Coronavirus Tour; Day 5
It was raining hard when we woke up this morning and for awhile thereafter. It must have made for good sleeping because Chris and I both overslept. Because of the rain and our sleeping late we didn't depart our hotel in Sweetwater until 9:30. It was cloudy and 52 degrees.
First on our agenda today was the Lost Sea Adventure (https://thelostsea.com), a few miles down the road. Upon arrival, however, we found a note on the door saying they were closed until April 1st. The Lost Sea is an underground lake so, basically, it is indoors. This is the first closure we've encountered due to the Coronavirus.
Second on our agenda was Ruby Falls in Chattanooga, TN. We did a little checking and found it was closed also. So we were off for DeSoto State Park near Fort Payne, Alabama. I was using Google Maps to guide us to DeSoto State Park and I'm not sure of the route we took but I had it set to avoid Interstate highways and toll roads. That was probably a mistake because it took forever. I do know we cut across the northwest corner of Georgia on our way to Alabama. Google Maps told me we had arrived at DeSoto State Park when we obviously had not. So I entered it in my Garmin GPS and we eventually made it. Along the way we crossed back into the central time zone but even losing an hour it was 12:30 or so when we arrived.
We ate lunch at the lodge in DeSoto State Park before we explored the park.
Our first stops in the park were the Azalea Cascade and Indian Falls.
We then drove several miles north to visit DeSoto Falls, which was the spillway of a small lake. It was an impressive waterfall.
From DeSoto Falls we drove south to Gadsden, AL where we stopped for the day at 4:30. Chris and I had put the top down on our convertible when we drove from Indian Falls to DeSoto Falls. It was in the low 70's (a high of 74 today) as we left DeSoto Falls so the top was down all the way to Gadsden. It was a beautiful, warm and sunny afternoon. We drove 202 miles today.
I washed the car before calling it a day.
To see all the photos taken today click on this link: Day 5 Photos
First on our agenda today was the Lost Sea Adventure (https://thelostsea.com), a few miles down the road. Upon arrival, however, we found a note on the door saying they were closed until April 1st. The Lost Sea is an underground lake so, basically, it is indoors. This is the first closure we've encountered due to the Coronavirus.
Second on our agenda was Ruby Falls in Chattanooga, TN. We did a little checking and found it was closed also. So we were off for DeSoto State Park near Fort Payne, Alabama. I was using Google Maps to guide us to DeSoto State Park and I'm not sure of the route we took but I had it set to avoid Interstate highways and toll roads. That was probably a mistake because it took forever. I do know we cut across the northwest corner of Georgia on our way to Alabama. Google Maps told me we had arrived at DeSoto State Park when we obviously had not. So I entered it in my Garmin GPS and we eventually made it. Along the way we crossed back into the central time zone but even losing an hour it was 12:30 or so when we arrived.
We ate lunch at the lodge in DeSoto State Park before we explored the park.
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| Carl walking into the lodge restaurant at DeSoto State Park |
Our first stops in the park were the Azalea Cascade and Indian Falls.
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| Azalea Cascade in DeSoto State Park |
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| Indian Falls in DeSoto State Park |
We then drove several miles north to visit DeSoto Falls, which was the spillway of a small lake. It was an impressive waterfall.
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| Marge, Carl, Chris and I in front of the top portion of DeSoto Falls |
From DeSoto Falls we drove south to Gadsden, AL where we stopped for the day at 4:30. Chris and I had put the top down on our convertible when we drove from Indian Falls to DeSoto Falls. It was in the low 70's (a high of 74 today) as we left DeSoto Falls so the top was down all the way to Gadsden. It was a beautiful, warm and sunny afternoon. We drove 202 miles today.
I washed the car before calling it a day.
To see all the photos taken today click on this link: Day 5 Photos
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