Tuesday, October 21, 2014

See Ruby Falls!

A rare picture of us where we both look pretty good.
On Monday we took a rather long drive to the Chattanooga area to revisit a place we stopped at with our children 40 years ago, on a Christmas road trip between Wisconsin to Florida: Ruby Falls. As we drove that route many years ago, we saw dozens of signs to "See Ruby Falls!". There were so many signs that we felt compelled to stop. We expected it to be a really cheesy tourist trap, but were delighted by it being an interesting cave tour with a 145 foot waterfall inside a mountain. 

Last week we saw a Ruby Falls sign in Murphy NC, and just had to go see it again. We were not dissapointed.

Ruby Falls is inside a cave deep in Lookout Mountain. It is a privately owned property and a commercial tourist attraction.


The cave tour starts with an elevator ride  hundreds of feet down into Lookout Mountain. 

Then we walked thru a narrow passage that in many places was only wide enough for one person to pass.

Like many caves, Lookout Mountain Caverns contain many calcium formations, some of which were as complex and interesting as any we have seen elsewhere.

















Finally after about a half mile of walking we arrived at the falls chamber. We could hear the water, but it was completely dark. We were told there would be an eight minute light show, and when the lights came up they revealed the falls. 







The lights kept changing colors from reds, blues, purple and white. 

This is one of our pictures.















image from web


We took lots of them, butI feel none really showed the size or power of the Falls, so I have swiped one from the web.

 I think this one shows the chamber quite well. 

 Doesn't really need colored lights does it!

Personally, spelunking is not something I would want to do, but I find well lit, guided tours of caves quite interesting. 

We also went to another tourist attraction on Lookout Mountain, but I will save that for the next post.

Have you ever gone back to an attraction or special place after many years?

12 comments:

  1. An incredible indoor waterfall that we have never heard of.

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  2. We've been to Ruby Falls, love going to caves whenever we can. Yes we do go back to places we've been before, sometimes because we couldn't see everything the first time or it was such a special place we had to.

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  3. I haven't been in a cave since I was in grade school. There are so many in this area of Kentucky, I hope we get some time off to explore them. Nice place, Ruby Falls!

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  4. I've never been to Ruby Falls, but you make it look so attractive I might try to overcome my claustrophobic tendencies and see those gorgeous sights.

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  5. Thanks for sharing this, Ruby Falls was something we missed because of a car issue we had. Very beautiful.

    Maura

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  6. it looks amazing, but I'm not sure that I'd be brave enough to even get in the elevator!

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  7. Yes we do return to those special places at least once especially if we didn't see everything. The first time I was there we couldn't get to the falls because it was winter and the caves were impassable. Finally Kathy and I brought our two grandsons to share this wonderful site with.
    Be Safe and Enjoy!

    It's about time.

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  8. It has been eons since we were at Ruby Falls. Thanks for the memories.

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  9. WOW ..... Your photos are terrific..... This was fun.... Have to say, I have seen the signs soooo many times and have never stopped.... I will make an effort next time...
    Hey, Merikay, I made your eggplant pizza tonight ......
    Delish to say the least !!!

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  10. As many times as we've been to the area, we have never been to Ruby Falls.

    We recently saw the "See Ruby Falls" signs, and believe it or not, last night, Al suggested going there today. We still haven't quite made up our minds, but we may end up in Ruby Falls today!

    Now that I've seen the photo you borrowed from the web, I'll have to try to get one as good!

    The last time we went to Lookout Mountain, we came home with a kitten that was about to fall off a high cliff where they were hang gliding. His name is Chattanooga. Hope we don't find anymore kittens today.

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  11. My recent roadtrip to the North Rim and the surrounding areas was to revisit an area I had been with my late husband. I'm heading back to TX today and already miss the quiet side of the canyon, tried to visit the South Rim because I had never been there, but found it to be too crowded. Can't think of any other areas I have revisited, too many new places to see.

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