LISA DENTON: Barry, I’m not sure how much rock climbing, caving, cycling, hiking, paddling, swimming and running you do, but you’ll get a chance to do all those things when the second annual RiverRocks outdoor festival starts Friday.
I think I’ll be gravitating more to the spectator events, since just writing that sentence made me tired. For the festival’s opening weekend, there will be hot-air balloons at Coolidge Park that you can ride up, up and away for $250, or you can ride up, up but not away on a tethered flight for $5. If nothing else, you can just walk amongst them at the balloon glow Saturday night. It’s a beautiful thing.
BARRY COURTER: I’m big into all of those activities. I can watch them for hours on TV.
RiverRocks is a cool concept. Chattanooga is known around the world for having some of the best rock-climbing, paddling and hang-gliding opportunities anywhere. Each is world-class. The fact that we have those and more all in one location is what made Outside Magazine voters choose us as their No. 1 dream city to live in.
It would take too long to fully explain RiverRocks, but people should know that over a stretch of 10 days the city will be alive with outdoor events.