9-5-11: Labor Day - remnants of Tropical Depression Lee is dumping a lot of rain on us this weekend. About ankle deep at the rv park. Total of 6 inches in this area. Wish we could send some of the rain to my friends in TX. Still not a drop there. Wildfires taking over the state.
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| River Gorge Explorer owned by TN Aquarium |
9-9-11: Took the River Gorge Explorer today in Chattanooga. It's a high speed boat ride through the Tennessee River Gorge. Gets up to 51-52 for 20 of the 30 mile ride.
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| On top of the boat as it's cruising thru Gorge |
Then when we reach the Gorge, it cruises for about 10 miles allowing us to get out on top of the boat for some sightseeing. Really didn't feel that fast, but the fun part was that it can stop on a dime -- from 50mph to zero in 2 boat lengths. Sherry S said our boat looks like one of those drug-running boats. Ha!
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| Inside the boat |
It is pretty sleek. Holds 70 and we had about 50 on board today.
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| Lookout Mountain |
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| Signal Mountain |
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| One of many barges on TN River |
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| TN River Tugs |
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| Tugging |
We went around Moccasin Bend, passed Lookout Mtn and Signal Mtn -- both significant during the Civil War. Also passed Raccoon Mtn and Walden Mtn. And barges and tugs aplenty!
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| Great Blue Heron |
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| buzzin us |
Passed William Island, which was donated to the state of TN and is now used only for organic farming, grazing for Black Angus, and is a habitat for the Great Blue Heron.
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| Cruising thru the Gorge |
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| view from inside the boat |
The Gorge itself wasn't narrow as I expected. Before damming, part of the Gorge was called Suck. Loaded with boulders, there was one spot that would literally suck boats down under. Sometimes bodies would be found about a mile downriver, sometimes never found.
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First homestead along TN River Gorge
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The first Gorge homestead is still standing and the current owners use is as a vacation home. Still has no electricity or running water. The family who lived there before the current owners, raised 10 kids there. Not much bigger than our camper. I could live there! Beautiful spot right on the river.
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| Brown's Ferry Neighborhood |
Brown's Ferry was along this stretch of the TN River as well. Evidently, John Brown would get visitors drunk, offer them a ride on his ferry, rob them, kill them, and throw them into the river. So they named the upscale neighborhood in that spot after him: Brown's Ferry.
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| Getting ready to spin |
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| Giving the Cap'n his orders |
At the end of our ride, and before docking, the captain let us go out on top again as he spun the boat in a tight 360 - both directions. Pretty cool boat.
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| Down by the River in Chatt |
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| Chattanooga from the riverboat |
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| TN River from downtown Chatt |
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| Chattanooga riverboats |
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| TN Aquarium |
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| David on one of the Riverwalk piers |
David and I walked around that part of Chattanooga a bit. Really pretty city.
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| Bec on Confederate Line Trail at Chickamauga Battlefield |
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| David on the Confederate Line Trail |
9-10-11: David and I took the Confederate Line Trail through the Chickamauga Battlefield this morning: 6 miles, 2 1/2 hours. It's amazing how much difference a 10 degree drop in temp can make. It felt great and we prob could've walked another couple of hours! It was a little muddy today so we saw plenty of tracks: mostly deer, dog, and horse.
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| Our first wildlife on this trail |
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| Doe we snuck up on |
Saw a big doe and young deer grazing - til they noticed us and ran across in front of us. Saw another later that spotted us first.
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| The Cavalry! on the Confederate Line Trail |
About 4 miles in, we came upon a small group of horseback riders. Enjoyed talking with them and petting their horses.
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| Rifled Cannon |
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| Monument on Confederate Line Trail |
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| A Yank and a Rebel in the Chickamauga Battlefield |
Great day for a hike!
9-11-11: Bittersweet day on tv watching all the 9-11 10th anniversary memorial services. Just a terrible day in USA history, but makes me so proud to be an American! Remember where you were when it all happened? I remember I was walking down the hall (with a cane) at LEMS and Diane Davis told me that a plane hit the World Trade Center and they are thinking terrorism. Just hard to grasp. Most of the rest of the day was spent watching tv in the school library and wishing I was with my own kids and husband. Time just seemed to stand still as we listened to a dumbfounded Peter Jennings when the second plane hit and the towers started to crumble. Then, I remember the following weekend, we took our friend Marlyse to her Emmaus weekend -- where the pilgrims had no idea all weekend if anything else was going on nationally. Scary times.
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| Comin' round the bend in Yankee Territory |
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| Don't jog up on him in the woods! |
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| CSA spot |
9-12-11: David and I did our 3rd and final hike through Chickamauga Battlefield today. About 5 miles/3 hours. Most of it was deep in the hilly woods, which made for a great workout (except I can't feel my feet this afternoon). We had it mostly to ourselves. Love, love, love the sounds of the woods, even when at times it's just our footsteps on the trail. Saw a lot of pretty bluebirds -- but hard to capture them on film (actually, I guess we don't use film any more) because they are quick!
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| Whitebreasted Nuthatch |
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| Posing for us |
David was able to get some great shots of a Whitebreasted Nuthatch. This guy wasn't the least bit concerned about us being there. If you notice the holes on the tree, it's obvious he's been there before.
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| Climbing a tree |
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| High Centered |
We had a couple of spots where we had to "climb trees" to continue on.
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| Cross |
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| Landrum Monument |
One of my fave monuments was the cross in memory of Union Lt. Landrum who was killed at that spot while running a message from General Thomas (Rock of Chickamauga) to General Rosecrans (Rosey). Just really cool to be deep in the woods and come across this cross!
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| Monument near Snodgrass Hill |
One of the funniest parts of the hike was when David was way ahead of me and a runner came by us. The runner and I spoke to each other,, but David didn't hear that. So when he heard the running steps coming up behind him, he thought it was me (no clue why he thought I'd be running). Without looking, he began running in his girly run. He ran several steps with the real runner before looking at him to see it wasn't me. Meanwhile, I was doubled over laughing! I had to stop about 3 more times before the hike was over because I would just crack up about it! Gotta love my David!
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| Dyer Cemetery (appropriate name) |
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| Look closely for headstones |
Just before reaching Dyer Rd, we came across Dyer Cemetery. Haven't found much info on it, but it is likely from the Civil War Era.
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| Site of Rosey's HQ |
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| Wild Turkey |
Our final destination on this hike before heading back, was Rosecrans' HQ site. Saw 3 groups of wild turkeys from one of the hills. Couldn't tell at first if they were buzzards or turkeys. But we stood and watched them for awhile and could tell by the way they walked around that they were turkeys.
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| South Carolina Monument |
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| Heading back into the woods behind SC Monument |
After that we headed up a pretty good hill to the South Carolina Monument. Very nice one.
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| One of several monuments atop Snodgrass Hill -- this one had a wildcat on top |
We made our way to Snodgrass Hill and Snodgrass Cabin. They were re-roofing the cabin, but we'd taken pix of it during our auto tour. I could see why there may have been some confusion around here, because we lost our trail, too. Found it again easily enough, just no markers on it. This is where we saw our only deer of the day. We also walked through an old and primitive campground -- not CW era, but primitive (and closed) nonetheless. Didn't even know the battlefield had campgrounds.
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| Monument near Rosey's HQ |
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| Confederate Soldier |
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| Part of SC Monument |
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| SC |
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| Another of my faves - MN Monument |
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| Civil War Soldiers |
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| Serious situation |
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| Tired Eyes |
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| Injured Soldier |
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| Union Soldier |
If you are ever in this area, I highly recommend spending time at this battlefield. It's my second fave next to Gettysburg so far. What I love about it is that there are so many great hiking trails that have monuments and signs that can't be seen without getting into the woods, and not as much car traffic as Gettysburg. Very peaceful, thought-provoking place.
I'm currently reading Amazing Women of the Civil War. Good book!
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| Wilder Tower |
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| David at the top of Wilder Tower |
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| Bec at the top |
9-13-11: Winding up our stay in Chattanooga. Went back out to the Chickamauga Battlefield this morning and climbed Wilder Tower. Love the Wilder info/Lightning Brigade. Need to read more on them.
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| Tower Staircase from the top |
The Wilder Monument here is a tower with a spiral staircase inside of around 137 steps.
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| Mountain View from Wilder Tower |
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| Becky and Rocky from the top of the tower |
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| View of the Battlefield from Wilder Tower |
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| Battlefield view from the tower |
By the time ya make it to the top, you are 85 ft high with a GREAT view of parts of the battlefield and the gorgeous mountains surrounding the Chattanooga and Chickamauga area.
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| David made it down in once piece |
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| So did I -- Bec and Rocky |
I was really sucking air by the time I got to the top - as was everyone else who came up behind me. Really loved the view.
9-14-11: On our last day in Chatt we went to lunch with our new Arizona friends, Gene and Jane, and did some last minute cleaning. Good stay and we learned some great stuff here!
9-15-11: Headed out to Nashville for an overnighter. Beautiful mountains and lots of wild turkeys hanging around the interstate. Encountered a lot of fog through the Cumberland Plateau area. By the time we got to Nashville it was a cool, crisp 57 degrees!
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| The Rock(y) of Chickamauga |
I think the cool temps do Rocky some good - he's done 5 things since we arrived in Nashville that he hasn't done in over a year: 1) jumped out of truck (floorboard, but still), 2) RAN from truck to camper - and we weren't even holding a pizza or nutty bar, 3) made it up the camper steps, 4) ran up the inside steps, 5) climbed up the portable steps by the bed and hid his bone up there! Feeling frisky again!!
Loved TN - and YEP - I could live there! On our way to Arkansas! Hope you all get some rain and cooler temps soon!
Love you all!
Chatt, Chick, and Rocky Top
