Holiday to Tennessee in Mar 2024: Day 10 – Sevierville to Chattanooga

By Nige on Mon 01 Apr 2024 at 18:36
Type: Post
Story: Holiday to Tennessee in Mar 2024
Tags: Chattanooga | Hertz | Hilton | Holidays | Sevierville | Tennessee | USA

We were now on our way home. Today we were heading to Chattanooga, then we would be back to Atlanta and then it was a BA flight home.

It was lovely and warm this morning, so I sat out on the deck as the sun came up. Vick was a bit under the weather so stayed in bed.

We had a pretty clear journey today. It was only about 140 miles to Chattanooga and the car was already full of charge, so we only needed a stop for Starbucks and a fill up close to our destination.

We had bits and pieces for breakfast, which included cheesecake for me. We had to throw everything, even stuff that hadn’t been opened. Seems a shame that there’s no way of handing these things over to the next guests.

We were packed up and ready to leave by 10am – the official checkout time. On the road, we had 105 miles to our first stop: a Starbucks in Cleveland.

The next stop was 20 miles further down the I40 to a supercharger at Hamilton Place, which was the site of another empty out-of-town shopping mall.

Then on to Chattanooga Downtown to the Hilton Garden Inn, where we were checked in to room 403 by a very friendly chap on reception.

We were lucky to get our room early, which was good for Vick since she needed to rest.

I decided to explore Chattanooga.

Chattanooga is set on the Tennessee River in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains.

There’s a trolley-like Incline railway which scales Lookout Mountain, before reaching Ruby Falls waterfall and Rock City.

At Rock City there are sweeping views, sandstone formations and gardens.

Point Park is also at Lookout Mountain, marks the site of a Civil War battle. 

I didn’t see any of that – I just wandered around downtown, partly to see the sights and partly to get in some exercise!

I started off walking to the river, where there is an intricate design of walkways, pedestrian bridges, museums and roads which is quite striking and clever.

I walked over the Walnut Street pedestrian bridge that connects downtown Chattanooga to the north shore.

It was erected in 1891 and is one of the world’s longest pedestrian bridges.

I then headed into the center and specifically to go and look at Chattanooga Choo Choo.

Outside it says it is far more than just a hotel. Inside it looks like the original station, with some cool bars and restaurants now integrated into the structure. It looks really cool.

Out the back is the original steam train and a number of carriages which form part of The Hotel Chalet complex.

On the way back to the hotel, I saw lots of interesting buildings with clean lines and intricate detail. Some had colourful graffiti on them too.

The city of Chattanooga has loads of character and it’s clear that the residents have taken pride in the appearance of the city.

By the time I got back to the hotel, I had walked about 5 miles and was hot and sweaty. It was now mid-20s and a little on the humid side.

Vick had slept pretty well and was keen to get out to a Mexican restaurant she had eyed up.

Unfortunately (for our bellies) she had also identified a Ben & Jerry’s scoop shop just 2 mins walk away from our hotel!

Vick had enquired about a table at Mayan Kitchen, but had heard nothing in response from them.

We were concerned that they may be closed on a Monday, but we were pleased to see the lights on when we got to the restaurant.

We enjoyed some guacamole and quesadilla for starters. For mains, Vick went for chicken fajitas and I ordered a steak chimichanga.

I was really happy with my food. Vick enjoyed her guacamole, but was less keen on the fajitas.

What we really needed to cheer us up was ice cream…

We walked the two blocks down to the Ben & Jerry’s scoop shop.

Unbelievably, they only had non-dairy strawberry cheesecake ice cream. I wasn’t sure that was going to taste the same, so I decided I needed to buy a tub.

Vick was going to order a scoop of a different flavoured ice cream but decided she needed to help me out on my tub. She is such a considerate woman!

I think I ended up eating most of it sat up in bed, watching the TV!

Follow the whole story here: Holiday to Tennessee in Mar 2024