It is no surprise that Tennessee is one of my favorite places on Earth. I am glad to have convinced all of my boys of the same thing! :) We took a week long vacation to Chattanooga and Knoxville last week. We broke in the new car....it was packed full....2 dogs, 3 boys, and 2 adults. We ordered a roofbag to put all of our luggage in at it was a lifesaver. We woke up early on Saturday morning and packed up the car and were on our way....
We drove to New Orleans and stopped for lunch and beignets. Steve experienced Cafe Du Monde for the first time in May, but this was the first time for the boys to have beignets. We ate lunch again at the Gazebo Cafe and then stopped at Cafe Du Monde before leaving....yummy
After New Orleans we kept on driving until we got to Birmingham. We stopped at the Mississippi Welcome Center to let the dogs out and then kept on going...
When we got up on Sunday, we drove to the brand new Alabaster dog park. It was ranked as one of the top ten dog parks in the country. Since we were only 20 minutes away we just HAD to check it out. It was nice....artificial turf, a splash pad, a track to run, mini fire hydrants...so fun for Stirling and Duncan! It wore them out! After the dog park, we met my sister and her family for lunch at Cracker Barrel and then headed on out of town.
After the dog park and lunch, we spend the rest of the day driving on the Lookout Mountain Parkway! It is a 93 mile stretch of roads that takes you from Gadsden, Alabama to Chattanooga, Tennessee all along Lookout Mountain. It is a fabulous road with TONS of great places to stop and sight see. We tried to fit in as much as we could but still missed a few key places such as Noccalula Falls and Cloudland Canyon State Park...oh well, guess we will just have to go back? I think the highlight for the boys was the waterfall that we stopped at where they got to play in the creeks that fed it. The plan was to just wade in the water and not get wet...however, if you have ever been in a creek, you know that the rocks are SLIPPERY! Of course, within about 15 minutes, all three boys were wet....Nolan was soaked! The dogs enjoyed it as well. After everyone was tired, we stopped at our La Quinta in Chattanooga for the night...
Of course this is just days one and two. Much more to come. I will continue to update as I find time. You know the Olympics are on and I am only a little obsessed. I promise to finish by the end of this week. I will leave you with a few fun dog pictures from the hotels...
And, my favorite dog picture from the entire trip....Duncan deciding that the bed was for him!
