Chattanooga, TN

Choo-Choo City

Lovers' Leap, copyright
SeeRockCity, Inc.

If you've ever driven around the South, you've probably seen one of the 900 or so aging barns plastered with six-foot-high letters urging you to "SEE ROCK CITY." Chances are, you chalked it up to another roadside ad campaign (a la South of the Border, Stuckey's, or Mail Pouch Tobacco) and kept driving.

If so, you missed a visit to one of the South's most popular family fun spots. Rock City is a quirky mountaintop park peeking through the clouds above Chattanooga, the metropolis that gave us the Chattanooga Choo-Choo, Moon Pies, Miniature Golf, and the great Bessie Smith.

Nestled in a bend of the Tennessee River, this historic city was also the site of the Civil War's decisive "Battle Above the Clouds," on towering Lookout Mountain. Now, it's a bustling tourist attraction, with scenic views, lush parks, bridges, window-shopping, museums, and the world's largest fresh-water aquarium.