was supposed to be part of the development, but when construction took longer than expected, Carter instead built a miniature golf course to appease those residents who were clamoring to play golf. His is recognized as the first miniature golf course in the United States. In 1927, he franchised his course designs as Tom Thumb Golf.

Fairyland encompassed the area known as Rock City. Frieda Carter set out to develop a rock garden to end all rock gardens at Rock City in the late 1920s. Frieda marked her paths with string so she could find her way around the huge boulders. She collected wildflowers and other plants and transplanted them along her trails.

When Garnet's Tom Thumb Golf began to hit hard times during the Depression, he realized people might be willing to pay money to see his wife's garden. Rock City officially opened to the public in 1932, which makes 2012 their 80th anniversary. Rock City is still owned by third-generation members of the Garnet family.

Once inside the gate, we followed the map and headed down the path between two large boulders.

Heading down the path

The walkways between the boulders lie in deep shadow and are cool and peaceful. There are hidden speakers that play quiet music and bird sounds.

Photo along the deep walkways at the base of the boulders

Periodically, the path rises out from a narrow crevice into the sunlight.

Climbing out into the sunlight

The path continues along the tops of some of the rocks. You can look down from stone bridges to see where you were on the walkway below a few minutes before.

Path across the tops of the rocks

At the far end of the 14-acre property lies a large open area where there is a pavilion, a refreshment stand, and a stone terrace that serves as an overlook. There was an interesting swing made from logs at the pavilion.

Log swing

Adjacent to the terrace is the home that once belonged to Garnet and Frieda Carter. It is still a private residence, but we're not sure whether Carter family members still live there or not.

Former home of Garnet and Frieda Carter

Panoramic view looking toward Chattanooga

From the terrace, it is claimed you can see 7 states. The farthest are Kentucky and Virginia, which are 120 miles away, so seeing them is doubtful. However Military commanders during the Civil War from both the North and the South supported that claim.

View of 7 states

There are still many private homes on Lookout Mountain, some of which can be seen from the terrace at Rock City.

Private homes up the road from Rock City

The path that returns to the entrance is a bit more adventuresome and less tranquil than the path to the terrace. Our first clue was a swinging bridge over a deep gorge. Although there is a stone bridge that runs parallel to the swinging bridge in case you are squeamish, Margery bravely crossed the swinging bridge.

Margery bravely crossing the swinging bridge

The next photo shows paths winding along the cliff next to the terrace. There is one path at the top of the cliff, and a second one cut into the face of the cliff a little below the first.

Paths along the face of the cliff

At one turn in the path along the face of the cliff there is an appropriately-placed sculpture of a bald eagle.

Bald eagle sculpture

View from the path cut into the face of the cliff

140-foot man-made waterfall below the terrace

The path then cuts back from the face of the cliff and descends again down between the boulders into Fat Man's Squeeze. Fat Man's Squeeze is less than two feet wide at chest level in a few spots.

Paul gives a "thumbs up" descending into Fat Man's Squeeze

Around another bend is Balanced Rock, which is a 1,000 ton boulder that rests on a couple of narrow rocks at its outer edge.

Balanced Rock

We mentioned that Frieda Carter was fascinated by fairies and gnomes. There are scenes with gnomes at numerous places in little nooks and crannies like the moonshine still scene below.

Gnomes making moonshine

Fairyland Caverns, which is a man-made tunnel of rocks, also features gnomes of all sizes and descriptions as well as miniature scenes from many fairy tales and nursery rhymes.

Gnome in Fairyland Caverns.

We really enjoyed our visit to Rock City. It was a pleasant combination of tranquility, adventure and whimsy. We still have a lot we want to do in the Chattanooga area, so look for our next post to see where we went next.