After our Belgian waffles at La Quinta, we wanted to be sure we caught a few roadside attractions on our way over to Chattanooga. First stop: the Crystal Grotto at the Memorial Cemetery. This tree is created from concrete.
We went inside and it was truly lovely. A manmade cave with crystal formations and stalagtites and beautifully done, hand-carved scenes from Jesus' life. It was hot and muggy outside, but nice and cool down below.
In Nashville, we stopped for Macdougal's chicken fingers. Ate outside and gave Oliver a little vacation on the grassy lawn next to us.
We also took a short detour to see the Parthenon in Nashville--a full-size replica of the real Parthenon in Athens. We didn't bother to pay the price of admission--really, all we needed was to get this shot.
After LOTS of traffic, we finally arrived in Chattanooga to see Stephen, Karen, and beautiful baby Lily who is 4 months old. Natalie had hyped up how lovely Chattanooga is, and she did not lie: it is AWESOME. Full of parks and restaurants and live music and a gorgeous river and trees and bikepaths and mixed use areas (housing / retail / industry). It is a vibrant city and I love hearing about Stephen's efforts to develop local innovation and entrepreneurism (did you know Chattanooga has the fastest Internet connection in the US). We ate dessert first at an ice cream parlor called Clumpie's, then walked over the bridge until Lily started getting sleepy. They went home and Natalie went out for pizza and girly drinks at the Mellow Mushroom. We sat outside, soaking up the humid air and the sounds of the open air concert as we watched the people flowing by us. I'm so happy we get another day in this town before we head up the road to Fairfax on Saturday.
(Nigel and the kids made it onto the plane and should be arriving in Arlington about now. Barrett had a bad bout of early morning vomiting and we almost rescheduled but he rallied and everyone was able to pull it together to get to the airport on time. THANK GOD!)
Chattanooga is a cool place. Paul and I roadtripped through there once. What is up with Barrett every time you all travel? Maybe he's allergic to flying? :) Glad you are almost there!
ReplyDeleteI wish I knew! Next time we are definitely buying travel insurance. :-)
DeleteHey, I had no idea you had been to Chattanooga! I definitely want to come back here and bring the kids--this is a seriously family-friendly town.