spontaneity is good, all aboard the choo choo

yesterday, marsh and i decided to take a day trip to chattanooga! we got ready and out the door we went. its only 2 hours away from us so we thought why not? the drive went by fast and it was a gorgeous drive! the mountains (or hills, whatever you want to call them) were awesome with the leaves on the trees changing colors. at certain points along the drive it actually looked like something out of a painting!
we heard that chattanooga was awesome and we had several things in mind. even though we had things in mind to see and do, we honestly didn't have a plan. we didn't even have directions! we were flying by the seat of our pants. we managed to make it to downtown chattanooga, fought for a parking spot and won, and then began our adventure. it was way past lunch time so we opted for food first before we both passed out from hunger. we dined at big river grill which is delish. after we loaded up on fuel, we continued our adventure. marsh really wanted to see the choo choo (something they are famous for apparently). we discovered a free shuttle that will take you directly to the choo choo so we jumped aboard. on the shuttle we chatted with an adorable old couple about the tennessee aquarium (which i really wanted to go to but i was having a bit of trouble convincing marsh). after talking to the couple, marsh was convinced about going. unfortunately we didn't have enough time to make it back to the aquarium before closing time. oh well, it will be on our to do list.
we arrived at the choo choo and began to look around. apparently it is an old train station (no longer in use of course) but a hot tourist spot. we walked around the gardens, checked out the old train carts, and popped into a few shops. we bought some candy at the sweet shop (adorable, i know) and then found some amazing magnets at the souvenir shop. i have never really been much of a collector (no stamps, quarters, or spoons for me) but things can change. we found magnets in the shape of every state in the united states. for some reason we fell in love with them! we are officially a couple who collects something: state magnets. we bought the 4 most important states to us: texas, louisiana, florida, and tennessee! i am so excited to collect the rest!
after the choo choo we opted to walk back downtown (it was over a mile of a walk) instead of taking the shuttle again. this way we were able to really look around. chattanooga is unlike any other city i have seen before! its so gorgeous and different! we loved it. night had begun to fall so we headed back to the car. we drove around the city some more and then decided it was time to go home.
on the way home i saw an exit for "lookout mountain" and made marsh take it! we ended up driving on a tiny little road that curved up and up a mountain! it was kinda creepy, being dark and so steep. we made it up to lookout mountain which also serves as home to ruby falls. not exactly sure what ruby falls is, i think its an underground waterfall, but we are going to check it out along with rocky city very soon! once we discover what it is i will let you know! well the last tour of ruby falls had already gone so we just decided to get out and enjoy the view. you could what see what seemed like the entire city of chattanooga! it was gorgeous. the only problem was, apparently ruby falls was offering some haunted tour. so as we walked to get closer to the view there was this uber creepy/scary guy just standing in the way staring at me. we finally got past him only to run into a man with a giant butcher knife and blood all over him. being the chicken i am i had to get out of there! i headed straight back to the car with marsh following closely behind me! ugggg...i hate this part of halloween! (images of last years haunted corn maze kept popping up in my mind as the chainsaw maniac wouldn't leave me alone!) no thank you!
anyways we really enjoyed our trip to chattanooga!
and on the way home, i spotted a monster in the water and a crazy badger/gopher animal just sitting on the side of the road! i am not kidding, nor was i smoking crack!
check out the pics we took to the left of this post! enjoy!