Labor Day Weekend in Chattanooga

We enjoyed our first solo family trip in TWO YEARS when we visited Chattanooga, Tennessee last weekend! When I say "solo," I mean that we travelled with just our little family, and that we weren't going to see family or friends. As much as we love our families, we spend a lot of our vacation time flying to Phoenix (Casey's family) and Philadelphia (mine). We also spend a lot of long weekends traveling with friends, or driving to see friends who have moved away. When we sat down and did the math, we realized that the last time we'd travel for just ourselves was our honeymoon in September 2015. Yikes!

Chattanooga had been on our Tennessee bucket list for a while, and it was only 3 hours away. We decided it was the perfect road trip with an almost-1-year-old!

Friday

We woke up to the Grace alarm clock at 6:30, slightly earlier than we hoped, but it ended up being exactly what we needed. We spent the morning playing and packing, and hit the road at 9:00 as she went down for a nap. After a pitstop in Nashville, some serious road construction, and a 1-hour time change, we arrived in Chattanooga at about 3:00 pm local time and went right to the Tennessee Aquarium!

Checking out the crabs!

We spent about an hour and a half at the Aquarium. It included two buildings -- an ocean building and a river building -- and Grace swung between being mesmerized and a little frightened by the different animals she saw. She was brave enough to pet the stingrays, but was completely freaked out by the sea turtle and the trout!

The sea turtle at the Aquarium

Once we finished up, it was definitely nap time. We drove right to our AirBnB, set up the pack-and-play, and let little miss settle in for a quick pick-me-up. Casey and I scoped out a grocery store and a dinner spot, so when Grace woke up we were ready to go!

Happy after her nap!

After grabbing a few essentials, we went to The Feed Company Table and Tavern for dinner. We had to wait about 30 minutes for a table but it passed quickly in the spacious, open bar that had dozens of beers on tap and tons of college football playing. It was very, very family-friendly -- high chairs everywhere, and Grace was NOT the only baby in the bar! When it came time for dinner, we ordered the brussel sprouts and grilled artichoke dip with grilled pita. It was delicious, and Grace noshed on the pita like it was her job. For dinner, I got the brussel sprout salad and Casey got the fried catfish. It had a smoky tomato topping that was amazing! Grace enjoyed the kid's penne with butter and cheese.

Our 2+ hours at Table and Tavern flew by, and by the time we got our check Grace was ready for bed. We went back to the AirBnB, and after she was asleep we used our hosts' outdoor sauna. Talk about a great perk!

Saturday

I woke up with the sun around 7:00, and snuck out for a run in the beautiful 60-degree weather. Originally I wanted to do a 10k along the Chattanooga River Walk, but the stretch I wanted to run on was closed off. I re-routed myself, but for the sake of time I cut my run to 4 miles instead of 6.2. I made it home to find Casey and Grace in the middle of breakfast! I showered and joined in for a bagel and some fruit. Then we left for Lookout Mountain for some hiking!

Running on the UT-Chattanooga campus

We wanted to go to Sunset Rock, even though it was a pretty "cliche" Chattanooga destination. After parking, we started off on a wide gravel trail that was full of runners and bikers. After about a mile, the wide, easy pathway became a narrow, steep trail, and we traded off carrying Grace since we had no idea how much further we'd have to climb! I'm not going to lie, I almost tapped out. It was really, really steep! After another a mile and a half, we FINALLY made it to the top!

Sunset Rock...my perfect view!

The views were spectacular, and we stopped to enjoy some snacks while we took it all in. As we sat there, we heard someone coming from the opposite direction. It was a lady in flip-flops walking her dog. Turns out, there was a parking lot about 20 feet away...whoops.

As we hiked back down, Grace fell asleep in the backpack which prompted us to meander a little more than planned.

Sunset Mountain

We did have a successful backpack-to-carseat-to-pack-n-play transfer, and she napped a little longer while we scouted lunch locations. Champy's, a Chatt classic, was just down the street, so when nap time was over we loaded the stroller and went out. The fried chicken, baked beans, and cole slaw was perfect after a morning of hiking!

After lunch we walked through the neighborhood for a while and saw some cool, historic buildings, and walked around the UT-Chatt campus. Before we knew it, it was time for nap #2 and we went back to the house to recharge.

Dinner that night was also walkable -- The Public House, just a mile down the road. We started with some signature cocktails, and enjoyed fried pickles, pimento cheese, and grilled sourdough as an appetizer. Casey was excited to find grilled stuff quail on the menu, and I chose a pimento cheese and bacon burger. Grace ate off our plates the entire meal.

Bacon + pimento burger with green beans at The Public House

We went downtown to Broad Street afterward, and got a Moon Pie Sundae for dessert!

Sunday

Our baby alarm clock woke us up early again, and we were out the door by 8am. We wanted to see Ruby Falls, another huge tourist attraction, before it got crowded. Ruby Falls is an underground cavern with a 145-foot underground waterfall that was discovered by accident in the late 1920's. We wanted to go Saturday, but found out the mid-day wait was almost 3 hours--NOPE! Instead, we beat the rush and got there as they opened on Sunday.

The skinny...so not worth the $20 admission. If you want to wait in line with hundreds of people to walk half a mile through a narrow corridor with other tour groups pushing past in both directions, just to see a waterfall for about two minutes, by all means, do it. But it was NOT our cup of tea. (We also didn't get any pictures, but probably photobombed a lot of the selfies the couple in front of us took. For the record, I think they took 1,000 selfies during the tour).

Ruby Falls. We took a 1.5 hour "tour" to see this for 2 minutes.

After a disappointing tour, we moved on to something that rarely disappoints: brunch. We picked The Flying Squirrel bar and were so impressed with everything. The setting, the food, the staff, and the other guests were awesome! Grace enjoyed an apple butter biscuit with her milk, Casey got a burrito, and I enjoyed a hearty potato hash.

Yummy potato hash, apple butter biscuit, and an egg for brunch

After brunch, we finished our trip with a stop at the Chattanooga Zoo! It was a small zoo (we're used to the Chicago, San Diego, and St. Louis zoos for comparison), but at only $5 to get in it was a real bargain! Not all the animals were out, and it appeared that they were renovating some exhibits. Just like at the aquarium, Grace was hot-and-cold on whether she liked the animals, but we were grateful to see some cool ones along the way. We were only there an hour, but felt like we saw pretty much everything.

Hanging out with the goats at the Chattanooga Zoo

After the zoo, Grace was ready to pass out again. Being the good parents that we are, we stuffed her with milk, buckled her in the carseat, and drove three straight hours home while she dozed the whole way!

Overall, it was a great trip! We've basically spent the entire summer apart with opposite field training this summer. Our weekend in Chattanooga was exactly what we needed to recharge and get some quality family time! Hope you had a great Labor Day Weekend, too!