Road Trip Day 2

On day two, we found ourselves driving from Valdosta, Georgia to Smyrna, Tennessee.  This drive was shorter and we made great time.  We had lunch at McDonald's since there was a cool indoor playground!

A spontaneous decision brought us to Ruby Falls in Chattanooga, Tennessee.  Located over 1120 feet beneath the surface, Ruby Falls is the nation’s largest and deepest waterfall open to the public. Hundreds of gallons of water rush over by the minute.  It was discovered by a man named Leo Lambert and he named the falls after his wife, Ruby.  

We took an hour long guided tour that began with a fast elevator ride down into the caves.  Mia and Logan were a bit apprehensive at first and I was feeling somewhat claustrophobic, but we persevered.  We walked for almost a mile total and saw beautiful stalagmites, stalagtites, and other cave formations.  There were signs posted by all of the special rock formations and the kids had a blast viewing these.  Mia loved the ice cream cone and Logan liked the dragon's foot.  My favorite formation was the fish.  It was cold and dark, but amazing.  

At the end, we saw Ruby Falls which was truly beautiful.  

After the cave tour, we had some ice cream and played on the playground.  We also climbed up to the top of the observation tower for some awesome views of Chattanooga.  The kids panned for gems in the mining area and each found a bag of beautiful gem stones.  It was a lot of fun and a wonderful learning experience. 

We made it to Smyrna after dinner time and ate at The Cracker Barrel.  Of course, we had to fit swimming in the day somehow and closed down the pool swimming with our pals and the fireflies at 10:00 at night.  A super second day on the road!