Chattanooga

At the same time that Benj was visiting us in Knoxville, my brother Hyrum was completely coincidentally attending a writer's retreat in Chattanooga, which is an hour and a half south of Knoxville and exactly halfway to Atlanta. So one day when Hyrum had some free time in the morning, we drove down from Knoxville and Mark and Sarah's family drove up from Atlanta and we all spent the day together (though Hyrum was busy with his group for part of the afternoon/evening). It was fun to have the whole group together (especially for the cousins!) and also great to finally see a bit of Chattanooga. 

We started the morning at--of all places--McDonald's. It was raining but we wanted to go somewhere where the adults could sit and talk (and play cards) while the kids could still run around and play. The cousins had lots of fun, and I was pleased to see that Jamie was not afraid of climbing through the play structure. He seems to be conquering his fear of heights.

Jacob and Uncle Benj! I stole some of these pictures from Benj again.

Then we got lunch at Olive Garden. Jamie was in a crazy mood.

After lunch, Hyrum met back up with his group, and the rest of us decided to go to Rock City. Incidentally, Hyrum's group was spending the afternoon at Rock City as well, so we actually got to see him a bit longer. Rock City was very impressive. It is an area filled with huge, crazy rock structures and also has some amazing views from which you can supposedly see 7 states at once.

The kids decided this was Elsa's castle.

the view from Lover's Leap, where you can supposedly see 7 states

Some of the spaces between the rock structures were very narrow, and some of the names were very funny. Here we are descending the Fat Man Squeeze. I was wearing Jacob in the Ergo and had a hard time getting through without scraping his legs on the sides!

That is a 1,000 ton rock balanced above them!

sweet Christine

gnomes

After Rock City, we went to Coolidge Park on the river. The kids ran and played on the fountain structures, Thomas met and chatted with a French family, we rode on a 100-year-old carousel, and then we walked across the river and got some pretty awesome burgers and shakes at a place called Cheeburger Cheeburger.

 
 
 

It was a great day! It seems like Chattanooga has a lot to offer, and we hope to be able to go back and see more of it!