As a child I grew up in the shadows of the mountains that surrounded my little town ("Chattanooga, Tennesse" n.d.r.). We were fairly self contained. We had hotels, gas stations, grocery stores, and attractions. We were a fairly well guarded secret, we were well known because of our attractions but left alone. We had virtually no crime, in fact I could probably count on one hand the number of times I saw a cop in my town. Then something happened.
The secret got out.
Soon people started flocking to my town. More and more people started moving in. Neighborhoods were replaced with subdivisions. We got annexed by the city, bigger companies moved in. The more "dangerous" attractions got shut down. By the time I was a teenager, the town I grew up in was barely recognizable. Today its even less recognizable, gone are the neighborhood barber and grocery stores. Instead we have Great Clips and Wal-Mart.
This location is a place I grew up with, that ended up getting shut down. There are two stories I have heard as to why it was shut down. The first is that it was too dangerous and kids kept getting hurt. The second, and the one I believe is more likely true, is that a high end subdivision bought the land near by and built massive homes. The traffic for the attraction and the noise of the kids was too loud and they made them shut it down.
At the time everything was shut down, the Alpine Slide, the Go-Karts, and everything else noisy. Then after a couple of years the batting cages reopened, then the Go-Karts, and now there is a little arcade. Sadly the Alpine Slide is far beyond repair and as such just lays on the side of the mountain breaking and decaying more and more everyday.
Our group got together and decided to go on up and check it out. I hadn't been there in years, I had heard years ago they destroyed the slide and nothing remained of it. Fortunately, Chris Kicker actually did some research and found out it was still there. We brought my son along, so he could at least see where I spent so much time when I was his age. So here is our trip, but first a video for those of you unfamiliar with what an alpine slide is:
The secret got out.
This location is a place I grew up with, that ended up getting shut down. There are two stories I have heard as to why it was shut down. The first is that it was too dangerous and kids kept getting hurt. The second, and the one I believe is more likely true, is that a high end subdivision bought the land near by and built massive homes. The traffic for the attraction and the noise of the kids was too loud and they made them shut it down.
At the time everything was shut down, the Alpine Slide, the Go-Karts, and everything else noisy. Then after a couple of years the batting cages reopened, then the Go-Karts, and now there is a little arcade. Sadly the Alpine Slide is far beyond repair and as such just lays on the side of the mountain breaking and decaying more and more everyday.
Our group got together and decided to go on up and check it out. I hadn't been there in years, I had heard years ago they destroyed the slide and nothing remained of it. Fortunately, Chris Kicker actually did some research and found out it was still there. We brought my son along, so he could at least see where I spent so much time when I was his age. So here is our trip, but first a video for those of you unfamiliar with what an alpine slide is:
Church of Atom
