Chattanooga Well Worth the Time

We took a 288 mile side trip from our route and traveled about 4 days to the Chattanooga area from Huntsville.  Not much in terms of any exciting stops along the way, but the scenery just kept getting better.  We stopped in two very rural marinas before arriving at the City Dock in Chattanooga on 10/1.  The next three days were spent cleaning, which is never ending on a boat, and sightseeing.  The City of Chattanooga has a great waterfront and much of the design is based on a tribute to the Cherokee native Americans including a waterfall that represents the Trail of Tears - quite moving!  Also, the touring replicas of the Nina and the Pinta pulled up to the dock and spent the week in this city providing an even more festive atmosphere.  We rented a car for a couple of days and put a grand total of 18 miles on it, but where we went was amazing.  Our first adventure was up Lookout Mountain.  It's elevation is around 2,000 feet and the view was spectacular.  First, we found a museum that offered a movie on the events of a famous Civil War battle on Lookout Mountain and why it was so important during the Civil War.  A fact that I did not realize was that General Douglas MacArthur's father led the Wisconsin Division up the mountain which was instrumental in securing a victory for the Union.  Of course, it was 98 degrees on this day that we chose to hike around the edge of the mountain.  We both enjoy Civil War history and there is a lot of it to be found in this area.  When we made it back to the marina late that afternoon we heard that it had hit 100 degrees.  The following day we walked into town and spent the entire day at the Tennessee Aquarium (indoors and air conditioned).  This aquarium is rated one of the top ten in the US.  There are actually two separate aquarium complexes:  a salt water aquarium and a fresh water river aquarium showing species from all over the globe, along with an Imax theater where we saw a movie on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia.  Had to post quite a few pics from the aquarium for the granddaughters to enjoy.

On the morning of 10/4 we had to leave the downtown marina because of two huge festivals the city was hosting that weekend.  No room at the inn as the story goes.  We proceeded upriver, through the Chickamauga Lock, and another 10 miles to the Chattanooga Yacht Club.  Looked like a great place to spend the weekend.  Can't always believe what you read.  Info said they had a 200-person dining room.  They do...just no food or bar.  We decided to move on a few more miles to the Island Cove Marina in Harrison, TN.  Huge marina and they had a great Mexican restaurant.  We head to our slip and discover it's a covered one!  We haven't been lucky enough to land any covered slips since we started and it makes such a difference with the heat.  Just as we got into the slip and Linda was throwing lines to the dock master, a huge boom came from the stern port side of the boat and a cloud of blue smoke was pouring out from the side.  Come to find out that there was a metal bracing structure under the pier that was supposed to be 60" down; but it wasn't, it was only 42" down and we hit it.  It is now late Friday afternoon, 10/4, and of course the marina is about to close for the weekend.  We stayed in the slip until this (Monday) morning and then proceeded to the haul-out dock as soon as the sun came up so we could figure out what and how much damage had been done.  Finally, the temps have dropped into the mid-70's, but now it's pouring rain.  It did not take long after lift-out to determine that the port prop had hit the structure.  Out came the spare (thank goodness we had the spares) and a fresh prop was put on and we were on our way back to Chattanooga.  We are thankful that the damage wasn't any worse than a bent prop.  The sound we heard when it hit was not pretty.  So, we took our time heading back down river, thru the lock and to the marina that we left last Friday.  We caught up with our friends, Tom and Angie, who had left their boat in Chattanooga for a week while they flew out to their son's wedding.  We will travel with them back to Rogersville, AL, and to the Joe Wheeler State Park, which is where our Looper conference is being held.  We should arrive there Friday or Saturday, and will be there all next week.  We're excited to be one of the host boats for Looper Crawls at the conference.  More about that later.