2014 Florida Vacation Days 8 and 9: Chattanooga, TN

We woke up at a decent time on Saturday and began packing up and loading. Unlike the trip down, we had decided that we'd only drive halfway and then stop for the night. It happened to work out that Chelsea and Nate were right on our way so we got to meet up with them for a much-needed sit-down dinner. It was nice to catch up.

We drove for a while longer after that and then found a decent hotel. The boys were bouncing around like crazy, but once they settled down the crashed. We all did.

After a crummy hotel breakfast the next day, we hit the road once again. We made a last-minute decision to stop in downtown Chattanooga. None of us were sure if there was really anything to see, but we wanted to explore a little and I'm so glad we did. It was PERFECT. Seriously. The bridge was so neat and the whole area near the one end of the bridge was just so peaceful. There were a few people walking their dogs or biking, but otherwise it was totally uncrowded.

[caption id="attachment_1575" align="aligncenter" width="430"] World's Longest Pedestrian Bridge!![/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_1576" align="aligncenter" width="430"] Boys on bridge with art museum in background.[/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_1577" align="aligncenter" width="286"] Bridge[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1578" align="aligncenter" width="245"] Come sit a spell.[/caption]

After hanging out on the bridge, we wandered a bit further and came across Ross's Landing:

Native American History
Ross’s Landing, on the Chattanooga Riverfront, was established in 1816 by John Ross, a Chief of the Cherokee Indians. This area consisted of a ferry, warehouse and landing. With the organization of Hamilton County in 1819, Ross’s Landing served not only the Cherokee trade but also as a convenient business center for the county. In 1838, Cherokee parties left from Ross’s Landing for the West on what became known as the Trail of Tears.

Ross’s Landing Park and Plaza encompasses a four-acre area surrounding the Tennessee Aquarium and overlooking the Tennessee River and scenic landscapes. The park includes green spaces, a playground, a pier and The Passage, an area where people can play in water cascading down steps alongside six-foot clay medallions set into the wall representing specific aspects of the Cherokee tribes’ history.

 

The boys were all to happy to take off their socks and shoes and play in the water.

[caption id="attachment_1579" align="aligncenter" width="286"] Socks off...[/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_1580" align="aligncenter" width="430"] Socks on[/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_1581" align="aligncenter" width="286"] I'm on top of the world!![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1582" align="aligncenter" width="430"] Karen, Tim, and Ben on top of the steps.[/caption]

I'm not sure that I could plan a vacation around Chattanooga, but it was a great place to drop by! I think I took almost as many pictures here as I did the rest of the week. Beautiful place.

The rest of the trip home was pretty uneventful. We were able to get home while there was still daylight so we unloaded the car and cleaned it out right away. I had everything unpacked and laundry started before bedtime!

The whole trip went well and has us already looking forward to next year!

ETA: Before I forget, there were all these goofy inside jokes that I wanted to remember.

"goody bag" EVERY. TIME they'd play the safety announcement on the tram, the Spanish interpretation had a word that sounded like "goody bag" and it would crack us up. Yeah, we're sophisticated like that.

"Alabama" Luke kept talking about Alabama and asking if we were in Alabama at the beginning of the trip. It was hard to convince him Alabama wasn't included in our trip.

"Chuck Charles" At the first Monster's Laugh-in we went to, the comedian talked to a guy who introduced himself as Chuck---Charles.

"California Driver" The plates on our rental vehicle were from California so the whole trip, any time we sped or made a u-turn or whatever we'd say everyone would blame it on Californians. Sorry California.