We spent a fall weekend in Cherry Log, GA, the cute Blue Ridge Mountain town known for its wineries, apple orchards, amazing fried apple pies(!!!) and it’s gorgeous fall colors during the autumn season. The best way to do Cherry Log is in a cabin and we stayed in the most gorgeous fall cabin in the trees, hot tub and all, run by a fellow squaddie! On this trip we also drove to nearby Chattanooga, TN for a day trip to explore Rock City and Ruby Falls.

The gorgeous 2 bedroom ⁠Airbnb cabin⁠ with a hot tub and fire pit that we stayed in in Cherry Log – amazing, highly recommend!

⁠Travel sound machine⁠ we mentioned in this episode. We love this little luxury because it makes for great sleep while traveling in places we’re not used to.

Fall Weekend in Cherry Log – Episode Transcript

0:35

Welcome to this week’s episode of the Travel Squad Podcast.

Today we’re taking you to Cherry Log, Georgia for a cozy mountain getaway with a little bonus day trip to Chattanooga, TN.

0:54

This was a really great fall weekend getaway in Georgia.

Kim and I met up with our childhood friend Robin and we met her boyfriend for the first time and we had a great time together.

We went to Cherry Log because one of our squaddies graciously gifted us a three day stay and Cherry Log.

1:09

Georgia is in northern Georgia, about an hour and a half north of Atlanta and only a 20 minute drive South of the Tennessee border.

So not only did we get to check out Cherry Log, but we also got to check out Chattanooga TN like Kim had mentioned.

I unfortunately was not able to make it on this adventure with you ladies, but I’m glad that you guys had a good time.

1:31

I heard great stories that you had there, of course meeting up with Robin and her boyfriend.

So I’m really excited to get into this episode and really hear all about it.

You know it was really funny was the cabin has two regular beds, one king size, 1 queen size and then a pull out couch.

1:48

And so the original plan was it was going to be a couples trip right?

There was going to be 3 couples.

So one of us was going to get the king bedroom, one of us was going to get the queen bedroom and then Robin and her boyfriend were going to get the pull out couch.

But because Jamal wasn’t able to make it, Kim and I, we had a girls slumber party in the king bedroom and bed.

2:09

And it’s been so long since Kim and I have had a sleepover where we did like face masks and eye masks and we put on the sound machine and we got in the hot tub on the deck.

It was like felt like we were in junior high all over again.

Britney confirms.

2:24

I’m a very silent and still sleeper.

You are.

You were great to sleep.

With are you able to confirm that she snores as well though Kim?

I didn’t hear her because we had the killer travel sound machine that we’ve talked all about on our Best Gifts for Travelers list.

I fell in love with it on this.

2:40

That’s right.

I forgot that you ladies had brought it, But I was hoping that you would maybe hear her snore when I’m not there, just to kind of take some of the heat off me, because I will concede I’m a snorer.

But Britney, sometimes she can create a little bit of a.

Ruckus.

No.

Yeah.

And Kim was kind of making fun of me.

Like, you brought your sound machine.

2:55

I was like, yeah, I did.

We hooked it up, we went through all of the sounds, we picked one together and then Robin had bought us these eye masks.

They’re weighted eye masks, like a weighted blanket, but for your eyes.

And they smelled like lavender and so it was like very soothing.

3:11

And then she also got us these like under eye patches to put under your eyes for like 1520 minutes before you go to bed to help clear any of the black eye that you have or bags under your eyes.

So we had like a full on spa session before getting ready for bed.

3:28

But anyways, we’re going to dive into this episode.

We have a few tips for you, and we’re so excited to share all of that with you.

Starting straight in with the tips, the type of vehicle that you’ll want to rent for this trip is an SUV, likely with some type of four wheel drive capabilities.

3:44

And we say that because of our experience driving to get to our cozy cabin.

Yeah, so we were staying in Cherry Log and at one point we diverge off the paved Rd. onto a gravel road and we’re on a gravel Rd. for few miles.

3:59

Maybe that’s not the issue.

The issue is a lot of the cabins in this area, they have a steep driveway, so sometimes you got to gun it to get up.

And that was exactly what happened and how we had to get to our driveway in Cherry Log.

And looking at some of the other cabins in the area, it would just be nice to have an SUV.

4:18

Brittany had drove and she drove in kind of slow up the driveway.

I will say the first time we we didn’t feel like we were going to make it actually.

Well, I wasn’t there.

And you know, Brittany’s not used to driving in treacherous terrain.

She doesn’t know how and you know as soon.

As she I know how I just choose not.

4:35

To And as soon as she started telling the story, OK, she got to oh, steep driveways, whatever.

But when she said the gravel roads, I had an immediate flashback to a time when we were going to North Cascades National Park in Washington.

And she chose this one hike.

4:50

And to get there to literally it’s 18 miles on the this dirt Rd. just dirt and gravel, windy.

And I remember telling Brittany, like, you really know how to pick them.

And sometimes when we get on dirt roads now, she’ll just look at me and say, you really know how to pick them like All in all in a condescending way.

5:07

And yet here she is complaining about dirt roads, barely even having to drive on one.

So I just want to throw that out there real quick.

Well, I think she just needed to get some practice.

And like you said, she hadn’t drove in a a while because we had met up with our friend Robin and our flights almost landed at the same time.

5:23

We were a little bit before her, so we weren’t gonna wait for her at the car rental spot.

Well, we were until she took forever.

She was taking forever.

Her navigation in the airport is not as strong as ours, and so, sorry, Robin, we left her, but she showed up, guns a blazing up that hill, very fast, like we literally parked.

5:44

We were getting out of the car and she comes rolling up the hill like supercharged.

She must have been like 30 minutes behind us in the airport and then she’s showing up in the car.

Right as we got there.

But in her defense, she didn’t stop at the gas station.

We had picked up water.

You had a Taco Bell hankering.

6:02

Who?

Who doesn’t have a Taco Bell ankle, let me tell you.

So we’re driving me past the Taco about Kim’s like that looks good.

So we had to like circle around back for that and make our way through the Taco Bell drive through.

So there was a few delays on our end, so we end up pretty much arriving at the same time.

6:20

But point is, you might want an SUV, especially if you’re thinking of staying in the more remote areas where there might be some growl roads and driveways.

Another tip for you is if you do go to Chattanooga and you plan to do Rock City, make sure to make reservations online in advance to avoid the lines because they do have time entry.

6:43

So if you arrive and they have already sold a time slot for when you’re there, you may have to wait an hour or two.

Which actually happened to someone that we saw in line, but because Jamal was not able to make it, we had some extra tickets, so we just scalloped our tickets.

6:59

To them, Brittany was a good scalper and take this one seriously because the line was so long just to get a ticket.

And then like Britt said, you might have to wait for a different time slot to actually go in after that too.

Well, so you mentioned this was for Rock City in Chattanooga.

So of course Chattanooga’s in Tennessee, we’re talking about in Georgia, but of course close to the border here, right?

7:19

So as soon as we get further in the episode, we’ll really discuss what is Rock City and you’ll know all about it.

But before we get further in the episode, tell us what is Cherry Log?

Where is it located geographically in Georgia?

What’s so special?

What mountain range are you in?

7:34

So cherry log is about an hour and a half north of Atlanta.

Like I mentioned before, it’s about 20 minutes South of the Tennessee border and it’s a really great spot to go for fall.

Beautiful fall foliage and it is located in the Blue Ridge Mountain range.

So it is part of the Blue Ridge that stretches into the Carolinas and everything like.

7:54

That and you know, when you think of the Blue Ridge, or at least when I thought of the Blue Ridge, I just thought of like a region, right, Like a mountain region.

But there’s also a town called Blue Ridge, GA and it’s about 15 minutes from cherry log.

So we were also able to go to Blue Ridge on this trip as well.

8:12

We took four calendar days for this trip, but we flew in Friday night, so not a full day Friday.

Got in there, we picked up our car.

We drove about an hour and a half out to cherry log.

We got in and the main draw for us, like Britt said in the intro, was the cabin that our squatty Melissa had lent to us for the weekend.

8:31

Oh my God, it was amazing.

It is a beautiful wooden cabin.

It’s two stories.

You walk in and you’re immediately in a little living room and there is a laundry room, bathroom and the queen size bedroom on that bottom floor and a pull out couch in the living room.

8:49

Then you go up the stairs.

Immediately off of the staircase there is a another bedroom with a king size bed, a bathroom and then a kitchen area.

And off of the kitchen there are two decks.

One of the decks has a beautiful, amazing hot tub on it.

9:04

We got a lot of use out of that hot tub.

We sure did.

And then another deck just has some chairs.

We can kind of relax.

Then if you go down the stairs to the deck, there’s a fire pit down the gravel little Rd. area.

So very nice cabin.

9:19

I absolutely loved it.

It’s very modern.

You can tell that they recently put a lot of work into.

It was beautiful and we’re going to link it in our show notes.

I mean, obviously Melissa was very gracious to offer this to us and it had been a long time coming.

She usually reached out to us like, I want to say in January, and we’re like okay, we can come in October.

9:39

But I’m glad we did, because we wanted to see the fall colors.

And that is one of the the most beautiful parts about this fall cabin is all the tree surrounding all the beautiful fall colors.

It was cozy vibes.

And of course, when Brittany says she’s going to link it, it’s because Melissa, our squatty, rinsed this out on Airbnb and other platforms.

9:58

So be sure to go check it out.

This is an amazing area.

I know I wasn’t there, but just from the photos, the stories and even of course if you love the mountains fall foliage, you’re going to want to check it out.

This is also a good time to mention our trip itineraries on our website, travelsquadpodcast.com.

10:15

We’ve had a ton of requests to send us more details on the trips that we take, and so we took it a next step further and we detailed out our exact trips for all of y’all to replicate.

We have both international and domestic trips.

Some of them are Japan, Banff and Spain, and then US trips.

10:33

We have Kawaii, Utah’s Mighty 5 Grand Tetons, and Yellowstone National Parks.

Each itinerary is a 20 to 30 page PDF instant download that tells you where to fly into, the exact route to take, where to stay, where to eat, driving distances between attractions, the things to do and see, and how much time to allot for each activity and so much more.

10:55

So we got in pretty late on Friday.

Saturday was our big day that we were going out to Chattanooga.

Yeah, and we had stayed up pretty late on Friday night.

When we got in, we had a little rally.

We hadn’t seen Robin in a while.

Cool thing about destinations and doing a girls trip or meet up is especially with friends that you haven’t seen in a while.

11:13

I was coming from San Diego, Kim was coming from Austin, Robin was coming from Northern California.

So when we got together and it was late at night, we wanted to immediately jump in the hot tub and I go, how late did we stay in the hot tub?

At least like 2:00 AM two.

AM so Robin’s boyfriend, His name is Brandon.

11:28

He actually got out of the hot tub before us.

He got out in the 1:00 AM hour and he was like, all right girls, I got to go to bed.

So he called it quits that night.

And Saturday was going to be our big, long day.

There was even a moment that us three girls said OK, we should probably get out and we stayed in for another hour.

11:45

We did.

And I was thinking, Oh my gosh, I’m going to be so tired driving the next day because, you know, Kim heard it in other episode Kim does not do while driving in mountain areas.

I offered to drive and.

Okay, I’ve been in the car with you plenty of time and anytime there is a slight wind in the road, you are white knuckling this steering wheel.

12:08

And I was like, no, no, no, no, no.

We’re not doing this.

So Brandon graciously offered to drive, and he had an hour extra of sleep than us girls, so he drove us to Chattanooga in the morning.

It’s about an hour and a half drive to Chattanooga.

We were kind of all over this region because before we went out to Chattanooga, we went over to a very small town called Elysee and we got a coffee and breakfast sandwich from Elysee Coffee House.

12:32

It was a really cute coffee house actually, and super glad that it was open early enough for us to hit it up before we hit the road.

So first in Chattanooga, we were going to Rock City.

Like we had mentioned earlier, you do want the tickets to purchase in advance, so we had bought, I want to say we had tickets for around 11:00 AM-ish.

12:54

Oh, one thing to mention too, along our drive, some type of accident or something happened and we were completely stopped.

We were about 30 minutes behind our schedule, so we were going to arrive late to our reservation.

We called to just let them know and make sure it was still OK and they said yes, it’s OK to show up late after your reservation time.

13:15

You just can’t show up early.

Yes, so we got there, we parked and Rock City is known for all of their cool natural rock formations.

They have a little slot Canyon, they have a waterfall area, beautiful rock formations like that one called Mushroom Rock that look like a mushroom, obviously.

13:32

So a lot of great places to take some pictures.

This place is like a maze.

There’s slot canyons, there’s waterfalls, there’s little ponds, there’s all these beautiful rock formations.

And I saw it in the pictures and I knew it was going to be cool.

But some of the things we saw in person were really, really cool, like that waterfall coming off the side of the Cliff.

13:52

It was like coming right beneath or right next to Lover’s Leap, I think it was called.

But this whole area, it’s kind of like a trail in a way.

And you kind of follow this path and it takes you up Lookout Mountain.

And Lookout Mountain is known and very popular because from this lookout you can see into seven different states.

14:11

You can see into Tennessee, which obviously you’re in Kentucky, Virginia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia and Alabama.

You know what’s really crazy about this is when you were saying that I had to pull up Google Maps and look at where this is and you are in close proximity to a lot of those states to be like, Oh yeah, I’m at a high elevation.

14:31

I could see this, but you’re at the southern end of Tennessee and at the North End of it is going to be Kentucky.

And I just can’t imagine like you could really see that far.

But I guess on a clear day, you know Tennessee is a narrow state so I guess you really can.

But that’s just mind boggling 7 states from one location.

14:48

And it’s very flat.

Very flat.

So there’s a placard at the top, and it has all of these seven arrows showing you which direction you need to look into.

Look into each state.

This is also not just a trail, but there are places to stop to grab a beer, a beverage, a pizza, different types of snacks.

15:06

They also had places you can sit and take pictures with, photo OPS.

They had crafts for kids.

They also had free wine tasting.

Yes, we did a little free wine tasting at the end.

One thing I will say about the wine in the Tennessee, Arkansas, Georgia area, it’s all the same and it’s all very.

15:25

Sweet.

It was very sweet.

I just want to say something real quick.

So of course I mentioned before I was not here on this trip, but you guys are in Tennessee at this point, correct?

Last time Brittany and I were in Tennessee, we were in Pigeon Forge, which is kind of by Smoky Mountains.

And we were in this area and they were giving away free shots of moonshine and flavored moonshine at a distillery.

15:48

And it just seems like it’s a thing in Tennessee to give out free alcohol.

Apparently, if they’re giving you like free wine, free moonshine, and other locations.

So Tennessee, if you like to get your drink on it looks like they’re giving free samples of stuff wherever you go.

Actually, too, in Georgia, when we get to that part of the episode on the next day, we got some bonus free drinks too.

16:09

We did.

I almost forgot about that, but I think you bought a bottle of wine at the end of.

BlackBerry or blueberry wine.

It was pretty.

Good.

Oh yeah.

I think it was blueberry.

It was our favorite one, she had told us.

One of the most popular flavors.

It was obviously a grape wine.

It was a little too sweet for me.

16:25

It kind of tasted like Welch’s grape juice almost, but the other wines were great, so highly recommend trying the free wine tasting at the end.

Pick up a bottle.

Rock City was about $30 a person at the time that we went, and we’d probably recommend spending about two hours here.

16:41

We have to talk about one more thing though.

OK, so Rock City, the draw of it was nature, beautiful rock formations, waterfalls, all that.

But there is a bonus part of Rock City that really explains the city part of it, I don’t know.

16:57

At some point on this trail, there’s a turn into a cave.

I’m like laughing ’cause we’re like, what the hell?

This little acid cave down there.

Because as you walk through this cave, there’s these peoples you can look through and then it goes deep in and they’ve designed everything to look like a tale.

17:20

A storybook tale.

Cinderella and no.

Doors.

Sleeping Beauty.

A lot of them were Disney.

Based Jack and the Beanstalk.

Or young storybook based, but they had all of these scenes like Kim said.

So you would walk from like I guess exhibit to exhibit, but you’re in a cave and everything like neon and brightly lit up and really.

17:43

Cool art, but weird.

Yeah, Like Kim was like, are we supposed to be doing drugs for this portion?

Like, what’s going on here?

And then at the end, there’s this really big room where they’ve put, like, all of the storybook pieces together, I guess.

18:00

And then you walk around the room.

It’s just like so much to take in.

It’s a curveball from the other portion.

Which is like actual natural rock formations and true nature.

Yeah, a little bonus there.

So by this point we’ve spent a few hours in Rock City and we’re getting a little hungry.

18:18

So we decide that we’re going to go to lunch and we decided to go to lunch at a place called Pickle Barrel.

And the building that Pickle Barrel is in was actually previously Park Plaza and it was originally constructed for this Southern Railway.

The Pickle Barrel building is really cool.

18:33

It’s almost like a flat iron style building on the corner of the street and so it’s shaped that way.

So when you go inside, there’s a table that meets that front corner piece and it’s just a really cool architectural design. two-story.

You can sit upstairs, has Tavern food like Philly cheese steaks, you can sandwiches, burgers, salads, that kind of thing.

18:52

I thought the food was pretty good.

Food was good.

Service is a little slow though.

Service was a little slow, so plan for a longer lunch.

I think we stayed like 2 hours.

They forgot a couple things that we ordered.

But overall, we were still pleasantly pleased with our experience there.

Definitely.

19:07

And the building is really cool too.

Yeah, and like Kim said, it’s that triangle shaped, and originally it was called Triangle Grill back in the 1930s.

Very fitting.

It’s almost like a rooftop bar up on top.

And you have to go up a very windy narrow staircase to.

19:22

Get tie rolls staircase.

To get to the second level and look out into Chattanooga.

So good place to stop if you’re looking for lunch.

We did enjoy the food.

The next place that we went to, not too far from here, is the Walnut Street Bridge, erected in 1891.

19:38

It’s a historical landmark here in Chattanooga.

It’s one of the world’s longest pedestrian bridges, and it connects downtown Chattanooga to the North Shore.

Tons of people walking across this bridge.

We took a little stroll.

It was a very nice little stroll, I will say.

Definitely worth a stop if you’re in the city of Chattanooga, but one of the reasons we were kind of killing time was because we had evening tickets to Ruby Falls and we were super excited for Ruby Falls.

20:04

Ruby Falls is a beautiful underground waterfall that cascades down 145 feet, but I’m going to pref it with something.

Our squatty Ross, he reached out to us and he shouted to him for keeping it real.

We were asking for recommendations on Chattanooga before we went and he was like, I don’t know, if I were you, I’d probably skip Ruby Falls and I was like oops, too late, we already have tickets.

20:24

So we’re going to make the boast of it.

We’ve seen pictures online.

We were really excited about it.

And the pictures online do look gorgeous because they put these white lights, purple lights, yellow lights, blue lights to light up the waterfall and it just looks gorgeous in the middle of a huge cave.

And I can see why Ross said to skip it.

20:41

The actual waterfall itself is worth seeing, but the whole experience in itself is a little lackluster.

For example, I had done some research.

I read online that you should get to Ruby Falls area pretty early to be able to see everything.

20:57

It listed out that there is a Ruby Falls village Plaza, there is a castle Lookout Mountain tower.

So we got there early anticipating to need to spend a lot of time looking and doing all of these things and we were done in about 30 minutes and we had timed entry tickets to Ruby Falls.

21:15

We asked is there any way we can get on an earlier tour?

And they’re like, Nope, you can get on a later one, but not an earlier one.

There was also ziplining here that looked really cool through the fall colored trees, but they happened to shut down at 5:00 PM so we couldn’t even kill time with that one.

21:30

So when you look at the photos of Ruby Falls, it really does look pretty worth going into, but you’re saying the experience as a whole.

But of course it’s in a cave in comparison to other caves that you’ve been to in the stalagmites stalactites.

How was it in there for those geological features, if that’s something that you’re really interested in?

21:48

So there were some parts that were really pretty, actually, and we could see them and they were beautiful.

I didn’t really like that they weren’t policing people touching cause a lot of The Cave was dead.

Oh, I hate that.

So that all the oil from their skin gets.

On I saw tons of people touching even the lives of.

22:06

Yeah, so there were people that I think the groups are too big.

It’s.

Way too big.

Yeah, and so then you have this tour guide, and when you first Inter, they make you watch a little video and it talks about the discovery.

It was actually an accidental discovery of Ruby Falls back in 1928.

22:23

It’s named Ruby after the person who discovered it.

His name is Leo.

His wife was named Ruby, so he named this waterfall after her.

So you get to see this whole little movie about how it was discovered, then how it became an attraction back to the public in the 1929, and they pack you into that area.

22:42

And then she tells you, you know, what type of cave structures you’re going to see.

And not to touch anything, but the group’s too large for her to patrol people, and people were touching cave structures.

I saw a lot of people touching that.

It’s a little disrespectful in terms of going into like a natural environment, but it’s also pretty narrow in there.

23:02

So there are some things that you can’t avoid touching, like as you’re gliding by, but people were actually reaching out and touching parts of The Cave.

That’s the other thing.

It is a narrow cave way.

The groups are too big and they have way too many groups coming through because along this two hour adventure that you’re in there, you’re constantly passing people going the other direction on the same path.

23:26

So either you have to stop or they have to stop.

Put your backs up against the wall, let the other team go through, and that’s what you’re doing.

The majority of the time for this tour, Ruby Falls is a tiny portion of this two hour experience.

Yes, like Kim said, we were down in The Cave area for two hours.

23:44

That was the video that was getting to Ruby Falls.

And then once we got to Ruby Falls, we were only there in front of the fall.

She said she was going to give us 10 minutes.

It was less than 10 minutes that we were in front of the Falls.

We’re going to get more into that later.

And then coming back out where you’re not standing on on the side so much because you’re on your way out.

24:04

So they’re you’re kind of bypassing everyone.

But just how long it takes to get by.

Everyone go through The Cave, the cave’s pretty deep.

Go back up through the elevator.

So it’s a whole long experience.

And like Kim said, Ruby Falls is just a very small piece of this.

Now, I know Kim has a lot to say about when you see Ruby Falls, so we’re going to dive into that too.

24:24

So when you get to that section, they turn the light on.

Oh my God, you’re just blown away by this beautiful waterfall.

It really is so pretty.

Is there music too?

Yeah, there was a little music, some a little light show.

Yeah, it was very beautiful, very moving.

24:40

So they’ll give you some ambience, at least when you’re there for the waterfall.

But the crowd’s huge that you went in with and everyone’s trying to get a picture and you know you want to be respectful, Let people get a picture before you jump in and try to get yours.

But you shouldn’t be respectful.

Nudge your way to the front and get your photo as soon as you can, because we didn’t get 10 minutes.

25:01

No, she said 10 minutes.

And it was not 10 minutes.

And so we were kind of waiting for the perfect photo op.

Kim got a picture in front of the falls, but Robin and I did not.

And once they turn off that music and the lighting, it is pitch black down there.

25:16

So if you try to get a picture, you’re going to get just blackness.

Before they even do that, though, like a prison guard, she yells out one minute and like 30 seconds later the lights go off.

Not even one minute after that, too.

It was she.

Shortchanged you on the 10, then she gives you a minute countdown and it’s not.

25:33

Even.

And then it’s just done.

And it’s like I paid for this not to be in a tight, compact sardine they’re away with.

Well, it’s too many people.

Well, it’s really silly about that too.

Is the way you’re describing that there’s lots of tours in there at the same time, so you would imagine one would be close right behind you.

25:50

So what’s the point of turning on the lights?

Turning off the lies just keep it on because OK yeah you got maybe got to regulate how much time you spend in front of it but to turn it off and then as you’re leaving to not be able to get the photos unless that’s something that they do to purposefully be like all right we got to move the.

26:06

Cattle.

Yeah, I think that’s what they do.

It’s like purposeful so that people do move and they can’t get a picture there because if the light stayed on, then yeah, we would have been snapping pictures till the very end.

So like, we were kind of considering, like, should we try to add on to another group to, like, be able to get a picture?

26:23

We ended up not.

We were just like, you know, I got really good pictures of the waterfall itself.

I just didn’t get a picture of myself in front of the waterfall.

There was a lot of people in our group that were pissed off.

Yeah, OK, so Squatty Ross kept it real St.

Skip, but we already had the tickets.

Or you guys already had the tickets?

26:39

At that point.

But also in the tips.

But it’s so beautiful.

I know, but I was going to say because also in the tips you said get it in advance.

So in hindsight now would you say?

I said Rock City in advance.

Yesterday’s tour in advance or earlier in the days tour in advance.

26:55

That’s right.

Excuse me, I was thinking it was going to be for Ruby Falls.

My mistake.

Ruby falls.

They’ll let anyone in, yeah.

I did write online that Ruby Falls tickets were only available online, but that wasn’t true.

They actually had a kiosk inside the visitor center where you could get tickets and if they weren’t sold out, you could get a later tour.

27:13

So you know, it’s one of those things where it’s like you kind of want to skip it, but at the same time you don’t want to skip it because the actual waterfall is so beautiful.

So our tip to you is possibly if you’re going to be in this area, go very early in the day, maybe the first tour of the day.

27:31

Yes, I I was thinking about this and 1st tour of the day doesn’t have all the other tours coming out, so maybe there that one problem.

At least there’s less of that pass and go.

Maybe you’d get more time with the waterfall.

I don’t.

Know and we believe in travel karma.

But this is a place where you’re saying don’t put it out there.

27:48

Just be selfish about it.

Yeah, you got to.

I actually did write them.

I don’t know if I told you this, Kim.

You wrote.

I was like so upset about our experience.

I actually wrote them and I said, you know, we were really looking forward and the waterfall did impress, but the actual cave tour was a little lackluster.

28:07

And they said that they were really sorry that the tour guide is actually supposed to help take pictures to help hurry the process as well.

And so maybe had we had a tour guide that actually stepped in to help take pictures and kind of move people along through that, maybe it would have been a different experience as well.

28:24

I think it could have been because on a completely different location, Brittany and I were in Mexico in a cenote, and the cenote has a little platform area that’s really iconic that everyone wants to be at for the perfect photo.

And shout out to that cenote in Mexico because they actually had a worker that was like, you literally have 30 seconds here and then you move to the back of the line if you want another photo.

28:47

And they regulated that.

So if they had a tour guide that was really on top of telling people, yes, you only have a certain amount of time, you’re done, let’s go do this, that it could be a little bit more enjoyable experience.

And if that’s really the case, maybe you just didn’t have the right tour guide at that time.

29:03

Yeah, cuz if we got what we wanted out of the waterfall, I wouldn’t have cared so much about the pass and go and the waiting in the the video would have made it more worth it.

Yeah, And you know, to get into this cave, it’s about $26 a person.

And so you’re paying.

29:20

It’s not like super expensive, but you’re paying for this experience.

And so it just felt kind of short for us.

But recommend going first thing in the morning, being a little bit more aggressive with getting your picture, and then just enjoying the waterfall after you’ve gotten your picture taken.

So that’s our tip for there.

Take it or leave it for what you will.

29:36

But that was our experience.

Hopefully you have a better experience than we did.

Before we left Chattanooga, we went and got dinner.

Robin and Brandon wanted BBQ.

Me coming from Texas, I was like, are they really going to measure up to my expectations here?

Let me tell you something, when I was in Nashville, I was not a fan of Nashville BBQ.

29:54

So.

I had a good one driving from Gatlinburg back to Nashville.

I can’t remember the name of it, but so you know, whatever.

I knew when Robin and Brandon picked this spot that it wasn’t going to meet my expectations because it’s a chain.

But to them, who never eats BBQ?

They liked it was Mission Barbecue and it actually was good BBQ for for everyone out there.

30:13

They were extremely friendly, like the nicest people working there.

I think they shook our hand.

They gave us cards with like free something on them.

It was a great place, people wise.

Food wise, I’m slanted, but they ordered a lot of.

Robin and Brandon, whenever they go out to eat, they eat.

30:31

They order the entire menu.

So they got like the brisket and the Turkey and Turkey and all the sides and desserts.

But you know, what did come with my meal that I wasn’t expecting was the cornbread.

And I actually did like the cornbread.

Yeah, everyone got a cornbread for free.

30:47

And the sweet tea was good too.

Let me some cornbread.

So, you know, we have gotten a little backlash in the past on giving our honest opinions, but you know.

Like Charleston.

Like Charleston, but we’re here to keep it real.

And a lot of people have hyped up Chattanooga for us.

31:03

And I don’t know if it’s because it’s been hyped up for us in the past, that maybe our honest impression of Chattanooga is that it’s a little overhyped.

And you know, I’m not opposed to small towns.

I love Hot Springs AR.

I love Bar Harbor.

ME.

31:19

I love cute, quintessential little towns.

But Chattanooga, I think, was a little overhyped for me.

I glad I went.

I had a great time.

I love the people I was with.

I love the experiences we had.

But would I be like, gung ho to go there again?

31:35

No, I wouldn’t be.

I was surprised how touristy they tried to make things for being such a small town.

Yes, one thing that kept coming up was like, you could take this train up to Lookout Mountain, but it’s like what different view would you get then the view at the top of Ruby Falls or at the top of Rock City?

31:55

Would lookout?

Because even though it’s called Lookout Mountain, like everything beneath it is just flat.

Good time nonetheless.

If you’re in cherry log, it makes for a great day trip.

But not worth a specific trip to say I’m going to Chattanooga to just go to Chattanooga.

32:11

Another thing too that kept coming up.

People kept recommending the aquarium and I was like, I didn’t know I was going to Tennessee to go to aquarium.

Maybe it’s because we are all from Northern California.

We grew up not that far from Monterey, which is like one of the best aquariums in the world.

32:28

So it’s like when people recommend an aquarium, I kind of compare it to that, but I don’t know.

Sunday though, we had a fantastic day.

We kind of kept it more local to cherry Log in the Blue Ridge area.

I really enjoyed our Sunday.

So Robin and Brandon, their plan was to continue their trip on, so we were only going to spend the morning with them, and then it was just going to be Kim and I for the rest of the day.

32:51

So we started the morning with a hike to Georgia’s tallest waterfall.

And by this point, Brandon had had enough of our antics and late nights and he was like, I’m sleeping in.

If you guys want to go, you guys can go.

So I drove the girls out there and we had a great time on this little hike.

33:12

We did the Amico Lola Falls via East Ridge Loop Trail.

It’s about 2.2 miles and I really, really enjoyed this trail.

It was very beautiful actually.

I think I had low expectations and it well surpassed them.

Yeah, they’re stairs and we decided to go the route where we would be at the bottom of the stairs and then hike the stairs up and then go down the trail the other way.

33:34

And I would recommend that because I think it gives better views of the waterfall This way.

When we were there, the leaves were starting to turn some gorgeous fall colors.

We were seeing waterfall was flowing nicely, very picturesque.

There’s a few different places to be able to take pictures and then when you make it to the very top, you can kind of see over the waterfall as well.

33:55

So we’ve all been to New England in October for fall foliage change around the same time as when you guys were in cherry log.

How would you rate the fall color change that you saw here compared to in New England?

Because I know we all loved Great Smoky Mountains National Park too, which is in Tennessee, not too far off exactly from where you ladies are at right now.

34:16

And we’ve all said, yeah, we want to go back there and see that.

What did the fall color change look like here at this time in mid-october, early October?

Yeah.

It was around October 20th or so that we were there.

And I would say it was like 50% turned.

Yeah, it hadn’t turned fully yet, but I feel like there was a lot of potential.

34:35

Totally.

When I went to Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee, it had been about a month later, same time frame, but November, and it was much, much more beautiful fall colors.

It was still really beautiful in Cherry log at this time, but I would say if you’re really going for fall colors, maybe delay it a little bit longer.

34:52

Yeah, another week or two probably, and you’ll get some more colors.

So we did that hike and Robin got picked up and she continued on her way to Savannah, GA Rest of the day was just Kim and I, and we were going to go to a orchard and do some wine tasting and some cider tasting.

35:12

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35:33

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35:53

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So you ladies were on your way to the orchard.

What orchard?

And what particular orchard.

Apple orchard, Peach orchard.

What are we talking?

About, that’s a good question because there are a lot of orchards around here.

36:10

As we found out.

We were recommended Mercer’s orchard.

We went there.

There were a ton though, and I think some really good ones out there.

Pumpkin patches.

Yeah, we saw a huge pumpkin patch while we were passing through the area, but like Kim said, we went to Mercer’s orchard and we went there because we saw that they had cider flights and wine flights, so we were enticed to go there.

36:32

We.

So what did we do?

We got both.

I got the cider, Kim got the wine.

We took little sips from each other.

They had a little deck outside.

We were just relaxing there.

We were relaxing with the Wasps everywhere.

36:47

Oh, they were Wasps.

Yes, they was overrun with Wasps.

They were not overrun.

It was dramatic.

They like the wine, too.

Well, I will say one wasp I would feel overrun with.

OK, we were overrun because there was a table that all of their little wine tasting cups they had trapped Wasps in each and every one of them on their table.

37:09

Minus the Wasps aside, because of course that could be a bad experience.

You ladies would still recommend coming here though.

Oh, absolutely.

It’s done.

We just hung out with them.

Yeah.

And Kim had mentioned earlier we had a little bonus with the alcohol and that was because I wanted to make like a build your own cider flight.

37:26

But for the flights they already had pre picked out ones.

There was like 4 options that I wanted and I wanted to say there was like one more that I wanted to try and I wanted to get rid of one other one.

So I had asked them, hey, can I sub this cider for that one?

And she said no I can’t, but I can give you a tasting.

37:45

So she added on that extra tasting for free.

And then Kim had kind of the same idea with the wine as well, so she got a little tasty.

It was like a 40 year old reserve some type of wine and they’re like we’ll give it to you for free. 40 Year Reserve for free.

38:00

Look at you, ladies, living it up out there.

But before we even did our wine and cider tasting, this whole orchard, it’s huge.

You could do apple picking.

They actually had apple samples.

We tried some of the best apples I’ve ever had.

38:16

We.

Actually bought apples.

We did.

We like the apples so much.

They were called Ever Crisp apples.

They were so good that we bought some.

And then they have a bakery section and Oh my gosh, you can go wild in the bakery section.

We did go wild.

We did.

We got apple cider doughnuts, we got apple fritters and they also had these handheld like fried apple pies.

38:40

So good.

Oh my God, they were so good.

We got the traditional apple and I think we got some that were like apple with some fruit.

So like, we got a Peach one, I think we got a BlackBerry or blueberry one.

I would go back and buy like a dozen more.

You know, the last day came, I was thinking like, should we go back there?

38:57

But like, we had been eating our weight in apple products, so we didn’t.

But I would highly recommend getting those things, yeah.

That was a good time there.

And then we picked up hard cider there to go to then enjoy in our hot tub as well.

39:13

Yeah, very successful orchard experience here.

And then we went over to Blue Ridge downtown, so super close to Cherry Log as well.

They have this gorgeous Blue Ridge mural there.

They have a few different restaurants.

It’s a quaint little small town downtown feel.

39:29

It’s about two blocks.

You can walk it.

There’s some restaurants down there.

We went out to dinner down there, checked out the mural, and then we also went to another winery in the area called Bear Claw Winery and we got a glass of wine there.

And then we were actually able to walk around the vineyard.

39:46

And so we just kind of walked and talked and drank while we were hanging out.

There was live music going that was a nice little vineyard too and.

Then Kim and I had a date night in Blue Ridge.

We went to dinner on Harvest on Maine.

A lot of the dinners were actually closed on Sunday.

40:01

It was hard pressed to find us a restaurant to go to dinner at.

Do you remember that, Kim?

I remember that.

And anytime something like that happens when we’re traveling, it’s always a reminder of, you know, the Bible Belt area of the country and, oh, they’re a little bit different out there.

I was going to say lots of places in the South are closed on Sundays.

40:18

You.

Know it was closed.

A lot of the the dinner restaurants were closed on Sundays.

Couldn’t believe it, but I would say 7080% of them were closed.

Yeah, There was actually one that we were looking at going to and it had a lot of Southern food options and we and we were just like, oh, this looks so good.

40:35

And we were, we had picked the restaurant and then we’re like what are the hours And it was closed.

We’re like, no, it’s terrible.

Harvest on main was good though, and it was cute.

Two-story great service.

We sat at the bar.

Usually you don’t like to sit at the bar.

40:50

I think that’s all the seating they had.

Well, then I would sit at the bar too.

They were.

So full because not a lot of other restaurants.

The only place open really, is what you’re saying.

That was good.

We ended the night with hot tubing, drinking our ciders in the tub the next day, Monday.

We didn’t really have many plants actually, which isn’t super typical for us.

41:08

I did a little work and play situation and got some work done in the morning.

And I must say, working from a mountain cabin, it doesn’t feel like work.

It just doesn’t.

It’s beautiful views, waking up with the mountain sounds.

41:25

It was actually really nice.

And Kim worked and so I was like, well, I have nothing better to do.

I’m going to hop in the hot tub.

So I did hop on in for a morning hot tub soak and I brought a book in with me and I just soaked up and read a few chapters while Kim was working away.

41:41

About midday, we packed it up.

We cleaned up the Airbnb.

We headed out back to Atlanta.

For all the times that we’ve come through this area, flown through Atlanta, we haven’t really explored much.

So we thought we’d go out a little bit and see what we could see.

How was hot Atlanta?

OK.

For what we saw, we we basically went out and had lunch at a kind of cool little Krog Street Market Food hall, had a ton of different options there and then took a little walk along the Atlanta Beltline, cool little walking trail there.

42:08

So for the little that we saw, it was cool.

But I’m sure there’s so much more to explore there that we just, you know, on a Monday afternoon didn’t do.

I mean, Atlanta is a huge city.

We we didn’t even scratch the surface of Atlanta and we were just flying and transiting through there and we’re like, let’s go have lunch in the area.

42:25

So from what I saw in my hard pressed to go back, no.

But could you convince me to go back with the right things?

Sure.

All right, squatties, it’s my favorite time of the week.

We’ve got questions of the week.

Question number one is from Jim.

42:47

So our first question is from Jim Jim’s from Sacramento, CA.

He asks how does Chattanooga compared to Sacramento, CA because it’s at the same latitude and sea level?

First of all, I did not know it was at the same latitude and sea level.

Second of all, that’s a little weird because I would kind of relate them.

43:04

Yeah, I actually felt like it kind of was similar to Sacramento.

There’s a river.

It’s low key, but there’s still some stuff going on there.

Great question, Jim.

But you guys said Chattanooga may be a little bit overrated.

We’re all from Sacramento region, so shout out to you, Jim, for that aspect of being from where we are from.

43:23

Also love it, but we love Sacramento.

So how do they also compare to be different, even though you said they’re kind of the same right now?

You love Sacramento.

I love Sacramento.

Who doesn’t love Sacramento?

I don’t love Sacramento, Oh.

My gosh, Sacramento is the fastest growing city in the United States in terms of where people are moving, or one of them.

43:43

I mildly enjoy it and I feel the same about Chattanooga.

That’s a great way to just explain it.

I mildly enjoy it.

I love Sacramento, just all.

Right.

Second question coming in from Macy.

She’s asking how family friendly is Chattanooga.

Very family friendly.

43:58

I feel like that whole area is family friendly, got a lot of pumpkin patches, orchards, a lot of things to do with kids.

So definitely a family friendly location in area in the US.

And chair log as well.

Since it’s just an hour and a half day trip type distance, our Airbnb cabin was set up for kids to be there.

44:19

Yeah, there was actually like a little area underneath the stairs that had some toys for kids for people to play with.

And then with the hot tub and the fire pit and then the property.

Perfect for families.

Tons of family friendly stuff with the orchards.

Maybe not the wineries as much, but I would definitely do a little family mountain getaway here.

44:37

All right, squaddies, thank you so much for tuning into our episode this week.

Keep the adventures going with us on Socials at Trump Squad Podcast and send us in your questions of the.

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44:53

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Bye bye squaddies!