Incline Railway

On our last day in Chattanooga, we packed up the hotel and then we headed to do one last touristy thing before getting on the road. While we were packing up the hotel I looked over and Maclyn was chilling in the little seat and desk in the corner. No big deal. When she noticed me taking pictures of her, she gave me crazy faces. Why's she gotta be so funny!? Personality Plus:

Our last adventure was the Incline Railway up the mountain. Straight.up.the.mountain. 

No Owens Family experience is complete without someone having a full-on public meltdown. Today it was Maclyn's turn... 

Ruby Falls

After going on the top of the mountain at Lookout Mountain and Rock City, we took the kids inside the mountain and "hiked" in the cave to Ruby Falls. It was pretty awesome and the kids loved it! One funny thing that happened on this excursion revolved around Maclyn needing to go potty. We were told on numerous occasions leading up to the tour, and while we were waiting in line, that the tour was 1.5-2 hours and there were no bathrooms in the mountain. So we all went to the bathroom right before the tour, and literally right after we were deposited deep down into the mountain Maclyn exclaimed that she needed to go pee!!!! I about died. But I have to say that she didn't ask again, and she made it no problem. And the tour was even longer than stated because we had to wait on a couple people in a tour ahead of us to be wheeled out in a wheelchair. 

I highly recommend that you read the story of Ruby Falls, as it is super interesting!! Especially when you are deep, deep, deep in the mountain (1120 feet under Lookout Falls)!

The cave is still an active one, and the boys got to feel the moisture coming off the rock that forms the awesome rock formations. We weren't allowed to touch much (because it is still an active cave) but it was fun for the kids to touch some stuff.

A little girl can only hang for so long. Luckily Daddy was able to carry her through parts of the cave.

We thought this looked like the part from Aladdin that says "the cave of wonders!" (Yes, we only really get to watch Disney movies)

We made it to Ruby Falls!!!! This 145-foot waterfall was pretty awesome! And the kids loved it as much as the adults!

Heading back out of the mountain! It was much faster going out than in!

Lookout Mountain and Rock City

The first part of our last full day in Chattanooga started out with cool temps but beautiful sunshine. So we decided to head up into the mountains and check out Lookout Mountain and Rock City. We weren't sure how "hiking" in the mountain rocks would go with 4 little kids, two of which are not the easiest. You decide which two aren't easy. haha!

Everything seemed to be going just fine until we came upon a passage named Needle's Eye. I didn't think I would fit with Ivy...but we made it!

During this trip Maclyn decided to make picture taking more difficult by sticking both her pointer fingers in her nostrils. Look at the second picture!

This bridge! Looking back at the pics kind of gives me the shakes. I knew it was coming up but I tried not to think about it as we hiked. I don't particularly care about thrill rides or heights or unstable bridges. I thought I'd be ok on the swing bridge, but I won't lie: I couldn't get to the other side quickly enough. It was frightening and I was scared Maclyn was going to go over the edge somehow. I was having a hard time holding her hand, holding the "railing," and I also felt like I needed to keep a hand on Ivy. I smiled for pics, but it was not my favorite.

Hey! That's Lookout Mountain!! Almost there...

From this point you can "see" 7 states!

I caption this picture "Every Party Has a Pooper."  (We bring our own party pooper with us on vacation. Finn just has such a hard time letting his unrealistic expectations go and he takes it out on his family. Let's just say that he pouted so much during this portion of the trip I was sure his face was going to get stuck like this! And it all started with the stupid gift shop.)

Snack Time!

I loved this See Rock City birdhouse photo-op! And the kids were actually excited to let me get their picture. Of course, Maclyn had to give me her new trademark fingers-in-nose pose. (And yes, I got a souvenir birdhouse and ornament from this trip...which didn't help Finley's party pooper case any)

Fatman's Pass - we all made it!

(you're welcome for yet another Maclyn nose-pose pic)

Hey! We got a smile from Finn!!

The next part of Lookout Mountain and Rock City was the fairyland caverns.

Sparkly rock walls lined the cave, they looked like millions of geodes all over the walls!

Throughout the cavern there were little areas with fairytale scenes lit up.