The weekend couldn't have gone better, really. Chattanooga is such a family friendly city that really caters to activities for children. Frankly, it completely kicks Nashville's ass in that regard, which is surprising, since Nashville is generally considered to be a tourist destination (Grand Ole Opry, County Music Hall of Fame, etc.). What it comes down to, Jude and I decided, is that Nashville's tourism industry is geared toward adults, while Chattanooga's tourism industry is geared toward families.
Within walking distance of our hotel - the Hilton Garden Inn - was the Tennessee Aquarium, AT&T Park (where Chattanooga's AA minor league baseball team, the Lookouts, play), the Children's Science Museum and a myriad of restaurants and bars. It's a perfect setup.
We left Friday, late afternoon. Unfortunately, we got caught in traffic heading out of town on I-24, but it wasn't too bad. The trip went well until we were about 10 minutes outside of Chattanooga. J.P., who had been sleeping, woke up crying and immediately vomited. That's par for the course for him, given his penchant for carsickness. We were so close to the hotel, though, I thought we might have made it without an incident. As usual, as soon as he threw up, J.P. was fine.
We checked into the hotel, took the elevator up to the 4th floor and, suddenly, J.P. was in heaven! First, he explored the suite, then delighted in opening and closing, repeatedly, the closet and bathroom doors. It was hilarious. Truth be told, our hotel room was probably the highlight of the trip, for J.P. More than once during the weekend, he reminded us how "cool" our hotel room was.
Late Friday evening, we had a nice dinner at the Blue Plate. Somewhat of an expert, J.P. pronounced the grilled cheese sandwich he ordered as "the best grilled cheese sandwich ever." Bold statement, indeed.
Saturday morning, J.P. slept late, which was nice. After breakfast downstairs, we walked next door to the Children's Science Museum. We spent a couple of hours there and J.P. had a blast. There were a ton of kid friendly, participatory activities - water tables, a farmer's market, pretend garden, rooftop playground, doctor's office and kitchen - to name a few. Again, just a nice way to spend some time with your child. It was great and J.P. loved it.
We ate lunch at another good restaurant - Blue Water - then it was nap time for Jude and J.P. I went for a 4-mile run along the Tennessee River, then had a couple of beers at an outside bar a block or so away from our hotel. When J.P. woke up, we walked over to the Tennessee Aquarium and spend a couple of hours there. It was kind of nice, because in the early evening, not many people were there, so we kind of had the run of the place. We toured the salt water aquarium, then the fresh water aquarium. It's no secret that I'm not a big fan of Aquariums - when you've seen one, you've seen them all - bit it was fun to watch as J.P. took it all in.
We ate dinner at a Mexican restaurant nearby, then packed it in for the night. Today, we left Chattanooga about 10:30 a.m. and, other than a quick vomiting episode just past Monteagle, it was an uneventful trip home. At J.P.'s request, we drove straight to Bongo Java for brunch, then played a rather funny game of hide-and-seek in the courtyard of an apartment complex. When it was J.P.'s turn to hide, he ran and hid - beside, not behind - a nearby tree, in full view. Jude and I couldn't stop laughing.
No comments:
Post a Comment