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Locum tenens assignments can offer you the chance to experience thrilling adventure or breathtaking natural beauty, or even both. Every so often, however, an assignment will present you with an opportunity to witness the truly bizarre.
If you find yourself anywhere near Chattanooga, Tennessee, you'll undoubtedly notice roadside signs urging you to "See Rock City." By all means, follow the signs, and see Rock City. We'll bet you'll leave wondering just what it was that you saw!
Located just six miles outside Chattanooga, Lookout Mountain looms 1,700 feet above the Tennessee countryside. According to RoadsideAmerica.com, a wealthy couple, Garnet and Frieda Carter, transformed part of their Lookout Mountain estate into a stunningly attractive nature walk. Cobbled pathways wind through chasms with slab-like rock walls. Ironwork fences and clever wooden bridges guide guests along a labyrinthine path that crosses over itself at a variety of elevations. Particularly memorable features include the 180-foot-long Swing-A-Long Bridge and High Falls, a 140-foot manmade fountain that you'll swear is a natural waterfall.
The Carters could have stopped there with a beautiful destination attraction. But, yeah…they didn't, and that's where things take a turn toward the bizarre.
Rock City is populated by an army of gnomes. They wait around corners. They lurk in crevasses and leer from overhead outcroppings. Frieda Carter's gnomes accompany you all the way to the gaping mouth of Fairyland Caverns, the finishing touch of the Rock City experience.
Fairyland Caverns is a fluorescent underground menagerie, illuminated entirely in ultraviolet light. Ghostly depictions of fairytale scenes, painted with vivid colors, fill every cave and alcove. The caverns terminate in a crescendo of the surreal at Mother Goose Village, an enormous, glowing display of childhood stories.
As locum tenens doctors, we're always looking for our next great story to tell. Rock City could be yours. And though it may be an odd one to tell, it's undoubtedly one that will stick with you!