Ruby Falls

Today we drove up to Chattanooga TN and went to Ruby Falls. Ruby Falls is an underground waterfall that falls around 150 feet down. It was pretty neat. Our tour guide was a young student who was obviously bored with his job. He was ironic in a sometimes bitter, sometimes funny manner. He memorizes where everyone is from and calls each group by their home town. The three of us were "New York." He suggested that we didn't drink the water out of the waterfall because it is high in magnesium and it will make us "go very hard."




The cave is full of calcium shapes such as ribbons, beehives, and stalagmites. Many of them are named like Bacon, Elephant's Foot or Cactus. Sometimes they actually looked like whatever item they were named after and sometimes you thought the explorers had been on some really strong drugs. One shape is called the north end of a south-bound donkey.





The group of people we were with were pretty funny as well. One set of parents had their kid on a leash. One kid kept saying "uhoh" the entire time. The 9 year old behind me was obsessed with holding onto the handles- that's what he called the handrails. Along the passages there were places where the staff had stashed fire extinquishers, wheelchairs, ladders and rugs. At one point in time the dad behind me asked the handle kid - " Look at that! What is that?!" the kid answered excitedly "A wheelchair!." I don't think that is what the dad was pointing out.





The actual falls were very cool. The light design and sound design that completed the experience were well done and made the entire event feel important. The pictures I took are not that great but you can also try looking at the website http://www.rubyfalls.com/




Onward and upward.