Melissa and I both like getting out on the road and exploring. We like natural stuff, old stuff, and neat restaurants. I'm writing up some of the daytrips and weekend trips we enjoyed. I'll post them one at a time so I can archive them separately. Articles already in the hopper: Crossville, Jonesborough. Coming soon: Ocoee, Boone/Banner Elk, Gatlinburg, Townsend, Etowah and Asheville.

It's hard to draw the line on what qualifies as a daytrip. My rough estimate is that it has to be two hours of driving or less. Any longer than that and we'd probably spend the night. In some cases we pack a toothbrush and a pair of clean underwear in case we decide to sleep over. So while these trips are good daytrips, some of them work as well or better as weekend getaways.

Chattanooga

Driving time from Knoxville: 1.5 hours
Where to point your car: South down I-75

The first time we went to cat town, we planned on coming back that night. It's lucky we packed our toothbrushes, because we discovered plenty of reasons to spend the whole weekend.

The Chattanooga Aquarium is the heart of the city for tourists. Once you're there, you can park your car and walk or take the free electric bus. Nearby you'll find the riverfront and the annual Riverbend music festival, the Imax theater, the baseball stadium, the Creative Discovery Museum, a brewpub, and plenty of shops, restaurants and hotels. If you're planning to go to the aquarium and Imax, buy one of the packages that include tickets to both.

We liked staying at the historic Reed House. The original was antebellum, and was used as a hospital during the Civil War. Many of the paintings depict battles that took place in the area. The hotel has hosted many historical figures, including Winston Churchhill. La Dolce Vita is a great Italian restaurant, though as I recall it was a short car ride away.

Lookout Mountain is an enormous mountain that comes up out of nowhere and dominates Chattanooga. You can drive on top of it for miles and miles. There are many neighborhoods, schools, churches, a grocery store, and several tourist attractions.

Lookout Mountain was the site of a civil war battle, commemorated by a national park monument, Point Park. The park is beautiful, but has a surreal quality. It's a national park right in the middle of the expensive homes of Chattanooga's toniest. That was a plus for Melissa and me, since we like looking at houses. There's a nature trail you can access by parking next to an expensive house, though the day we went the trails were wet with rain and we had to turn back after slipping on the rocks. I wouldn't take rambunctious kids on this trail even in good weather.

Also on Lookout Mountain there's the incline railway, Ruby Falls, and the Rock City of barnside and birdfeeder fame. I never made it to Ruby Falls, but I went to Rock City as a kid. It's where you can "See Seven States." As I recall there's a little train ride, a bunch of caves, and an observation area with coin-operated telescopes. That probably doesn't do it justice, so go ahead and visit the web site. For the adventurous, Lookout Mountain also offers hang gliding.

Chattanooga Links

• Chattanooga and the Civil War - North Georgia Historical Society page.


• Chattanooga Times Free Press - The daily newspaper. Funny story: the Chattanooga News and the Chattanooga Free Press merged to form the Chattanooga News Free Press. (If you didn't laugh, read that name again.) Why didn't they call it the Free News Press? Beats me. After a lot of ribbing they changed it to the Times Free Press.


• Harrison Bay State Park - State park just minutes from Chattanooga. Camping, hiking, swimming and a Jack Nicklaus Bear Trace golf course.


• Lake Winnie amusement park - Terri Smith writes "I just want to add, in case you guys go back, the fact that you missed the most exciting thing to me "near" Chattanooga (to me this is in Chattanooga but I'm not sure where the Chattanooga suburbs start and stop). Anyway, this was my favorite place when I was young and still cool if you like to ride theme-park rides."