Chattanooga

While this blog is about our adventures in Birmingham, I thought I would post a few pictures and memorable moments from my trips to Chattanooga this year.  The first trip was back in March where I flew out with a co-worker and met up with three other co-workers for a project at the Volkswagen Chattanooga Plant!  First thing is first, as you can see below, this airport was tiny.  I'm not even sure why they had a short-term and long-term parking.  For a city the size of Chattanooga (not that it's that big), I would have thought there would have been more than 5 gates, but then again, I guess I don't really know how big this town is.  People are probably a lot like my fellow Michiganders and love to drive.

The weather was much cooler than I was hoping for the "south", so initially I didn't think much of Chattanooga (except it did get bonus points for having roads named after us and Scottie's parents!) other than the Volkswagen Chattanooga Plant, the first and only LEED Platinum certified Auto Plant worldwide.

 While we where in town, our hosts arranged for us to receive a factory tour, which I highly recommend as it's open to the public.  Living in Motown surrounded by several auto manufacturers, you'd think I'd have been on a factory tour before, but this was my first!  I'm sure it's a lot different than some of the aging plants back in Detroit anyway.  I also have to give our host another shout out for their taking us out for some great food at Alleia downtown Chattanooga.

 

During our second trip in June, we enjoyed much better weather and we started exploring some of the tourists sites starting with the Incline Railway to Lookout Mountain (after eating a solid meal at Mojo Burrito in Historic St. Elmo).  The ride along the Incline Railway is known as the "America's Most Amazing Mile" as the tracks are 4,972 feet long and rise 1,450 feet.  It is recognized too as a National Historic Engineering Landmark.  

Thus, we rode train to the top (later, we realized we could have just driven up, but that's not as fun) where we were rewarded with fantastic views of Chattanooga, the Tennessee River, and Moccasin Bend Valley.  Apparently, from this vantage point, on a clear day, you can see out to 7 different states: GA, TN, W. VA, VA, SC, NC, and KY.

I dragged my travel mate down the road a little to check out Point Park, a part of the Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park, a NPS site to explore a little more of the valley views and battle remains.   

 Here's a little history for you that I learned along the walking trails.  In 1863, Union and Confederate forces fought for control of Chattanooga, known as the "Gateway to the Deep South."  The Confederates were victorious at nearby Chickamauga in September. However, renewed fighting in Chattanooga that November provided Union troops victory and control of the city.  

Later in the trip, we drove back up to Lookout Mountain to explore Sunset Rock, which was recommended to us by our host.  It was a .2 mile Bluffs Trail to the rock although none of us were quite dressed for the mini-hike.  

At the end of the trail, we were rewarded with some more great views of Lookout Valley as well as back to Point Park.  I even found one of Scottie and my favorite coast guard markers that noted this was 1,962 feet above sea level.

For our next trip, we'll have to hit up Ruby Falls and Rock City although they both seemed a little more touristy than these adventures.