Road Trip

Two weekends ago we took a little road trip up to Chattanooga, TN for the day. We had a great time together. We weren't too ambitious and just decided to have a lovely day exploring a new city. We visited Ruby Falls, rode The Incline, and walked around the open air market.

It was an easy drive, a little under 2 hours, up to Chattanooga. When we arrived we pulled in to the parking lot at Ruby Falls and Nick realized that we had forgotten to bring a stroller or an Ergo and so we were on our own carrying Isabella during the day. Our relaxing day turned in to quite a workout.

Nick and Isabella played in the gift shop while we waited to head down the elevator which would take us underground to the caverns that led us to the underground waterfall named Ruby Falls. Isabella fell asleep about 15 minutes into our 1.5 hour walk to and from the waterfall. I carried her for the first 35 to 40 minutes and Nick took her for the rest.

Here is the last time Isabella was seen awake.


Thus began the arm workout of a lifetime for both Nick and I.
Here is the waterfall. They had lights on it that made it look really pretty.
Here we are on the way out of the cavern after a long walk to the falls, mostly due to the sleeping 25 pound toddler we carried. :)

Next we went to the Incline which is a the world's steepest passenger railway (at 72.7% grade) which takes you up and down Lookout Mountain. It was built in 1895 and is an amazing mechanical engineering feat. The car is even built at an angle to make for a more comfortable ride.
View from the top of the mountain looking down.

Then we boarded the train and went back up to the top.

It was a great day as a family. It was a beautiful day weather-wise and we had fun exploring together. We plan to head up there again and explore more that the city has to offer.

We are just so thankful that Nick is able to have his weekends to spend with us. After spending 5 years in the Navy and not be able to spend evenings and weekends together we try to remember to never take this time for granted. We know that there are plenty of families out there who don't have this time together as a family and we are grateful for it. You can see the excitement in Isabella's eyes when her daddy gets home every night and I wouldn't trade that for all the money in the world.