Chattanooga...

CHOO CHOO!!!!! Matt and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary a few weekends ago in Chattanooga, TN. We had a wonderful time. Here is a quick glance at our trip:

day 1:

Lunchtime! As soon as we arrived in Chattanooga we drove around and looked for some place interesting to eat. We chose the blue water grille downtown. This was a very pleasant dining experience. It is a seafood restaurant with fresh fish shipped daily from Florida from the Pacific Coast??? Doesn't make sense! This is what our waitress told us. However, we will cut her some slack because she was wonderful. She kindly gave us all the ins and outs of the city, where to go and definitely where we shouldn't waste our time on our short trip. She was very thoughtful and surprised us with 2 glasses of champagne with strawberries floating in them at the end of our meal! Great start to the trip.

Next stop, ROCK CITY. This was a very interesting recommendation from several Chattanoogan's. This was a wonderful little adventure to the top of this cliff, mountain, foothill. Whatever you want to call it! This was a self-guided tour through these really interesting rock formations. It was sort of maze like. There was even a portion of the tour called fairy tale land with lots of frightening fairy tale scenes in a cave with black lights shining on them making them even more frightening. It was neat. Kind of scary though!lol. There was also a part of the tour where you can see the view of Chattanooga and there are binoculars that you could pay a quarter to see into "7" different states. Now, that's impressive! NOT.lol. I didn't care much for seeing into seven different states, much less paying a quarter to do so. But, still it was interesting.

After Rock City, we headed to Stone Fort Inn to check in. We found the Inn to be very charming. Upon arrival we were kindly greeted by the Inn's staff who showed us to our room and gave us the run down on the place. We went to FREE wine and cheese before dinner in the parlor. This little picture is exactly where we sat. Isn't it pretty?



For dinner we went to a restaurant recommended by my Aunt Melanie called Acropolis. This was an authentic Greek restaurant. I ordered the Chicken Souvlaki. Unfortunately I got really sick that night. For your sake, I won't mention the details! So, the night was still young and we headed to a tavern within a block of the Inn for some sweet water and wine. Very relaxing!



At the end of a good night's rest we had a gourmet breakfast in the dining room at the inn. And can I just say it was fabulous. I'm sad to say that I do not have a picture of my plate, but believe me it was impressive. Included in our Weekend Romance package at the Inn, we had 2 tickets to the Tennessee Aquarium just alongside the river, as well as 2 tickets to the IMAX. We toured both the River and Ocean aquariums. Very interesting experience, although we managed to end up behind a huge group of highschool students from a science camp. ANNOYING. I know i'm mean. I was their age once, I'll cut them some slack I guess. But come on, you know being behind groups can be inconvenient to say the least! lol. So yeah, this was fun, not the best aquarium I've been too (Ripley's in Gatlinburg), but still it was a fun part to our day.



Once we left the aquarium, it was time for lunch. We went to the Terminal that was downtown Chattanooga. They had their own brewery in the building that was really cool. It was a triangular building 3 stories high. Awesome atmosphere. The kitchen was on the main floor, we were seated on the second. The waiters had to run up and down the stairs with food and trays in hand. This made for some sweaty waiters, but great food and great experience! Highly recommend this for lunch in Chattanooga!


We still had some time to spend before going to the IMAX later in the afternoon. Matt had really wanted to visit some historical sites and Civil War battlefields, so we headed back to the top of the mountain, foothill, cliff, whatever, and toured a few battlegrounds. This was called Pointe Park. It was about $3 per person, but definitely interesting. Nothing like a good reminder of our countries history to help us appreciate our freedom and to be thankful for the sacrifices made of those who came before us. This was a refreshing 45 minute self-guided tour through a park with memorials, cannons and an abundance of historical information.




And still more time to spend before IMAX , and a Starbucks gift card waiting to be redeemed! This Starbucks was really cool. It looked like a castle to me. I kept imagining how beautiful it will be in the Winter with all the snow around and this cozy little Starbucks with caffeine addicts sipping on their Coffee. Anyways. That was random. But yeah, this was cute. Had to post a pic so you could imagine with me!lol.


Oh yeah. One more Civil war Battleground Stop. This was on the way down the mountain, so why not?! This is the Craven's House. Mr. Craven was a blacksmith whose home eventually was taken over by the Yankees? I think. To house soldiers during the war. It was really neat to see, AND it was FREE!


Last, but most certainly NOT least, we had tickets to view Hubble 3D at the IMAX! This was probably the highlight of our trip, for me atleast! This was a 45 minute film, narrated by the great Leonardo Dicaprio. It was very informative about the progress of the Hubble Telescope, something I knew very little about. It was an inspiring film. It reminded me of how un-appreciative I am of modern technology. Also, it reminded me of the unimaginable knowledge that astronauts have. I was astonished at the amazing pictures that the Hubble Telescope produces and its incredible magnification abilities. Very, very impressive. I recommend this to anyone going the IMAX in the near future!!

So this was it blog followers. I didn't intend to bore you with this post, but hopefully it gives you a little taste of our Anniversary trip. I had so much fun, and really enjoyed the alone time with Matt. It was a great way to celebrate 2 years of marriage to my wonderful husband! Love you Matt.