One of our goals, as we travel, is to find reasons to fall in love with the places we visit. We’ve flirted with a few places along the way, but in each case ultimately decided “It’s not you…it’s me, but we can still be friends, right?” Late in the day on Easter Sunday we found ourselves at an overlook on the top of John’s Mountain in northwest Georgia, about 30 minutes outside Chattanooga. Along with a group of high school kids, we looked out across a lush valley. As the sun dropped behind a distant ridge, one of the girls in the group said, “When I think that the same amazing God that gave us all this (motioning to the valley, ridges, and sunset) decided that I needed to be in the world also…it just blows me away!” A profound, if unexpected observation from a young lady we assumed was part of a group just looking for a place to party.
Not far from that lookout, we spent one of our best nights of our trip. Except for a deranged whippoorwill, we camped in peaceful solitude along a small creek, deep in the Georgia woods.
A good portion of the next day was occupied hiking the ridges, valleys, and waterfalls of Cloudland Canyon State Park. The views and the workout were much appreciated.
After a fair amount of discussion, we decided our next stop would be at a state park east of Chattanooga. While we much preferred free camping, its convenient location would allow us better opportunities to get acquainted with this intriguing southern belle. On the way, we made a slight detour to Chickamauga battlefield. The exhibits and movie offered excellent insights into this important and costly civil war battle. I’m always amazed that if not for a bad decision here, miscommunication there, lack of information generally – any one of these civil war battles – even the war itself might have had a very different outcome.
We spent the next few days getting to know Chattanooga and the surrounding area. This corner of our country has much to recommend it. Enterprise park has highly entertaining mountain bike trails, lovely picnic areas, as well as dedicated hiking and equestrian trails. The downtown area offers a beautiful Riverwalk along the Tennessee River. Wednesday afternoon we enjoyed food and beverages at one of the local microbrews with Cathy and Bob. Also retired, we’d met this delightful couple from Orlando at the campground. Later that evening we joined a group of paddlers as they made their weekly pilgrimage out to an island in the middle of the river. As we enjoyed a beer and got to know the colorful and welcoming members of this group, one thing was clear. Every single person was passionate about his or her love of this active, vibrant, outdoorsy community.
Coolidge Park and the Tennessee River from the pedestrian bridge
Biking on the Riverfront trail
Well played Tennessee, well played. And to all you Tennesseans who made our stay such a pleasure “Thank you!” We’ve fallen in love with your little corner of the world. And as all the paddlers were eager to point out…we barely scratched the surface. We will definitely be back.
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