Chattanooga Getaway: Part 1

This past weekend, Ryan and I met David in Chattanooga for some much needed family time. I had been looking forward to this weekend getaway for weeks {and I am a little sad it is now over although I am really looking forward to St. Patrick's Day weekend as well :)}. Besides spending time with David, which is always wonderful, I couldn't wait to explore a few of Chattanooga's fun, family-friendly attractions with my favorite boys, a few of which I vaguely remember visiting as a child.

We arrived on Friday night without incident, which is saying a lot considering the fact that there were tornadoes all over the region. Ryan and I arrived at our hotel downtown no more than 10 minutes before howling winds, rain, and golf ball-sized hail starting pounding the area. David wasn't quite as lucky. He had to drive through terrible storm cells {as I sat in the hotel lobby watching the big red masses on the radar move across I-75 in his vicinity} that produced some blinding rain, but managed to avoid the tornadoes that touched down all around him {please pray for all those affected by them}, and arrived about an hour and a half after us. I was very thankful we all made it safely and were together again after two long weeks!

Downtown Chattanooga is great, and our hotel was in the heart of it all. We walked a block to Lupi's Pizza for dinner after we were settled and the storms had passed. It was pretty tasty! I love eating at local restaurants when we visit places. We got back to the hotel in time to watch The Weather Channel as more tornadic activity rolled in, this time over metro Atlanta, and then headed to bed early so we were well rested for the remainder of our fun weekend ahead.

Saturday morning we awoke to beautiful blue skies and chillier temperatures, and headed to Ruby Falls after breakfast at the hotel. We went on a guided tour through the Ruby Falls Cave to the 145 foot underground waterfall deep within Lookout Mountain, which is a pretty spectacular sight {as are all the neat cave formations you see on the trek}. After emerging from the cave, we let Ryan play on the Fun Forest Playground for a few minutes, and then climbed the Lookout Mountain Tower for a panoramic view of the Tennessee River Valley before heading back to the car.

Entering the cave ... watch your heads!

One of the many cave formations -- an elephant's foot :)

The Cactus and Candle formation ... this one was fun to rub!

The Onyx Column, where stalactites and stalagmites have grown together.

A fish,

potato chip,

and Ryan's favorite formation, a dragon's foot :)

The beautiful underground waterfall ... pretty cool, huh?!?!

I promise Ryan had more fun than this picture depicts!! :)

On our way back to the hotel for lunch, we made a quick stop at the historic Chattanooga Choo Choo. The first Chattanooga Choo Choo Train was Cincinnati Southern Railroad's small wood burning steam locomotive that started its journey through history from Cincinnati on March 5, 1880, and became the first train to link travel from the North to the South. And although Chattanooga’s Terminal Station was significant in its role in the train era {nearly all trains traveling to the South passed through Chattanooga}, little was known about the first Chattanooga Choo Choo until Glenn Miller's orchestra made the catchy song popular in the late 1940's :)

The Chattanooga Choo Choo train engine now on display at Terminal Station is the same kind of wood-burner used on that first run from Cincinnati to Chattanooga. It was last used in service by the Smoky Mountain Railroad in the 1940's.

Running down the tracks to the red caboose :)

He made it!

Hanging out in the trolley before it left the station for a tour.

As expected, Ryan loved seeing the trains!

Wow, that only covers a fourth of our weekend! Stay tuned for Part 2 :)