Chattanooga Trip Day 1

Thank you in advance for looking at our trip photos. We had so much fun, and of course there are lots more photos than these (like 250 more), so I picked only the best ones to show what all we did.
First of all we left late, not going to say whose fault that was, they are forgiven. We had to stop along the way for shoes because the ones Tim had on rubbed his feet raw. Also, we had borrowed my MIL's car and unlike our SUV, the sun was coming in rather strong on the kids heads. So my hubby improvised:






In case you are wondering, this is glass chalk. You know, when people put for sale or just married on their cars. The kids had so much fun drawing on the windows!

We arrived at the Aquarium at noon, and I was surprised there were not more people there since it was Saturday.


As we were walking up to the member entrance, Tim saw people doing face painting and helped M&M pick out something for herself. Of course, she loved it, and it made her eyes look even prettier.


We went to the seahorse exhibit first since it is usually one of our favorites. M&M reached out to touch one of these kind (sorry, I don't remember the name of this one), and it looks like it is touching her finger. So cute!


JJ trying to figure out why the "phishies" wouldn't come close enough for him to touch.


The Butterfly area was wonderful, and JJ learned how to say "bbrfies". M&M wanted one to land on her, but there were so many people in there it was hard to stay still long enough. This one was larger than the width of both my hands!


At this one M&M said they looked sad and wanted to know why.


At the large tank, every picture I took had this ginormous turtle in it. JJ loved it, but not the sharks. M&M loved the colorful fish, and I and Tim were trying to figure out if the divers were going to survive the shark with only their sticks.


We then went in the underwater cave, which JJ didn't like but M&M pretended to be gasping for breath. She is too funny...


Then we went to Big River Grille and Brewery across the street and then to Ben and Jerry's ice cream. The kids were exhausted but not so much that they couldn't enjoy some ice cream.


After we left the downtown area we went to our cabin in north Georgia. We had a slight problem because I had never received the email asking me for confirmation on our cabin, so they didn't hold it. However, we are thrice returning customers so they gave us the large cabin for a discount. We arrived at the cabin just in time to see someone from the hanggliding place above us. If you are wondering about the plane, they once told my hubby, "If there isn't any wind, we make it"



We also were just in time to watch the sunset over the top of Sand Mountain, directly across from Lookout Mtn. in Georgia. I thought the wraparound porch made it even prettier, but I am a sucker for sunsets anyway.


By the time I got inside our stuff was already unpacked so I didn't take any pictures downstairs, but here is a picture of our room upstairs. It was quite beautiful and the king size bed made for a wonderful sleep.

The only downside was my increasing allergies, but the kids were behaving well and before 8:30pm our time both were asleep. Funny side note: JJ slept in his port-a-crib inside the closet! He likes to be in complete dark with quiet and I knew I would be up for a while and since the closet was the size of our bathroom back home I put the crib in the closet and he slept all night. I did open the door though, after he went to sleep so he could get some air circulation. Too sweet, aren't I?
Anyway, day 2 is continued in the next post. So sorry for the long posts, and thank you again if you have read or even looked this far. I can tell who has the most patience!!!

Chattanooga Trip Day 2

Here is Day 2 of our weekend trip to Chattanooga, Tn
After we checked out of our wonderful cabin in River Fawn, Ga, we decided to go to the Chattanooga Choo-Choo. However, we did have to wash the car off first and make sure the glass chalk would come off, it did. Then we took the scenic route through Hinkle, Ga (yes, HINKLE) to reach the Choo-Choo. It was a gorgeous ride with a cute little roadside store called, The Hitch N Post, and only took about forty minutes.



I got pictures of Grandma and JJ on the main exhibit, as well as,



a picture of my almost five year old, M&M.



Then after we had been at the Choo-Choo for about two and half hours we went to eat a late lunch at a place called Tony's Pasta Shop and Trattoria. The food was spectacular and the service exceptional, plus the prices were really great, especially since I had a 10% of coupon from the Chattanooga tourist website.
The place is in an area called Bluff View Art District and has beautiful architecture and even better views of the river. Here is a picture of the inside where we were seated.



After leaving with to go boxes and full tummies, we went to Craven's House and Point Park. For those of you not familiar with Craven's House, I would love to share the story in a nutshell since I love history and old houses. The house was built in 1855, by the Cravens, who were first involved in the cotton trade but then went into iron after the cotton trade dissipated. Then the Civil War came, and the Confederates used the house as a lookout point for the opposition. In November of 1863, the Union soldiers advanced in the "Battle Above the Clouds" and took the Cravens house. Later, the house was burnt down all the way to the rock foundation during a Union drunken brawl (those crazy Yankees!). When the Cravens returned after the war, they rebuilt on top of the remaining foundation and added a third story to what was orginally only a two story layout. Adolph Ochs later bought the house and 88acres from the Craven descendents, combining with land he had already purchased, and in 1893 he donated the land to the Chickamauga-Chattanooga National Park. In 1956 the house was renovated and now you can take tours of it during the summer.



Next door is a vacant house that is beautiful as well. On the property line is this shed/cellar built into the side of this huge boulder. Thought it was quite pretty.



JJ enjoyed the porch on the side of the house facing the city. He looks so cute and little on the that long porch!



After Cravens House we went up to Point Park at the top of Lookout Mtn. This is the view from the Ochs Museum.



At the top of the Point we had Grandma take a picture of us four at the cannon. My parents took me here when I was little and we have a picture of us when I was about ten. It is quite nice to see how time can repeat itself. Isn't the view gorgeous?!



We also had our picture taken at another spot I loved as a kid. Tim also had a picture taken here when he was a preteen. I just love this picture at Umbrella Rock!



On the way out of the park, I was taking pictures and noticed how if you stand at the entrance into the park it looks like the eagle is looking at you. It doesn't look too friendly to me!



This is the view outside of the park. It looks like a fortress/castle and M&M started making up stories about a princess trapped in the castle and needing to be rescued by her prince.


We had a great time on our trip, even though we didn't get in bed until after 10:00pm our time. We did pack in a lot in two days, but it was well worth it! I could very easily live in the Lookout Mtn. Georgia area and take daily treks into Chattanooga. Next trip we plan on skipping the Aquarium and the Choo-Choo and spending more time in the Bluff View Art District and at Point Park. Maybe this time we will make it to the Incline before the last train is gone. Overall, we made some very good memories and learned a lot for future trips. Like, take everyone's expectations into account ("the planned to the minute person with no stops" compared to "the the trip is part of the journey and impromptu stopper person") Can you guess which one I am?