Rock City Gardens

On our way back home from Thanksgiving in TN, we stopped at Rock City Gardens outside of Chattanooga for the first time in 8 years. The girls do not remember the previous visit at all.

The girls thought Rock City was great!

Rock City is a 75 year old survivor of those eccentric old Roadside attractions from the early years of a car crazy America. Click here for a great RoadsideAmerica.com description of its quirkiness.

Slideshow of our trip below. Click on it to see larger pics. (even a couple of elusive pics of...me!)

Some might remember that we had See Rock City bumper stickers on our luggage for our second and third China trips.
(Julia in Jan 1996 in Nanjing)

North Georgia Drought - Lake Allatoona Comparison pics - page 1

Red Top Mountain State Park
Lake Allatoona

We are in the middle of a severe drought. We visited Red Top Mountain State Park on Oct 13, 2007 and Nov 4, 2007 to check on the lake levels.

Our drinking water comes from this lake.

Oct 13, 2007
The (normally floating) dock

Nov 4, 2007

Oct 13, 2007
Those poles are channel markers.

Nov 4, 2007

North Georgia Drought - Lake Allatoona Comparison pics - page 2

Oct 13, 2007
Note the branch in the water.

Nov 4, 2007
Same branch

Oct 13, 2007

Nov 4, 2007

North Georgia Drought - Lake Allatoona comparison pics - page 3

We think that is a turtle in the middle of this pic
Oct. 13, 2007

Essentially the same pic. (See the embankment)
Nov. 4, 2007

Oct. 13, 2007

Nov. 4, 2007

North Georgia Drought - Misc Allatoona Lake pics

Another view of the girls checking the lake out.

A water bird checking the mud out for snacks (far right of branch)

Iron seeping into the lake. The State Park is named Red Top Mountain because of the iron ore that occurs here and was mined until the early 20th century.

Halloween 2007

Yikes! They are growing older! Louisa as a detective.

Mary and her ghost costume.

Julia - detective (the card sez so!)

Madison and big sister Taylor (best friends from next door)
a cat and a detective (imagine that!)