Road Trip Day 5 - See Rock City

Rock City is a roadside attraction near Chattanooga on top of Lookout Mountain. It was first opened in 1932 and is well known for the many barn advertisements throughout the Southeast and Midwest United States that have the slogan "See Rock City" painted on barn roofs and sides. In total, over 900 barn roofs in nineteen states were painted by Clark Byers for Rock City,  In recent years the practice has been discontinued and there are few of the old painted barns still to be seen.  A replica of the famous barns can be bought in the Gift Shop in the form of a painted birdhouse.

A trail leads from the entrance around rock features to a long overlook referred to as "Lovers Leap", with a spectacular view of 7 states.  It is said that on a VERY clear day you can see Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama, although this is disputed, see Wikipedia.   When we were there is was not a clear day but nevertheless, it is a spectacular view.

Lovers Leap on Lookout Mountain

The trail leads through a narrow crevice
known as "Fat Man's Squeeze".

Rappelling is available for the brave.

There was an excellent raptor show
with different kinds of owls.

The handlers told us a lot about the
birds, even mimicking their calls.

This is a beautiful red-tailed hawk.

Even a surprisingly personable buzzard

Just as it was getting really interesting there was a loud clap
of thunder and we all ran for shelter to escape the rain.

Music was provided by the New Binkley Brothers. I don't know about the old Binkley but the new ones were pretty darn good. Hey, turns out that Rock City lives up to its hype. We had a nice time, bought a couple of souvenier coffee mugs, took lots of fun pictures and didn't spend much money.