Chatanooga

Had three nights in Chattanooga stayed at the Residence by Marriot. It is excellently situated, straight across the street from the hotel, which is a free shuttle bus depot. These run all day, one does a circle north of the river, and the other two take you to the Chattanooga Choochoo. It is the old train depot and it has an old train. That's basically it, unless you want a bar or coffee shop. It's not really impressive, but as it is free to get to, it would be weird not to visit it once. After the train, we spotted a trolley bus tour just about to start, so we went on board. It was about two and a half hours long, and there were two stops, one at the Coker Museum and one at a sculpture park. I really liked the Coker Museum and would really recommend it to anyone who likes old bikes and cars. It is small, so easy to get round, but it is packed with beautiful old bikes, including lots of old Hatleys and Indians. The tour guide was pleasant, really informative, and had a sense of humour, which made the tour more enjoyable. After the tour, we went around the Riverside artists market. There are some interesting stalls selling home-made things like jewellery, candy and biscuits, etc. On this really hot day, though, the biggest queue was for the fresh chopped fruit and fruit juices. Saturday night there was a free festival on the riverside, it was really popular. There were families enjoying the show and loads of food trucks. The queues were quite long, but i managed to try a corn dog and a funnel cake. Both were typical fairground food, and i enjoyed them. On Sunday, we went to the incline railway. This is on the edge of the city, and we had to take two free shuttles to get there. The first to the choochoo again, then another one o wards from there. I know it sounds weird calling it a choochoo, but that's what they all call it in Chattanooga. Even the shuttle has it named as the destination. The incline railway is a great little trip, and if the top of the mountain hadn't been covered in clouds, I bet the view would have been amazing. In the evening we went on the Souhern Belle boat trip. It was a really relaxing way yo spend a couple of hours on a Sunday evening. The waiting area is a really big gift shop, cafe and bar. When we went boarded, we found d a quiet spot on the foredeck, and I was really pleased we did, after I had a walk to the upper decks. It was really busy up there, with very excited kids running everywhere. The middle deck reminded me of a wedding reception, the bit where the children slide round on the dance floor, on their knees. The journey was really chilled and it is great to see this river being such a wonderful aural area in a city centre. People were boating, kayaking, and swimming, there is a wooded island in the centre, and people had moored up at it to picnic and swim. Chatanooga is a good tourist destination, with quite a lot to see and do in a central area, so you aren't missing out if you don't have a car. There is a lot more to see and do than we managed to squeeze in, too.Read more