The Surprise Trip

Some of you may have known, I stole Rob away from school work and the city for a few days this past week. I thought we could use a much needed get away trip, so I took it upon myself to plan one and to not tell Rob the details of where and/or what we would be doing. I asked Rob for his availability and gathered some ideas from the people I interact with on a decent yet not too expensive trip to take. I came up with Chattanooga, TN.

Some might ask, what in the world would you do there? We managed to fill our entire 2 night, 3 day stay with plenty of things to do. When we arrived it was pouring rain and not offering the best conditions to start a vacation, but I had a plan. What better place to stay out of the rain and be entertained at the same time than an aquarium? We got there shortly after it opened and had a fabulous time there throughout the day. My favorite parts were the butterfly exhibit and the diver that had a device so he could talk to us from inside the tank.

For anyone who is planning a visit to Atlanta in the future and wants to see the Georgia Aquarium, I refuse to take you. That being said, I will gladly drive 2 hours north to take you to the one in Chattanooga. Yes, it's that much better and you don't leave feeling dumber than when you went in.

The rain let up later in the day allowing us to explore the park around the aquarium. We had noticed a lot of purposely placed art work around the aquarium that seemed to have meaning, but for the life of us, we couldn't figure it out. We asked the nice ladies in information and they handed us a decoder ring (aka - piece of paper) that told us everything. It was like a scavenger hunt looking for the objects around the area. Most of it had to do with flooding, the Cherokee Indians and history of the city.

From there it was off to check in to our place we were staying at. I thought this might be a good opportunity to try something different so I looked up Bed & Breakfasts in the area. I also didn't think I wanted to stay downtown as some of the other things we wanted to do were in the mountains. I found a place called The Garden Walk Inn. It's quaint, cozy, and best of all, quiet since it's located in on the mountain. We stayed in the room called Summer's Dream.

For dinner, we tried a local pub called Hair of the Dog. I was reading the menu outside when I made the emphatic decision to eat there upon seeing a bottle of Yuengling on a table inside. Super plus to having a vacation in Tennessee. The food was really good here and our waitress was pretty cool. My favorite part of the place was the decorations.

Stay tuned for the rest of the story! :)

*Editors Note* - This has been backdated to day of activity to break up a pile up on entries.