Skookum Traveler: Chattanooga (TN)

The next stop after the Great Smokies on our week-long holiday was Chattanooga, Tennessee. Having sleuthed a deal of sorts online, we checked into the apparently popular Chattanooga Choo-Choo hotel on Monday, July 21^st. Old passenger train cars have been converted to rooms that looked intriguing, but they charge a premium for those. So we went for the cheap seats out back. We were in Building Number 3, an angular mass of concrete walls about as warm and inviting as an upturned sidewalk. Sorry Choo-Choo, but somebody really should add some greenery to the giant parking lot, some colorful trim, and maybe a little artwork to those mile-long hallways. The room was nice enough and the main lobby was great, and even the pool wasn’t half bad, so I suppose you get what you pay for. We only had one night since I had to continue on to Nashville the next day for a work-related conference.

We dumped our bags in the room and caught the free shuttle downtown for a quick tour of the city. We were struck how quiet the place was—essentially zero night life over the bulk of the downtown area, as best we could tell. I’m not sure that’s a fair descript, though, since there did not seem to be much urban housing in the city’s core and urban living is what makes cool cities work. There was newer residential stuff by the river and not surprisingly, that’s where the people and the action seemed to be. We strolled around awhile, then thought we’d try walking back toward the hotel to look for a dinner spot, but found nothing of interest. Back at the hotel, there was a microbrew restaurant close by (The Terminal), so we went there and were not disappointed. I think half of Chattanooga was there with us—a hopping place. Across the street, a burned out building had a ‘condemned’ sign on it, though I couldn’t help but imagine refurbing it, putting our dream coffee shop there and serving all the tourists stopping over at the Choo-Choo. Chattanooga has great potential and I could feel the optimism of this up-and-coming place to be.

Choo-Choo lobby in the old Terminal Station.

Darn, we missed the otter show at the aquarium.

Nice.

Urban art.

The next morning we walked across the Tennessee River on the blue Walnut Street Bridge that Kris had scoped out earlier. Very scenic. It led us past a big wheel riverboat, the Delta Queen, to some interesting shops across the river. We returned to the hotel to grab the truck, then headed over to the famous incline railway up Lookout Mountain, our one additional touristy thing we wanted to take in before leaving town. The ride up was a kick, though Kris wasn’t so sure when she looked out the window at one point and saw there was no ground below us. The rails exceed a 70 percent grade at the steepest, which is pretty impressive.

But the best part, I thought, was at the top when we walked over to the Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park, a major historic site of the Civil War. Canons were profiled against white clouds and blue sky, with the city and sweeping river bend glistening far below. Scenic paths led among the viewpoints, rocks and relics, while signs shared parts of the story of this remarkable place. It wasn’t long after Chattanooga, the gateway to the deep south, fell to the Union Army—in a battle on Lookout Mountain in late 1863—that General Sherman began his epic march to the sea.

We still had a couple-hour drive ahead to Nashville and had to let go of Chattanooga way too soon. Definitely coming back.