Things to do in Chattavegas

For the record, I didn't make up the Chattavegas moniker. I've actually heard the term—both in conversation and in print. Knoxville also gets called Knoxangeles and K-Town.

Anyway, Danny tried to find out a little bit about what everyone's plans were, and even though it sounds like people will be mostly in on Thursday and out on Friday, having some things to do with kids is always helpful, right?

1. Ruby Falls is on top of Lookout Mountain, which is where Grandview is. Jackson, for some ungodly reason, LOVES this place. It's a cave and you're way way way underground for the whole part. It's a cavern with all the caverny type things you might expect. Stalagmites, stalactites, columns, things they claim are shaped like a turtle or an angel's wing. It takes maybe an hour or 90 minutes.


2. Rock City is also on top of Lookout Mountain and is directly adjacent to Grandview. Literally, they share a parking lot. Rock City is pretty good for kids and for parents. They can run around and scream like banshees and no one cares. You walk on a set route, which is rather nice, and it's decent exercise. There are lots of uphill, downhill parts and stairs. There are also caves and bridges.

3. The Tennessee Aquarium rounds out the Chattanooga triumvirate. Both Ruby Falls and Rock City have been around for decades, but the aquarium is relatively new. It's a pretty decent aquarium and I think I heard that it's in the Top 5 or so in the country. Although, I think I heard that here, so I'm not sure of the legitimacy of that particular claim. Jackson likes it here a lot. He runs through it as quickly as he can.. it's basically an obstacle course with some fish in the background. They do have a little tide pool where you can pet stingrays and nurse sharks. One of those top window rooms is a big butterfly garden where you do tend to get bombarded by butterflies. Danny HATES this room. The aquarium is made up of two buildings—one is the salt water side (with penguins!) and the other is freshwater.







4. The Creative Discovery Museum is also in downtown Chattanooga. It's fun for kids, but I'd strongly recommend grownups bring your headache-relief medication of choice.

There are a lot of other things to do. Jackson really enjoys anything by the river. There's a nice small playground on the city side of the river and on the other side, there's a huge park with a lot of green space, a big water fountain for kids, and a carousel. Coolidge Park is really nice for just about anything. We've picnicked there a lot. When the weather is nice, not too many weekends go by without going here. Near the park there are are a lot of neat little shops and restaurants. There's an ice cream place, a hot dog place, and a bunch of boutique shops.

Downtown Chattanooga is super walkable. There are a lot of restaurants and things to do that are pretty close. You can walk to Coolidge Park from pretty much anywhere downtown. It's pretty flat and pedestrian. There's even a walking bridge that connects downtown Chattanooga to the park and all the shopping on the north shore. That said, you definitely can't walk from downtown Chattanooga up to Lookout Mountain.



Whatever you do, don't go to the zoo. There are five animals there. We counted. It doesn't matter how much you like zoos, this one is lame. We took Jackson there and ended up apologizing to him for it's level of lameness.


As for places to eat....

Chattanooga is pretty kid friendly. Here are the kid places we can recommend:

There's several options for good pizza. Mellow Mushroom and Lupis are both downtown and are both good. There's another place, Pisa Pizza, on the north side of the bridge.

Jackson likes Sticky Fingers, which is also downtown.

If anyone wants to eat barbecue while in the south, Rib & Loin or Sticky Fingers would likely be the best choices.

For breakfast, if you're brave, Aretha Frankensteins has pretty good pancakes. They're HUGE. Seriously, don't order more than one. The restaurant itself is super tiny and only has a few tables.

We've been to several places around here we like, so if anything specific interests anyone, just let me know. We can probably make a recommendation.

For the grownups... well, to be honest, we've maybe only been to about 5 grownup restaurants.

Danny made reservations at Hennen's for our anniversary. The food was great, they were very nice, and it wasn't outrageously expensive.

There are a couple nice restaurants in Bluff View. We ate lunch at Tony's one day, and that was really good Italian food. The Back Inn Cafe is pretty good, and I heard they serve a nice brunch.

Mount Vernon is a nice place that serves good, traditional southern food. Danny: the mean age of patrons is rarely less than 85. Bring your two-year old and it might lower to 84. Maybe.

Hope some of this helps! If anyone wants any specific information, I'm happy to look something up, work on a map, or even call and make a reservation. We have year-long passes to Rock City, Ruby Falls, and the Tennessee Aquarium. If any of those interest you, please just let me know and I'd be happy to buy tickets and get them to you when you get here.