Day 224: Hello Chattanooga!

10/22/18 Monday:  What a beautiful day.  We only had less than 40 miles to travel today, so we weren’t in a hurry to get going.  It’s a good thing, too – because it was barely 40 degrees outside, and the water was steaming, creating fog.  Unlike yesterday, there wasn’t any wind to blow the fog away.  Looking up though, the sky was clear blue beautiful.  The local houseboats started their parade, heading downbound on the river.

We went out to get our lines ready, and look at the flock of cooties we gained overnight!  More mayflies.  These aren’t the fluorescent green ones, but their guts are kind of green when they squish.  Ewww.  They squish really easy, so just trying to brush them off the boat ended up with bug guts everywhere.

Before long, we were on our way, going up the Tennessee River.  It turned out to be a beautiful day!  It wasn’t too cold outside, so we were able to sit up on the fly bridge and really enjoy the scenery.  Rock cliffs and fall colors were showing themselves.

This was an old dam that was flooded when a new dam was placed farther downstream.  There were some really cute colorful boathouses to the right, and this is all now known as Hales Bar Resort & Marina.

And on the opposite bank, it looked like an amphitheatre.  I don’t know – maybe?

The hills and cliffs were getting more majestic as we traveled along.  This is certainly the most beautiful river we’ve been on for awhile!

Of course, all good rivers have river boats, and the Tennessee is no exception.

The hills creating this valley were getting more and more dramatic.

Peaceful water, fall colors, a sailboat, cliffs.  It didn’t seem like a place where a big boat like Island Girl  belonged.

I spied a couple of neat old barns.  This place had a big mule that apparently does a good job keeping the grass trimmed.

This portion of the river gorge is fondly called the Grand Canyon of Tennessee.  It was so beautiful!

At one point, Captain brough Laverne & Shirley quickly down to an idle and announced DEER!  I knew he didn’t say BEER, because he does not consume alcohol until we are stopped and settled in somewhere for the rest of the day.  Sure enough.  And like deer on the road in the headlights of a car, they got confused.  They were swimming across the river, from our port side toward the starboard side.  But as we got closer, they wandered, panicked and were confused about which way to go.

So Captain headed them off and sent them back the way they came.  It was a momma and baby, and they swam pretty darn fast!  That little bugger’s whole back was out of the water as he pumped his little legs as fast as they could go!  He was trying to run on top of the water!  This was the first time we’ve seen swimming deer!!

As we approached into the Chattanooga area, we found this lovely home getting new roofing.  What a beauty!  All the stones and short grass reminded me of something you might see in Great Britain somewhere.

We also saw this majestic gathering of buildings.  I looked it up – the Baylor Prep School for grades 6-12.  WOW!  There must be some big bucks in Chattanooga!  From what we could see, it was an extraordinary campus!

We arrived in downtown Chattanooga, docked the boat at the Edwin Marine Bluffs dock, and we hit the pavement for some exploration and food.  This was a waterfall stairway that climbed up from the river level to street level, right by the aquarium.

This is part of the aquarium.  I’ve heard that it is really excellent, with separate buildings dedicated to fresh and salt water exhibits.  We did not go.  The sun was out, we only had a couple of days, and we didn’t want to spend the time inside.

We did find a place to eat – Big River Grill and Brewing Works.   We each had a great lunch.  Kenny tried a beer, and then they brought us 3 more samples to try.  Being Monday mid-afternoon, the place was pretty quiet, but the food was very tasty.

We continued our walkabout the town.  A couple of blocks out of the way, I spied a church steeple, so of course, we went to check it out.  Kenny was outnumbered.  Kennedy and I love to walk around and explore.  Kenny did his obligatory complaining so that I knew he was in normal form.

The stone church was beautiful.  It is the Second Presbyterian.  I don’t know where or what happened to the First one. 😉

It was founded in 1871, and this building was built in 1890.  This stone is sure showing it’s nearly 130 years of age, but how cool is it?!  The stones were all different hues and colors, making for a really interesting historic building.

Then as we walked along, we found an old hotel.  What first caught my eye was the doorman, wearing a long coat and top hat.  This is the Read House, dating back to 1872.  Well known people such as Al Capone, Elvis, and Ronald Reagan have stayed here.

Kennedy and I stepped inside just to take a quick look.  It was beautiful.  Not overly grand in size, but elite in decor.  These are the original Waterford chandeliers.

We continued our walk about town.  Our bellies were full and the sun was getting low in the sky, so we eventually found our way back to the boat.  We fully intended to come back out for a bite and drink later.  But that never happened.   Boat travel + food + drink + walk = sleepy.

Since tomorrow is our only full day here with Kennedy, we’ll try to cram some good stuff in.  I reserved a rental car through Saturday so that we can tootle about.  I thought about Kenny & I driving up to the Smokey Mountains and Gatlinburg after Kennedy leaves us.  And then we thought about doing that tomorrow with her, but it is a 6+ hour round trip excursion, plus what ever sights or scenic drive we do when we get there.  And then she wouldn’t get to do much real Chattanooga stuff.  We decided to do adventures closer to town tomorrow, and then meet Kent & Jane from Rising Tide at their yacht club for dinner.  They live here in Chattanooga, and we haven’t seen them since March when Rising Tide was on the rocks.  Tomorrow’s weather looks pretty good.  Wednesday looks OK, but Thursday & Friday are looking like rain.  Bummer dude.  Maybe we won’t keep the car until Saturday after all.