.... it rains but it’s dry at Ruby Falls

So we knew from the forecast what to expect! Anyway, we had booked a 3 attraction day ticket for Ruby Falls, the Lookout Mountain Incline Railway and Rock City garden.

We woke up to pouring rain, had a cereal bar breakfast (we’re in AirBnB) , and set off for the Falls. They are only just out of town but, as we drove up the winding road, the mist closed in. The Falls were booked for 10.00 but as we went to get checked in, the ‘welcomer’ - and I use that term loosely - told us the system was down and we couldnt go in. Andy thought that meant someone had turned the tap off for the Falls.

The good thing was they managed to fix it. The second good thing is that they are underground Falls in a cave system. You go down 260ft in an elevator and then walk .5 mile to the Falls passing various stalactites and stalagmites which have all been named. Being America, many of them seemed to resemble food!

The Falls, however, were quite impressive (see pic) falling 150ft and lit by various garish colours! We then walked our way back to the elevator. Our next trip was to the Incline Railway which was higher and foggier. This is 1 mile from top to bottom with a maximum gradient of 72.7%. This makes it the steepest incline rIlwY in the world. Allegedly. Of course as it was foggy and damp (but still 70F) we couldn’t see anything out of the windows until we got to the bottom. At the bottom was a car park and a few shops so we got back on and went back up again!

And then to Rock City. Not the ‘n Roll type but rocks sticking out the ground type. It wasn’t quite raining then. We arrived just in time for the bird of prey show which had a sparse attendance (7) and where it started to rain. Hard. So we were invited to stand on the stage which was under cover but the birds wouldn’t fly ‘because they don’t like rain!’ As the show went on, the rain came down harder and harder and it became torrential. We now had to move on, but they did provide us with a couple of ponchos which aren’t hugely effective. We finally made it back to the canteen at the entrance and had chicken and chips.

During this time, the rain had eased so we decided to re-don the ponchos and head off for a walk. We made it to the 7 states lookout where, bizarrely, you can only see 6 but today we couldn’t even see the one we were in! The rain came back, the fog stayed and we decided to do something more interesting - like go to the supermarket for more ‘essentials’!

Not one of our best days and it also looks as if this weather a pattern is likely to. continue for the rest of our trip. Great! Anyway, we won’t let the weather spoil our holiday. Much!

Stay dry y’all and avoid storm Miguel!

PS I have been berated by a reader for not proof reading, so I have tried harder today. Sorry Nicky!