Montgomery Bell State Park 2/59

Continuing our journey of visiting all 59 Tennessee state parks, this weekend we went to Montgomery Bell State Park out near White Bluff. I chose this park because it was the closest park to us that was doing an Easter egg hunt, wanted to try and mix in a kid activity with some exploring.

We got there early and spent some time playing and watching the birds of prey presentation.

About twenty minutes before the egg hunt, everyone decided to line up for the egg hunt.  When I watched them put the eggs out, an hour before the event, I thought there would be tons of eggs for everyone.  I was very, very wrong.

I took this picture ten minutes before we started and people were still arriving... The whole "hunt" lasted about ten seconds. Mila was able to grab half an egg, and Kian found one whole egg.  I convinced him to go over to the playground and pick up some of the ones that were broken after I noticed that the field around up was clear and our chances of finding any in the hoard of people in front of us was slim. This was our first mass egg hunt, and we will never attend another. Afterwards I heard people complaining that parents were pushing kids out of the way and picking up eggs. I did not see that, but I was very surprised at the speed with which the under 4 kids managed to clear the field...

After the egg hunt, we went off to explore more of the park and drove past the cabins.  The cabins looked cool, and had big outdoor fire places. But, Brenden and I both noted that they would not be our first choice to stay as the view is not great.

We ended up parking at a nearby playground (a different one, there were a lot of playgrounds!) and headed out on the wildcat trail.  

The trail was parallel with the road for a bit, had a canyon overlook, went past a lake, crossed over some stairs near a cabin and then seemed to end.  It was a prefect hike for two tired kiddos!

We may go back to Montgomery Bell in the future, but for now we have many more parks to explore!
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Point Park | Chattanooga

The next day in Chattanooga was beautiful.  There was no rain and it was just a bit overcast.  We headed up to Point Park and took in the view.  I don't think we were able to see 7 states but it was still beautiful. 

Chattanooga Choo Choo

While we were in Chattanooga, we stayed at the historic Chattanooga Choo Choo hotel. I love the idea of this hotel and we actually have a hotel that is a converted train station here in Nashville as well.  However, this place is run down. It clearly has never been updated and it really shows. The good news is, they are planning renovations! But, because of the renovations most of the restaurants at the hotel are closed. And thats okay because one of the biggest pros is that it is right next to the free electric shuttle that runs downtown every five minutes! We rode that thing as much as we could during the one night we were there. 

Even though the hotel is run down, I would stay there again. We stayed in one of the train cars and that was so fun. You literally feel like you could take off on an adventure at any moment.  Plus if Kian happens to love trains, what would be more fun than visiting the train museum and then staying on a train car.

Tennessee State Aquarium

Listening to a "real man" talk about breeding

Fish kisses

We spent our first night away from Kian a few weeks back and took a little trip to Chattanooga.  Our original plan was to hike the whole day but we happened to be going while the effects of hurricane Joaquin were strong and it rained all day. So we quickly changed our plan and visited the aquarium.  I love a good aquarium.

This aquarium is split up into two part.  The first part is freshwater and is very well designed and huge! We spent a good hour walking through this part and we truly enjoyed it.  The second part is the "salt water" section and it really felt more like a "this was donated and we didn't know what to do with it" section.  You start by visiting some penguins (always fun), then you see some giant parrots right next to a touch area full of rays and sharks.  After the rays and sharks you make the logical transition to, a butterfly exhibit. Then you go down do a giant tank with many fish, a shark and a sea turtle.  This is the main salt water part as there are little exhibits of an octopus, several types of jellyfish and some crabs surrounding the big tank.  Then you leave! It is a good salt water aquarium for being no where near salt water but if you have been to other aquariums I wouldn't expect much from it.  The focus is on the freshwater building and it is awesome.