Rock City Gardens
Credit: Chattanooga Convention & Visitors Bureau
WHERE TO STAY
The Chattanoogan Hotel downtown makes for a convenient base to
enjoy the city. And, if you’d rather hang out on the property, Foundry
Lounge has live music on Friday and Saturday nights, the Game Room
includes a pool table and shuffleboard, and the outdoor fire pit is a
perfect place to socialize. The hotel also offers family packages that
provide access to some of Chattanooga’s most popular attractions
such as the aquarium and the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum.
If your kids love trains, the Chattanooga Choo Choo historic hotel is
the place to stay due to its unique location in the Terminal Station.
Guests can stay in the MacArthur Building — named after the Southern
Railway’s last steam-powered freight train — or one of the Pullman
Train Cars, dating back to the 1930s.
WHERE TO EAT
No one can resist dinner on a classic riverboat and the Southern Belle
serves that and more as it sails down the Tennessee River at sunset.
Feast on slow-roasted prime rib, shrimp creole, and dessert while
you float past the foot of Lookout Mountain and around the historic
Moccasin Bend. The two-hour dinner cruise also features a three-piece
band and a pilot house tour to meet the captain.
The Chattanooga Market is a tourist destination and a dining option
in one — where local farmers and vendors sell healthy, fresh produce,
and artisanal foods from local farmers every Sunday. And because this
is Tennessee, customers get a side order of folk, Bluegrass, or country
music with every meal.
WHAT TO DO
The Tennessee Aquarium should be at the top of every travel to-do
list, whatever your age, to learn about freshwater marine life from the
most diverse collection in the country. The River Journey takes visitors
down the Mississippi River to meet “Volkswagen-sized catfish,” or
to the Amazon for piranha-feeding frenzies. Party with the penguins
via their “rock cam,” or play hide-and-seek with the river otters. A
Backstage Pass gives curious guests a VIP look at the lives of the
animals and their caretakers.
Glenn Miller’s 1941 classic song, Chattanooga Choo Choo, is a fitting
theme song for the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum, which pays
homage to the arrival of the Western and Atlantic Railroad in 1850
and its impact on the region. Visitors can relive the glory of the steam
engine days riding historic trains along local tracks departing from
Chattanooga Grand Junction or Etowah Station. During the holidays,
step back in time on the North Pole Limited, the Bunny Train, or the
New Year’s Eve dinner train.
The Creative Discovery Museum nurtures young imaginations with
its hands-on learning experiences such as RiverPlay, the Little Yellow
House, and Arts Alley. The Science Theater brings demonstrations of
physical and chemical phenomena, or the PlayGym encourages the
littlest of kids develop social skills. Excavation Station turns every
child into a budding Indiana Jones, arming them with a shovel to
uncover dinosaur bones.
Families with an adventurous nature should head up Lookout
Mountain, the site of the famous Civil War battle of the same name.
The 2,389-foot peak provides an opportunity for plenty of adventure
from the incredible underground cave waterfalls of Ruby Falls to Rock
City, where you can scale the brow of Lookout Mountain and walk
along the 200-foot Swing-a-Long Bridge. The climbing wall at Lover’s
Leap also boasts the “seven states” view-point where you can see
Kentucky, Virginia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama,
and Tennessee (of course!)
GETTING THERE
United flies direct from Dulles International Airport (IAD) to
Chattanooga Airport (CHA) with a flight time of less than two hours,
while American Airlines offers two nonstop flights from Reagan
National Airport (DCA) to Chattanooga Airport (CHA).
AUTUMN 2018 49 FLYWASHINGTON.COM