We had hoped to get a tour of the Queen but since it's now a hotel we were told they only do tours on Friday at 2pm. The best we could do was see a vacant room.
One last item before moving on. Back in the day we used to book tour groups onto the Queen. During that time 2 of my children had the pleasure of riding from St. Louis to St. Paul with their grandparents on one of those tours. At the time they had the run of the ship.
Adjacent to the DQ is a park with a carousel in it. For $1.00 you can get a ride. Why not? This was a first for Pam who has obviously lived a sheltered life!
What a trooper. Managing to smile through her fear!
An added bonus to our ride was meeting the man who built the various animals used on the carousel. Turns out he has a business on the outskirts of Chattanooga that specializes in building and restoring carousel figures.
By now it was a little after 3 and we had to get back to Tourist to meet our arriving company at 4pm. Now where's that bus?
We arrived back just before Gil & Linda Pingel walked down the dock. The Pingels are long time friends of Pam's family going back to when Pam was in grade school in Elizabeth, IL.
Anxious to show us their community we jumped in their car and were off, driving through the downtown area with narration by Gil about what we were seeing. Our destination was the top of Lookout Mountain. You can get there by car or by riding the incline railway. We drove to the top. Something I had done several times before in a bus. The road hasn't improved much since then.
Once on top we parked and climbed to the top of the observation platform at the Incline Railway. What a view!
From here we drove along the top of Lookout Mtn. stopping at an area where hang gliders gather to ride the wind currents to the valley floor below.
Fortunately it was too late in the day to strap on a kite and jump off the cliff. Maybe next time!
Further down the road we came to our turn around point. The Canyon Grill. Did we stop? What do you think? A great spot in an area that seems as remote as the North Pole but with great food. By the time we were done it was time to head back to Tourist. It was enjoyable getting a personalized tour of the area and even better being able to see long time friends of Pam's family. Thanks Gil & Linda!
10/21/11 Friday Do we stay or do we go? When we decided to come to Chattanooga we knew we had a short window of time to make the trip. Two things were lurking in front of us. 1. was the scheduled lock closure at Wilson Lock for 2 days on the 25th and 26th and 2nd was the looper gathering at Joe Wheeler that would be breaking up by the 27th sending a whole flock of boats toward the Tombigbee Waterway. The same route we'll be taking south. With that in mind we decided to head back down the Tennessee and save the remainder of Chattanooga for another trip.
The ride down river can best be described as Awesome! I'll let the pictures do the talking.
We ended the day anchored above the Nickajack Lock at Little Cedar Mtn. A cove with a view.
We spent a peaceful night on the hook without another boat around.
10/22/11 Saturday In what has become a recurring theme we awoke to fog over the water.
By 9am it had lifted enough to pull up the anchor but not before calling the lock just around the corner to see if they were busy or not. With a green light we left the anchorage and made our way to the lock for the first of many downstream lockages on our way to Mobile. The sun came out and we enjoyed a relaxing cruise to Goose Pond Marina.
The highlight of our stay was dinner at The Docks Restaurant where they served alcohol. I had shrimp & grits and Pam had fettuccine alfredo. Both our meals were very good.
10/23/11 Sunday Over the past month we have stayed in contact with Coconuts while they attended to family business and we continued to cruise. Finally back on the water and within 150 miles we thought we could possibly get together tonight. Our only obstacles were 2 locks for them and 1 lock and 1 train bridge for us. A plan was made on where to meet (you know how plans go!) with progress reports as we neared one another. Well as we each neared our first lock we hit the first snag. Our lock wasn't busy but the lockmaster was in reverse. Not very communicative and definitely only one speed. Sloooow! However we had it good. Coconuts was behind a tow that required two lockages to get through and at Wilson Lock with a 93' lift it was going to be possibly 3 hrs!
Long story short, we both got through eventually and changed plans to meet at an anchorage just above Joe Wheeler Lock. We kicked in the after burners on Tourist and arrived at the entrance to the cove just as Coconuts was coming out of the lock. By the time we got anchored and rafted together we had covered an even 100 miles for the day. Cocktail time!
It was great being able to get together again and we joked about how our identity among the looper crowd was as the "other" boat with Coconuts. Except for travelling with them we have apparently been invisible!
10/24/11 Monday Fog!!! The silver lining was that we got to visit awhile longer before heading out. The anchorage was protected and beautiful with the trees starting to turn colors.
All good things must end and so it was once the fog lifted. We said so long and headed out to the channel. One turned North and one turned South. I'm sure we'll meet again down the watery highway. I hope so so we can get an identity again!
Our destination today is Florence, Al. and Wal-Mart. 19 miles and 2 locks away. We got through the 1st lock and was cruising along when we were hailed on the vhf by Nauti-Nell. Just when I thought no one knew us! They were heading upstream and saw us out in the middle of the lake. We were able to talk for a few minutes before we arrived at our next lock.
Going down! Dropped 93' the whole locking process only took us a half hour. From the lock it was a short ride to the marina.
Just a side note; Today marked a first for me. A hair cut at Wal-mart. I think I'm ready for a camper
FYI...they announced last night that there are 57 looper boats here...not all are headed your way but I'm sure you made the right choice to get on outta here...travel safe...TUMBLEWEED
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