Chattanooga Choo Choo

We've been kinda busy since I last posted so I thought I'd try and get you all caught up this morning.  Early last Friday morning Joel and I hopped in my trusty old car and headed down off the plateau for a foggy drive to Chattanooga.   We met Joyce and Dick (our friends from Florida) and Barb and Chuck (our other friends from Florida who now live in Alabama) at Point Park on top of Lookout Mountain.   Because of the rain and cold front that had just gone thru the area the day before, the day was somewhat overcast and a bit chilly, too. 

Both Joyce and Barb had been to the park before but it was my first view of Chattanooga from way up high on the mountain.   What was really amazing to me was trying to figure out how the troops made their way up the very steep mountainside with cannons and ammunition to fight the enemy.

Just driving a car up the long, windy switchbacks was something.....but to do this by horseback and on foot dragging cannons....really???

I think Joel and I need to go back to the park to spend an entire day reading all the plagues and looking thru the museum to get a better understanding of the role Chattanooga played in the Civil War.

Of course we girls had to pose for a pic with the cannons...

And then the guys did the same.   Chuck even hopped up on top of cannon!

I'll bet this park is really pretty in the fall when all the leaves are changing their colors.   Maybe that's when we'll take the RV down there and park it for a few days so we can enjoy the area at our leisure.  There really is a lot to see and do and some great places to eat as well.

After leaving Point Park we decided to drive thru the beautiful mountain village that surrounds the park and we went over to Rock City.  I didn't realize it was on the same mountain.  From a vantage point out on a bluff you can see several states all at once.   Well, they are now charging almost $20 a piece for the pleasure of that view and we all decided we would skip it this time as everyone else except Joel and I had already been there before.   But did you notice what else was way up there on the mountaintop?   Yes!  I know!   A Starbuck's. 

After being on the plateau for 3-1/2 months where there isn't a Starbuck's within an hour of us, I had been going into withdrawal for the scent, the taste, the flavor of a Starbuck's soy latte.   Wouldn't it be lovely to sit by this giant fireplace in the crisp fall air, sipping a cappuccino and people watching?  Yup, we'll be back this Fall.  And I am already looking forward to sitting by this very fireplace with my hot beverage of choice, drinking in the scent of the season.

One more pose of the girls....me, Joyce & Barb....so happy to spend a day together again.   We three are half of the group G.A.B.S. (Girls At the Beach Scrapbooking) that used to get together at each others' houses for a weekend of scrapbooking, food, drink and chatting.   We may not have had time to scrapbook this trip, but we still had wonderful food and a lot of chatting.

Who can go to Chattanooga and not see the Chattanooga Choo Choo?   Here it is, in all it's restored glory.  Since it was lunchtime we decided to eat lunch in the beautifully restored train station.

 ....and we strolled around the gardens behind the station, in between the railroad tracks where old, refurbished cars sit quietly.

Joyce explained that the rail cars had been turned into hotel rooms and you could rent one and stay there overnight.   That would be fun, don't you think?  I'd like to do that......it reminded me of the trip I took by train with my mom and dad when I was seven and we rode the train from Philadelphia all the way down to Miami, Florida.

I'm not sure why but we three girls tried on some silly hats and pumped our fists as we hammed it up for the camera.   Hey, what can I say?  "Stuff" happens when the G.A.B.S. get together.

Remember these?   An old fashioned phone booth.......minus the phone so I had to make do with my hand instead.   What a great visit we had, but it was time Joel and I headed up the plateau so we said our good-byes.    I hope we all get to visit again as a group sometime soon.

Chugga-Chugga-Chugga,
Debbie