Spelunking

And now, the conclusion of our 4-part series, "Salmonista takes a vacation and then blogs about it in extensive detail!"

Monday
After thoroughly enjoying our time in the mountains, admiring the leaves, stretching our legs on hikes, and eating lots of tasty food, it was time to begin the westward trek home. We opted for a different route home by way of Alabama, because I hadn't been to that state yet. After breakfast we wound our way down to Chattanooga, TN. Unfortunately the weather was not all that cooperative - we'd hoped to visit Lookout Mountain, but it was shrouded in a cloud of fog. Since one of the main reasons to go up there is to enjoy the views, we found other attractions in town to entertain ourselves instead.

BBQ lunch with multiple sauces...of course "Memphis Style" was the best :)

Chattanooga is on the Tennessee River. It reminded me of Little Rock with all the bridges.

Walnut Street Bridge, allegedly the longest pedestrian bridge in the world. We walked about 25 steps onto it...

Art!

I believe Lookout Mountain is hiding back there somewhere

The city provides free, festively painted electric trolley buses around downtown

Of course, our trip wouldn't be complete without seeing the Chattanooga Choo Choo!

There is a hotel now in the old train station.

And you can even sleep on the tracks in a room that used to be a rail car!

After all this exploring, we were glad for the one-hour time change as we headed southwest to our next destination, Cathedral Caverns in Woodville, AL. This state park is home to a gigantic cave - the entrance is 25 feet high and 126 feet wide! You can go on a guided tour of the cave that is about 3/4 of a mile one way. There's another 2700+ feet of cave after the tour ends, but they haven't developed that part for tours. The name comes from the rock formations inside that look like spires on a cathedral. It was hard to take good pictures underground, although the cave is pretty well-lit. Here are a few of the best shots I got.

 The visitor's center

This one is called "Frozen Waterfall" - it's a rock formation that looks like a waterfall, and also there is water flowing over it.

Cave entrance

We stopped for dinner in Huntsville at a diner where I ordered a "vegetable plate," yet 2 out of 4 dishes had bacon in them. Good thing I'm not actually a vegetarian :)  After that we had a long drive home on Hwy 20/72 through the hills of northern Alabama and Mississippi.

And that's how I spent my fall vacation. Thanks for reading!