Choo-Choos, Nemo Fish & Roller Coasters

Our trip to Chattanooga last weekend was just the perfect summer getaway. It was sort of last minute and not really planned according to my usual standards. But, shockingly, vacations can happen this way and nobody gets hurt! (I won't make a habit of this, however.) We left on mid-day Thursday and stopped for a long lunch at the Casey Jones train village in Jackson. We drove through Nashville, stopped briefly at a Civil War battlefield for some out-of-the-car running and a photo shoot, and pulled into Chattanooga after 9 (having lost an hour in the time zone change). My friend Julene, who along with husband Ben has two boys ages 1 1/2 and 3,kindly opened her basement for us for that night, so we got to visit with them once all the kids were bedded down. We all went to Lake Winnepesaugah the next day, an amusement park perfect for younger kids. No long lines, lots of choices for the under-12 set, breezy warm weather, no obnoxious teens to ruin family day.
Molly, Paxton, Alex and Rebecca


Amelia enjoys the view from the stroller. The socks are to prevent sunburn--function over fashion at this age, you know!


Rebecca swings!


The Simmons Family and the Marshes at "Lake Winnie" (end of the day, looking a little ragged!)

It was a long day but well-spent! We topped it off with dinner at Sticky Fingers, a rib joint recommended by my friend Holly. The barbecue was yummy, but the kids liked the kids' activity menu best because it had a Mad-Lib (remember those?) that kept us laughing until the food got there.

We spent that night in a train car! The Chattanooga Choo-Choo area has a hotel where they have converted rail cars into hotel rooms. This was SO awesome! The bathroom was once a sleeper car, with the bunk bed now a bathtub, and the bed was in the passenger car, with overhead luggage racks still in place and windows all along the sides. The kids LOVED it, but I truly think Peter and I loved it more. I took the kids for a late-night swim, we walked around the lighted gardens with fountains and gazebos, that are in between the hotel room cars and the actual Choo-Choo engine. As we walked, Molly said, "This looks like a place where people would fall in love!" Indeed, it was quite romantic. The next day we took a trolley ride and the girls got their engineer hats. I took lots of pictures of the girls climbing all over the choo-choo and then I noticed a sign saying not to. Oops!

getting on the train-turned-hotel-room


climbing on the choo-choo (a big no-no, it turns out)


inside the choo-choo


posing in the gardens


After a morning of trains, we went to the Tennessee Aquarium. Awesome! The IMAX was really well done but was kind of not the best choice for little kids--not enough action to keep 'em interested. They--and we--were undeterred and moved through the rest of the two buildings with interest. Rebecca decided that one of the penguins was the real Mumble from Happy Feet. She pointed him out, insisted I take his picture, and did not pay attention to the other penguins at all. Another big hit was the butterfly exhibit. An aquarium worker brought in a box of newly-hatched butterflies, and handed them to watiing children. Molly's flew right off, ready to explore. But Rebecca's stayed on her for a long time, prompting perfect strangers to take her picture and putting a huge smile on her face! She transferred it to Daddy's hand and then to another little boy--that butterfly just wasn't ready to take off yet! There were sharks and jellyfish and sea horses and river fish and turtles. We all pet some stingrays and sand sharks. Amelia slept through much of the visit, but she woke up near the end and sat mesmerized at the tank, putting her little hands on the glass as the fish swam by. She grinned and stared.

Rebecca's new best friend


with tanks above and all around us, it looked like we were underwater, too!


Amelia connects with the fish


Julene and Me, friends for 30 years!

We loved spending time with Alex and Paxton and their parents and will definitely go back to Chattanooga soon! After all, we still didn't see Rock City, Lookout Mountain or Ruby Falls, much to the chagrin of the advertisers, who have billboards for these attractions EVERYWHERE in Tennesee.... Next time...