October 11-12, 2015 - Chattanooga

We left Cedar Creek around 8:30 for a beautiful run to Chattanooga.  We followed the narrow winding river through what is known as the Tennessee Gorge.  We docked at the Bluffs dock at 12:30 which is right in downtown Chattanooga and spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the town.  After lunch we noticed there was a discrepancy between the time on our watches and the time on our phones -- oops, we were back in the eastern time zone. The riverfront area of Chattanooga has a lot to offer.  There are quite a few walking/cycling paths along the riverfront, the Tennessee Aquarium, and many restaurants and bars.  Melinda B and Pearl were also there. We had dinner on the boat and enjoyed some TV (yes, our rabbit ears worked here).  We spent Monday sightseeing.  There are free electric buses that run north and south from the riverfront area.  We took one bus to the Chattanooga Choo Choo resort.  The area had been made into a resort area with hotels plus some of the old cars are used as rooms.  Unfortunately the area was fairly run down but I understand renovations are underway and the area should be restored to a really nice area by next year.  After lunch, we took another bus to the north side of Chattanooga.  We spent time walking around Coolidge Park and riding an old fashioned carousel.  We walked back across a bridge that was strictly a walking bridge.  After a brief rest, we walked to Tony’s on The Bluff and had a good Italian dinner.  One thing about visiting a city built on hills is that every place you walk down, you have to walk back up.  We did quite a bit of walking about town.

Our first "See Rock City" sign

The views never get old

More mountains

Some really nice houses along the way

The river has narrowed and we're entering the Gorge area

More sights

And more sights

A tour boat from the Aquarium that travels through the Gorge

This is called the Block and, yes, people are rock

climbing the outside of the building

The Passage - the beginning of the Trail of Tears when

the Cherokee Indians were forced from Chattanooga to Oklahoma

Looking down the waterfall steps of the Passage

The Chattanooga Choo Choo area

Part of the resort area

Never pass up the opportunity to ride an old fashioned carousel

A view of the dock from the walking bridge

(we're third from the left)

Chattanooga - home of the Moon Pie