Tennessee Waltz With K2 ~ Chattanooga 10Oct24-12Oct24

Whoa Tennessee is awesome, especially with K2. We arrived in Knoxville intended for Asheville drive; since folks there are in dire straights we headed to Chattanooga instead. It was a great choice as Kala & I have never been to Chattanooga, K2 rarely stayed, and Chattanooga is very cool. Day 1 we arrived at Moxy (uber funky downtown hotel) and spent our chips from the bell-desk on some weak gin totties. We set out quickly for town... passing the Choo Choo, the old rail terminal converging 4 lines in the Tennessee River Valley ~ also the source of Civil War era strategic importance.

We dined that eve at Blue Orleans, gumbo-less (that's Kevin's smirk) cajun food with just Abita beers. Just ok but we were pleased to have arrived after some traffic/construction issues out of Knoxville and into Chattanooga. We corrected vectors with a stop at the Chattanooga Brewery across the street ~ and then even displayed better luck with a move to a small back alley venue to catch a killer Xgrass trio of a gr8 viola gal, decent guitar & lead vocalist, and funky percussionist thumpin' a cool box with 3 tunes and two different bells on his feet. They were simply excellent.

 

We slept well that eve and arose for breakfast at Kenny's ~ it was very good and we met a cool waitress. We liked it so much we went back ever day to "our table."

Our plan was to ascend Lookout Mtn, a prominent spot above the Tennessee River Valley, and at about ~2.4Kft elevation is ~1.7KFt above the valley. It is a key spot won by the Union forces during the Civil War. There were 4 train rails converging in the valley below, as well as the mountain pass access around the southernmost part of the Appalachians, and the key Tennessee River. Lincoln considered it critical to defeating the south, due to supply line domination it would deliver, and as important as capturing Richmond (capital of the south). We took the Lookout Incline train to the top and wandered through the wealthiest zipcode in TN (atop Lookout Mtn) then hiked in the National Pk there, and beyond to Sunset Point. The weirdest part of our visit to Chattanooga so far is that we see precious little sign of fall foliage! No Prob, the Natl Pk, battle descriptions, photos from 1876, monuments representing both sides, and the area's vibe was stellar.

We took a 4 miler down to Sunset Pt and back up before grabbing the train back to Chattanooga. There were 170 steps and plenty of other terrain to the point. It was cool.

We ultimately got back to the Moxy in time to prep for a food tour around Chattnooga. Before reaching the food tour starting point we wandered through the beginning of the Chattanooga Motor Car Festival... it was a big deal with even Jeremy Clarkson (Top Gear) presiding and decent acts showing (we didn't stay).

The food tour was good... it focused on downtown spots and was led by a ebullient guide... I thought there was collusion with some key Chattanooga developers, the DeFoors, however as all restaurants where owned by them. We like the stops OK and a wander through the West Side and Arts District.

Back at the ranch we rested for the next day. We all slept well and then hit Kenny's in the morning earlier in order to get to the Chattanooga Aquarium before crowds. I didn't go to the aquarium but caught up with the team after for a gr8 lunch at Tony's, the hike across the longest pedestrian bridge in the US (over the Tennessee River), and a walk passed the Hunter Art museum. The PM was chill and we got to catch some college games at a sports bar. Yeah, it was still mid-day but 5 o'clock somewhere; fans were GA, TN, SC ~ a lot of SEC stuff. And, good frozen daiquiris of many flavors. Pretty fun.

So we watched conclusions of the CFB games back at the Moxy after a circuitous route by possible music venues. Some great games.