Chattanooga Choo Choo

The first weekend of Spring Break, we decided to take our first "family of three" vacation.  So, we went just s few hours north to Chattanooga, TN.  The weather could not have been more perfect!

The way up there was just a little stressful for me.  Although Perry slept just fine, there was absolutely NO rest for me because I was on the phone with EVERY hotel in Chattanooga TRYING to book a reservation.  Being the first time I've ever done this, I really didn't think twice about calling on the way to our destination.  Apparently, that's why they're called reservations.

However, it worked out well because we finally got a room at the historic Chattanooga Choo Choo.  We didn't actually sleep in one of the Victorian train cars, but our room was very nice and spacious.  The lobby was also breathtakingly beautiful and the charm of the place was just perfect.  They even had a very nice indoor pool that we took full advantage of! 

After we got checked into our hotel, we walked about two miles to the Tennessee aquarium.  To me, the aquarium is just beautiful!  We saw so many interesting and amazing creatures.  It really made me think, “Wow!  God is just so cool!”  (Yes, I’m so eloquent when speaking of the divine, right?! ;) Then, we got Perry a stuffed alligator with the money Grammie and Grampie sent him with.   We were all so poopered from the day, that we headed back to the hotel to order pizza.  We were glad we did because Perry was also sick on and off that evening (and the next night too for that matter.)

With Perry not feeling up to par and the time changing ahead an hour, we slept in the next morning, then got up and went to the yummiest bistro for brunch, the Blacksmith Bistro.   Gosh, I seriously wish we had one of those around here!  Justin had steak and eggs, I had chicken wings (I know, I know) in this amazing sweet and zesty Asian spice, and Perry had potatoes and fruit.  Scrumptious!

After brunch, we headed to the incline railway.  I think it is a really neat railway, being the longest and steepest railway in the world.  It’s so steep, that as you are going up, you can see over the entire city.  Just beautiful.  The best thing of all about the railway?  The fudge at the top!

After our “touristy” stop at the railway, we headed back to the hotel room to take a nap.  Then, we drove over to Coolidge Park where we ate the BEST ice cream in the world, walked across the bridge, road the carousal, and played on the water fountains (a splash pad area, but they didn’t have the water on).  It was a beautiful evening playing at the park, but we were getting a little hungry, so we headed to a quick dinner at Chili’s, then back to the Choo Choo to swim in the indoor pool.  

Luckily, (since we didn’t plan to stay here, nor did we actually know they had an indoor pool) we left swim class Saturday morning to head to TN, so we all had our swimsuits.  I didn’t, however, have a swim diaper for Mr. P.  We’ve been potty training for a good two months now, so I crossed my fingers, and prayed discussed with Perry the importance of not going ‘potty’ on his adorable octopus on his swimsuit.  He understood loud and clear and did great!!  I did however lose one of a very special pair of pearl and diamond earrings while swimming.  The pool was very large and the deep end was 9 feet!  Being indoors (with dim lighting) the water wasn’t very clear, and I never in a million years thought I’d ever see that earring again.  But, thankfully a little girl with some rockin’ goggles popped up with it after about five minutes or so! I was thrilled!  So we took the opportunity to take BOTH my earrings up to the room so that everyone could hit the hay, so we'd be well rested to take some pictures when we woke up and head home Monday morning.  

As sad as it was to head back home, I’m always thrilled to be “home.”  I guess it goes without saying, no matter how much fun you have away, there’s truly “no place like home!”