I think it’s fair to say Rock City was a big hit with the whole family. It’s a bout a 10hr drive from west Michigan. If you’re heading south for summer vacay you could easily hit ROCK CiTY on your way down south or make it a day trip from the Smokey’s in Gatlinburg. Either way, it’s a great spot to make memories.

Make sure you make reservations in advance at https://www.seerockcity.com. If you’re trying to see other sites such as ruby falls and you’re trying to time things out I think it took us about 1.5hrs to get through Rock City. We are not big gapers though. We tend to move through pretty quick so you might want to alot yourself 2 hours to be on the safe side. The views are A M A Z I N G!

We went over the bridge which I highly recommend Being a boymom we went through fairyland pretty quick but the little girls in front of us were ooohhing and ahhhing! It really was pretty magical! There is a place to stop and eat lunch at the top but it was closed so I can’t really comment on whether or not that is worth it. Most likely it’s over priced like all those things typically are but it might be fun to get an ice cream cone or a pop if it’s a warm day. It was abnormally cold for us so we were just thankful for the Starbucks at the beginning to grab hot coffee & cocoa and the gift shop for $40 rock city sweatshirt

We had 5:45 reservations for Rock City, so we stopped in Jasper, TN beforehand for a late lunch/early dinner at Top of the Rock https://topoftherockbrewery.com which is a cute little restaurant/ brewery. Gorgeous views and Great food! Highly recommended!! I had a margarita and mr.mitten had a delicious ipa . The kids were happy with their chicken tenders. Great shrimp appetizer & fish tacos as well. very important to note there is time change between those two spots. Make sure you take that into account on your way down so you don’t miss your reservation!

Oh and I would ditch the stroller for a back pack if you have littles. There are some tight spaces. One more recommendation in the area… we were hungry for a late night snack so we ordered pizza from https://pizzabroschattanooga.com and it was Awesome!

Credit to Lisa Smoker for the rock city Rec. & Lindsey Read for the Top of the Mountain Rec.