Departed Cedar Creek anchorage (of which I got such a kick as it shares its name with one of my parents’ favorite restaurants back home) @ 9:10am Sunday morning.  October 7 is my sister Marla’s birthday, so I knew it would be a good day.

Saw more beautiful homes along the river.

Another beautiful day on the water.  The deepest water we had seen prior to this day was under 55 feet.  We saw 128 feet around a tight bend!

We arrived in Chattanooga around 2:00pm.  Very pretty waterfront.

We tied up, plugged in, turned on the AC, and went for a walkabout.

We hit a couple pubs to give some money to the local economy, and had dinner at Moe’s Original Bar-B-Que.  This was some serious stuff.

We had to walk a couple more miles after dinner as we were so full.  There are beautiful bridges in Chattanooga.

Monday morning, we rented a car and drove to the Great Smokey Mountains.  We drove through Dollywood, of which I had heard, but never thought much about.  It’s HUGE.  She is laughing her big bosom all the way to the bank.  Hiked to some falls which were gorgeous.

Was about a 3 hour drive one way, so didn’t get back to the boat until around 7pm.  Penny was SO damn giddy to have her humans home!  She grinned as we neared the boat.

Although we got a lot of walking in, after 3 hours in the car, we needed to stretch our legs so walked across the bridges to Brewhaus, a cool German pub.  Not to be rude, we had a lovely cold beer with salads and pretzels.

Tuesday was my best friend Jackie’s birthday, and we played tourists big time.  Took the Incline Railway up to Lookout Mountain.  The railway has been in operation since 1895 and is the world’s steepest passenger railway; at one point, you are at a 72 degree angle.  It was pretty cool.  (Dad, you would have hated it!)

The top of Lookout Mountain has beautiful views.  From there, we walked to Point Park.  The views from there were even better. On clear days, you can presumably see numerous states.  It wasn’t clear, so we couldn’t, but we did have epic views of the Tennessee River and the valley below.

Point Park is a 10 acre memorial park that was the location of the Battle Above the Clouds, an important battle of the Civil War.  The New York Peace Memorial was erected by the state of NY as a tribute to peace and reconciliation between Union and Confederate veterans after the war.

There is a really interesting museum inside the park.  The gates of Point Park were constructed in 1904 and modeled after the US Army Corps of Engineers Insignia.

We then went to Ruby Falls, home to the tallest and deepest underground waterfall open to the public in the United States.  (Tennessee allegedly has a lot of the …..est things in the world, according to their billboards.)  With a lot of other tourists, you take an elevator 26 stories down and take a guided tour through a cool, cavernous path ending at a 145 foot waterfall.  Very cool stalactites and stalagmites.  (Mom, you would have hated this one.)

West Coast Crew representing.

After Ruby Falls, we went to Rock City to complete the touristy trifecta.  This place had to have been created by an acid-dropping gnome freak.  There were day glow gnomes everywhere in dark caves under black lights.  After about 15 minutes, we were tired and a bit freaked out, so did not finish our self-guided tour through gnome Alice and Wonderland.  We hit the grocery store to provision, then went back to the boat for showers.

Yesterday, there were 3 American Tugs along the long dock in Chattanooga.  Very cool.

Kent and Heather’s friend Michael came to visit from Atlanta.  Cheese, salami, guacamole, homemade pizzas, wine and whiskey ended our day with great company.  Our day as tourists was a success!  (That said, Kent might still be a little traumatized by the gnomes.)

Heartbeat departed Chattanooga this morning.  We were very sad to see them go, particularly our adopted Penny dog!

Did chores today to include a luxurious trip to the laundromat!  The elegant part of cruising, for sure.  Dropped off our rental car, and walked in the rain to a Mediterranean joint for dinner.  Boat is getting washed by the rain, fridge and pantry are full, and the laundry is clean.  We have absolutely loved Chattanooga and its surroundings.  This is a great little city.  Planning to depart tomorrow morning to head back West on the Tennessee, where we will be going with the current…yippee!  ~250 miles and 5 locks and we will hit the Ten-Tom and start heading South.

Life is short; live it well.  Happy Hump Day.  M&M