Vacation Fun

The family and I recently took our first family vacation. When Hardy was first born, we lived in Illinois, and it seemed only fair to spend any vacation time visiting our families, allowing them to interact with our precious boy. Once we moved back to Tennessee, life seemed to intervene and not allow for vacation time. I became pregnant, and did not fancy any kind of road trip when I had to use the restroom every 30 minutes. Once Ellie was born, I just wanted to get through our day without adding anything more complicated to it.

So Justin and I decided recently to take a "starter" vacation, so to speak, over his Fall Break. His one request was that it would be under 2 hours away, as Ellie is not a great traveler. So I went into planning mode.

One thing to understand - there are few things I like better than planning a trip. I love to pour over vacation guides, surf the web, and brainstorm about where to stay, what to do, etc. So I have been in "hog heaven' (as my dad would say) in planning.

We decided on Chattanooga, as it is only 1 1/2 hours away and has a great aquarium that the kids have never been to. My research showed that Chattanooga had lots of other fun family activities, so off we went!

The first thing I did was book a cabin, and I was thankful for that. We rented a 2 bedroom chalet on Lookout Mountain. It was wonderful - a hot tub we all enjoyed, beautiful scenery, gas grill, 2 TVs, a kitchen. I definitely want to stay there again.

The first day there we hit the Aquarium. The kids loved the fishes, the butterflies, and all manner of wildlife they have there. They were both troopers, looking at things with no whining and no fits (definitely the way I judge a successful outing at this point in my life). We only stayed about 1 1/2 or 2 hours there - the kids began to drag at that point. Rather than push them past their limit, we took them to lunch and headed home for naps. We spent the rest of our evening watching a movie and just enjoying playing in the cabin.

The next day we went to the place Hardy had been asking about ever since I told him such a place existed - the Towing Museum. Unknown to us before the trip, the tow truck was invented in Chattanooga. The museum is reasonable and has lots of old tow trucks on display, as well as other memorabilia. There is even a wall filled with tow truck toys through the years. Aside from the fact you can't actually touch the tow trucks, the kids had a blast.

We then headed up Lookout Mountain, to Point Park. This is one of the locations for the Battle of Lookout Mountain during the Civil War. The view from there is amazing. We had a great time looking at the views, pretending to fire cannons, and just running around.

The highlight of the entire trip for both kids, however, was the hot tub. They both fell in love with it. Hardy asked if we could have one at our house. After unwinding in one, I am definitely in favor!

We ended our trip with a detour. In Tracy City (a little town about 5 miles from Monteagle on Monteagle Mountain) is the Dutch Maid bakery, which has been there since 1902. We stopped and enjoyed cookies and the heavenly smells of fresh bread baking. It is a good thing we don't live closer, or I would weigh 900 pounds.

This is the end of our vacation story. We had a great time. The best times were the quiet times in the cabin, when we could play and talk with each other without worrying about chores, or appointments, or anything at all. It was restful, and reminded of why I love my family.