You can have the snow.

first off, apologies for not writing the last few days, its been a case of long days (leaving the hotel at 8am-ish returning around 10-11pm) and not being awake enough to write anything.

anyway, Monday

i get out of the hotel in the morning with the intention of heading to Rock City on Lookout Mountain, a tourist attraction i first heard about in the book American Gods. Supposedly on a clear day you can see 5 different states, but today not only is it thick fog, its FREAKIN SNOWING!!!! after jumping up and down in the car park for a while like a 5 year old i go to the waffle house across the street for breakfast. by the time I'm out (15 minutes) its stopped snowing and the sky has cleared. i head to lookout mountain. 

Lookout mountain is a area of Chattanooga which is a high steep rocky outcrop, it was the site of a major battle in the civil war (viewpoint) and is home to Ruby Falls, Rock City and an incline railway. Rock  City was set up as a visitor attraction in 1932 by a rich family working out a pathway in their garden. its a mixture of caverns bridges and viewpoints, a proper old school visitor attraction and it rocks (pun intended). for decades they used to pay farmers to paint "see rock city" on their barn walls and roofs, and although they have ceased doing this, you can buy birdhouses painted with the slogan in the gift shop. 

Originally i had intended to see Ruby Falls as well on the mountain, however every person i spoke to in Tennessee when i mentioned Ruby Falls said to skip it and go to the aquarium instead. I take their advice and go, and it is very neat, 2 separate buildings (salt and fresh water) featuring turtles, snakes, gators as well as sharks, stingrays etc. The Aquarium was the catalyst in the rejuvenation of the riverfront in Chattanooga, paid for entirely by wealthy citizens and local businesses, no state or government money paid for the place. 

Following the aquarium, i swung by the old train station, now a hotel the station features on of the original trains that the song Chattanooga Choo Choo sung about. following this i make a move to the 64 to Cherokee stopping off at a shopping center on the way to pick up a copy of Spiral (adam greens new film). i drive out to Cherokee, through valley gouges and mountain passageways, arriving in Cherokee around 6. after a brief break, I drive onto the Newfound gap road to find its been closed because of ice. fuck, a 2 hour detour. a drive though Cherokee more than planned (past the Indian casino and santaland theme park) i make it around the mountains and into a completely deserted Gatlingburg, through to an equally dead Pigeon Forge i reach the hotel around 10. I grab some food at the local IHOP and crash out.