Jason and Kimberly...

This last weekend was so wonderful, I don't even know where to begin. Well let me back up and first explain what's been going on. I've had a lot of doctor & dentist appointments lately trying to figure out what's causing so much pain in my jaw and teeth lately. It's been almost 6 weeks now of appointments and very little answers. I've yet to see the same doctor twice...yea nice. I'm not real big on doctors, needles or anything of the sort, so every time I go, I get super nervous and have a restless night. Last Thursday I went to see an oral surgeon, because I thought maybe this wisdom tooth I know needs to come out, is what's causing all this pain. His name is Dr. David Malin and I thought he was wonderful. He gave me really no good news, but I still liked him a lot. From what he says, I have a molar that is cracked in two places and will more than likley need that root canal after all, then a crown, and another crown for the tooth next to it and when I'm all done with that - to come back and see him to get that wisdom tooth pulled. Lord have mercy. I go back to an endodontist specialist (another new doctor) tomorrow afternoon for the consultation on this molar - I'm praying that its not so damaged that they can still save the tooth. Dr. Malin warned me that if its cracked to the bone, they will need to pull the whole tooth and put in an implant. Just writing that makes me woozy. I was having quite a few nightmares there for a while that my teeth were falling out. Talk about making a girl feel old. I just keep telling myself that as awful as all this will be to go through, I'll feel ten times better than I have these last 6 weeks.

So anyway - back to the wonderful weekend! On Thursday night I found out that Jason had Friday night off. I was so excited that we were going to have some time alone and trying to figure out something fun to do. Maybe a drive-in movie or dinner out. I get home from work and Jason tells me - "You've got 20 minutes to pack!" What??!! I was so excited I didn't know what to do with myself! I packed my stuff and off we went. He didn't budge the entire 45 minute drive and of course I kept pestering him to tell me where we were going. The drive was beautiful too - just gorgeous trees and landscapes the whole way there. Finally we pulled up to the Monteagle Inn in Monteagle, TN. Do I have an awesome man or what?? A weekend away at a B&B is exactly what we needed. He had booked us there for two nights and made plans for us to spend Saturday in Chattanooga. We had such a blast and we took tons of pictures too (and that's without Kati's help - amazing huh?!) We stayed in the Sequatchee Room, named after a nearby river. It was so cozy and relaxing, I could have stayed holed up in our room together for days. Doesn't Jason have great taste?

On Saturday morning we were up for an early breakfast (and I mean early y'all, like 8am early!) and then we headed off to Chattanooga. Jason had planned for us to spend the day at Lookout Mountain. And no, we're not talking a hiking trip either. This place is so very cool! It's three different attractions that you buy tickets for and go see. It takes close to 5-6 hours total to tour all three - Rock City, The Incline and Ruby Falls. First we headed up the mountain to Rock City.

And if you don't like heights or enclosed spaces, then this is NOT the place for you to visit. This part of Rock City was called The Needle's Eye. Originally the land belonged to Garnet & Frieda Carter, who back in 1932 had owned over 700 acres. And when the depression hit, Frieda focused on creating her "rock garden" with collections of plants & trees from all over the world. And thus began Rock City.

This fountain was inside one of the caverns of Rock City.

I was able to steady myself for a minute long enough to snap a picture of Jason walking across the Swing-A-Long Bridge, which stretches over 180 feet across. My legs were so wobbly by the time we crossed.

We saw this old firetruck right by the bird show - and yes, I'm being a dork. :-)

I was able to get a picture with this beautiful bald eagle who was a part of the bird show.

And here's Jason with a Screech Owl. The poor thing had been hit by a car and that's why its right eye is all messed up. We were able to touch it and I started to get a little attached. I thought maybe it would make a great pet. I know Banks would love it!

Jason got the camera for a while and kept saying, "Give me some!" as he took pictures.

This is Lover's Leap inside of Rock City. According to folklore, a young brave named Sautee fell deeply in love with Nacoochee, a beautiful Cherokee maiden. Nacoochee loved Sautee as well, but their tribes were engaged in a bitter feud. The two finally ran off together, but Sautee was soon captured and thrown from the tip of Lovers' Leap. The despairing Nacoochee quickly followed her lover, leaping to her own death far below.

This picture was taken on top of Lover's Leap. Jason is facing The Seven States Flag Court which is a lasting tribute to each of the seven states you can see from this view - Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.

One of the tunnels we walked through in Rock City, but this one was called Goblins Underpass, so Jason is doing his best impersonation of a goblin.

There's a section of Rock City called Fairyland. Frieda Carter had a thing for fairies and fantasy, so her husband built her an attraction within the caves of all the storybook characters and using blacklights. I've included a couple pictures of what it looked like inside.

And that was our trip inside Rock City!

Our second stop on Lookout Mountain was to The Incline. I don't have many pictures of this, because I was a bit nervous and too distracted to take any. It's a mile long and the grade gets up to 72 %, its also the worlds steepest railway. Thankfully it goes slow, because it looked too much like a roller coaster to me.

And finally, our last stop was to Ruby Falls. Leo Lambert drilled a hole for an elevator shaft and came upon an air pocket 260 feet below ground. He crawled through that tunnel which was only 18 inches high at the time and 5 feet wide. 17 hours later he returned telling of a huge waterfall that he discovered and named after his wife Ruby. After they widened the tunnel, he opened up Ruby Falls to the public and since 1930, visitors have been taking an elevator down 260 feet and touring the cave to see this amazing waterfall. It is huge and breathtaking.

These were some pictures that I took of the formations we saw underground in the caves on the way to the waterfall. The lights were actually added to give effect to the caves.

This was called Mirror Pool, it was pretty small, but so very cool. I have no idea where the water came from to form this little pool.

This was called the Niagra Falls rock formation.

And finally we saw the great Ruby Falls. It was so amazing. You could walk around the base of it and droplets were just floating through the air. This weekend was just simply so amazing and wonderful. We had such a great time and so much fun together. We had dinner & dessert at a little outside cafe in downtown Chattanooga and eventually headed back to the inn. Sunday was very mellow with sleeping in late, a slow drive home, touring a few homes in East Nashville, dinner at Rafferty's and a movie before bed. I absolutely had the best weekend and I'm so blessed to be married to such an amazing man. I love you sweetie and thank you for being so wonderful :-)