Friday, May 23, 2014

See Rock City

 When we first moved to this area we noticed a lot of really old barns had "See Rock City" painted on their roofs. 
Apparently back in 1935 the owner of Rock City advertized from Michigan down to Tennessee on the roofs of barns.

Many of those barns are still standing and if you've ever driven in this area you've probably seen at least one of them.

It's hard not to be curious and really want to See Rock City after years of barn roofs telling you to.

So that's exactly what we did.

I was going to take the kids in the afternoon, but a visit to the web site informed me that in the Spring months they were open a little later with a Fairy Tale Nights theme. That was just too perfect to pass up.


We arranged to have William meet us after work and headed up the mountain to Rock City.

It was so much fun!! They had it decorated and lit up with twinkle lights, and every few feet we met a different fairy tale character.

 Rosie liked meeting the Frog Princess and Little Red Riding Hood...

...but she was a little nervous about meeting the Big Bad Wolf. Obi wasn't so sure about him either.

Rosie would only stand for a picture if I promised Daddy would be near and if I would make sure the Wolf behaved.



The Fairies, however, were a much bigger hit.


Rock City was established in the 1930s. There are caves and walk ways and bridges. It's very lovely. There are also local plants and flowers that a labeled.
Rosie is very interested in local plans so she really loved getting to know their names.

I was really impressed with how clean and well kept Rock City is... especially for being around for so long.


Along with rocky walking paths there is the famous view from the top of the mountain.

 Here's a replica of one of the famous barns. You could see it from the lookout area.
 We got to see the Seven States View that the barn roofs had been promising.
That was rather impressive.
 Rocky bridges were very cool. We did not go on the rope bridge.
 We did meet Cinderella though and we even got to ride in her horse drawn carriage.
 A popular souvenir to get is a barn looking bird house. I picked up this one with these cute birds in it.
 Rosie was VERY excited about climbing down into the caves. She squealed with excitement. Obi and I had a hard time keeping up with her as she ran down the steps squealing "I just LOVE CAVES."
 Obi liked Snow White quite a bit.
 Another famous view.
 Obi was very serious about meeting Sleeping Beauty.
 Rosie wasn't so sure about this half goat girl but she let me take a picture with her... Obi, on the other hand, wouldn't get near her. It was pretty funny.
 Mary Mary Quite Contrary let us help water her garden.
 I'm pretty sure Obi would have spent the rest of the evening with Mary and her watering can.
 He was pretty excited about it.
 Then it was time to go down into the Fairyland Caverns. Rosie was pretty excited about these caves too.
 It was a bit dark so I couldn't take pictures, but Rosie wanted me to try anyway. She loved the fact that we were in caves and she loved the scenes of fairy tales that they had set up down there. 
 I'm pretty sure that Fairytale Caverns is a permanent thing at Rock City. It looked like it had been set up a long time ago, although it is well kept. There were black lights in part of the caves that made Rosie very happy.
Thanks to Nana she knew a lot of the stories too and was telling them to me.
 Once we had finished our exploring we spent some time in the gift shop and got some Rock City flags. Then the kids hung out with the "Town Crier" for a while.
 Obi really seemed to like him and loved waving his flag.
 He was also pretty happy about talking to the Frog Princess again... although he wouldn't let the Frog Prince get near.
 My happy boy
 I just love that smile
 NOT happy about the Frog Prince
 Happy again once the Frog left and let Obi talk to the Princess again.




So that was our very wonderful trip to Rock City. We all had so much fun and the kids enjoyed it even more than I thought they would. Although Rosie was more excited about the rocks and caves than I thought she'd be. I was more excited about meeting the Fairy Tale people.

 They have quite a few different festivals and events through out the year including a Christmas Light Extravaganza in the Winter time that I've heard is amazing. 
Be sure to check out their events if you are in the area, there's something for everyone.

We will definitely be visiting Rock City again.
...And we lived Happily Ever After.

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