Visiting Chattanooga

I think the downtown Sugar's closed right before we went last year.

One other place we ate that's worth mentioning: Sunday brunch at The Blue Plate. Got a patio table that overlooked the river. Good stuff.

 

We stopped in Chattanooga a few years back as part of our southeast USA minor league baseball tour - with a Braves game added in too. A Lookouts game was one of the highlights of our trip. As tourists we did Ruby Falls....

 

We just got back and I'm winding down and getting ready to try to catch up on two days missed work tomorrow. I wanted to thank everyone for all the suggestions -- I was using this thread as a hit-list for the day and a half we were in Chattanooga, constantly pulling it up on my phone. The one place we didn't get to that I really wanted to was the North Shore/Coolidge Park. It just wasn't in the cards with everything else and it was raining Tuesday and foggy as heck this morning. There's always next time.

Some thoughts:
- Ate at Sugar's on the way in - John had me at "grilled okra." This I think was the consensus best place we ate on the trip and that's saying something. I had ribs, wife had the taco combo, daughter had potato nachos. Everything was great. The goats were out and the kids loved petting them through the fence. It was 1:30 in the afternoon, so no worries about Kings Lodge and we pretty much had the place to ourselves. Sat outside and had a nice view of the city and I-24.
- Did the aquarium as our big attraction. We've been there several times - just not in a while. It was fun and worthwhile.
- Stayed at the Courtyard across from the aquarium in a suite with a river/aquarium view from the balcony. Again, it was dreary most of the time, but nice view from the top (7th floor) Great hotel. Good Southern hospitality from front desk staff.
- Hit Mojo Burrito in St. Elmo last night. Siri kept trying to take us from the river to St. Elmo on I-24 which was confusing but ... We loved the vibe at Mojo. Food was great. Had some local brew on draft. Long line when we got there around 7 - good Tex-Mex - great neighborhood. Great suggestion from John.
- Went to Puckett's for breakfast this morning - essentially across from the Courtyard and aquarium - this was us winging it with help from Yelp. Nice Southern breakfast - reminiscent of a Cracker Barrel a little to me but apparently I was in the minority there. Rest of the family thought it was a notch up from CB.
- Drove up Lookout Mountain intending to take Hacky's tip and do Point Park for the views and skip Rock City. But the fog was really bad up there and the staff basically told us to save our money. We looked around Point Park - got some cool pics of Point Park in the fog outside the gates - then back down the mountain to St. Elmo.
- Got some ice cream at Crumpies and watched the adjacent Incline Railroad go up and down the mountain while we ate.
- Then back into Georgia and Chickamauga National Battlefield. Micro Guy nailed this - we have some CW sites in and around Atlanta - Kennesaw Mountain is nice - but Chickamauga was incredible. It was the first national military park - tons to see and do. Our middle child has really gotten into history, so this was a big treat for him and the rest of us. Spent 2-3 hours there - need to go back for a day trip.
- Took U.S. 27 back down through Rome, where we ate dinner and dodged the traffic on I-75 in Atlanta. I always forget what a great town Rome is.

In a nutshell - this was a great little break from newspapers (crap, forgot to pick up a copy of CTFP) and all the other craziness. I left feeling like I experienced Chattanooga in a way we never have. Thanks again for all the tips.

 

Glad you had a good trip. This thread has gotten me thinking about going back for a visit.