A couple days ago we drove up to a place called Point Park atop Lookout Mountain which looms over Chattanooga. Our destination for today was the Incline Railway, a venerable funicular that runs between downtown next to the Tennessee River and the top of the mountain better than 1000 feet above. When I was a kid they had a funicular in Los Angeles called Angel’s Flight that used to go up maybe 150 feet to the level of the next block. Angel’s Flight cost 5 cents each way back in the Pleistocene, when I was young. It is not there anymore.
Chattanooga is an old city and it has many very low bridges and weird circuitous roads so our GPS took us by a route that it thought we should use with a 51 foot long, 12′-10” high RV so our access was not by the most direct route. Nevertheless, we ended up in the correct parking lot and got out our money to pay for the parking space. Next, we hobbled over to the ticket booth and found the Incline Railway costs 15 bucks a head, round trip. I love ancient engineering projects so we coughed up the tribute and got in line.
The floor of the rail car is not level and the seat make you believe you are almost lying down when the car is at the bottom of the hill. The ride starts out at about the same angle but soon there are some very steep pitches where the chairs you were lying in change angle with the track and soon are attempting to slide riders out into the leg space. The maximum angle is 78 degrees according to the narration blasted from the speakers. It is a good, if short, ride.
After perusing and rejecting all the trinkets in the gift shop, we climbed to and hung out at the observation deck at the upper station for a while, carefully staying in the shade because it was hotter than hell and about 90% humidity. My shirt looked like I just finished using it to wash a car. The views over the city were spectacular. We met some folks on the deck who were from Louisville, Kentucky, and were in town for an old guy softball league game. They told us they could barely bend at the waist because they had just come from Bea’s, a long-time Chattanooga restaurant. We got the address and then rode the rail car back to the bottom station.
Soon we found our way to Bea’s, which is a unique joint. They put lots of food on a lazy Susan in the middle of the table and then stock it with food. They stocked ours with fish, fried chicken, green beans, barbecued beans, mac & cheese, new potatoes in white sauce, potato salad, cole slaw, banana pudding, a variety of sauces and a pitcher each of water and iced tea. They brought over a dish of apple cobbler and ice cream for dessert. If anybody eats all of anything, they hustle in and get them more. It was great. It costs about $13 and I doubt I will need to eat again for a while.
We took a few photos you can see if you click here