Our Chattanooga Excursion, part one

Hello everyone. It's Sunday, October 12, and it's the beginning of Wendy's Fall Break - a nice interlude in the academic year that's part of the Murray school system, and which we've taken advantage of every fall that we've been out here. Two years ago we traveled to Washington D.C., introducing our daughter to the nation's capitol. Last year we ventured down to Florida, to a place called Panama City......just in time for a rather noxious red tide, as it turns out.

Well, this year we decided to wander down into our neighboring state of Tennessee, to Chattanooga, a city made famous by a song, and spend three days enjoying this picturesque town on the banks of the Tennessee River, before heading to the Smokies on a camping trip.

We left Murray yesterday around 5 p.m. for Henry Horton State Park about an hour below Nashville, which is where our neice Sarah, her husband Tres, and their little boy Jet live. It's usually a 3-hour trip, but yesterday it was a 7-hour trip - mainly because it took us 3 hours - I kid you not - to travel one 7-mile stretch of I-24 due to an accident up ahead. We still don't know the exact nature of the accident, since we were detoured off the highway before reaching it, but it must have been major, since traffic was held up so long. We either sat unmoving or inched along during that time, since we were trapped on the Interstate; there were no offramps at all in that section.

But we did arrive at their home sometime after midnight, and after visiting this morning, embarked for Chattanooga.

Some of you may remember the Glenn Miller song "Chattanooga Choo Choo", which was popular in the 1940's. It's a great song - a far sight better than most of the slapdash slop you hear on the airwaves today - and it's pretty much the theme song of the city. It's also the theme of the hotel we're staying in here - the Holiday Inn Chattanooga Choo Choo, part of which is actually the old Chattanooga railroad station the song mentions. Here's what it looks like as you enter from the street. As with any pictures, you can click on it to enlarge the view:





We parked at the Chattanooga Choo Choo station, then, and walked down towards the river, heading for the excellent children's Science Discovery Center.



Inside, Wendy had a ball trying out the many fascinating and fun hands-on experiences in the Discovery Center. Here's the view as we approached it, and the observation tower we later climbed:



There was an interesting musical exhibit:





And one large section that helped the kids develope empathy and respect for the challenges handicapped children face:






As I said, we climbed the Observation Tower, and here are two views from that lofty lookout:





There were several other fascinating things to do at the Discovery Center:

Five o'clock came too quickly, the Discovery Center closed, and so we caught the free trolly back to our Choo Choo hotel. The weather, by the way, was very sociable; clear skies, with temperatures in the low 80's.

Tomorrow we plan on visiting the Tennessee Aquarium.

Check back for an update. Time to turn in, so cheers from Chattanooga.

Randy