Weekend in Chattanooga (the long version)

Last spring Levi and I made plans for a trip to Europe as our big vacation for the year. Levi would play some shows, I would tag along, and we would enjoy traveling around the UK and visiting friends for a few weeks in late January/early February of this year. Plans were made, shows were booked; the countdown was on. Then summer rolled around and we learned that we would be welcoming a wonderful new addition to our family in early March. Even as late as November I was set on making the trip with Levi - I had even gotten preliminary blessings from my doctor to travel - with her disclaimer, of course, that "we'll have to check to make sure everything is okay right before you leave, and you'll have to get up every couple of hours to walk around on the plane, and you'll be pretty swollen for a few days when you get there, but I think it will be okay". As enjoyable as she made it all sound, I was still determined to go.

Several pounds, mounting to-do lists, and maternity-leave planning wake-up calls later my resolve started to wear down. Superficiality aside ("I don't want to meet all of your friends while I'm all waddly and HUGE") the realization began to sink in that a trip overseas while 8 months pregnant probably wasn't the wisest move. And, as great as dual citizenship would be for Lincoln, the prospect of delivering our baby in a different country with an unfamiliar doctor started to seem a little too real and scary for me. SO, yesterday morning I dropped Levi off at the airport and he left for our vacation. I stayed here - in Nashville - with grand plans to have the house all baby-ready when he gets back. I'm a little jealous (okay, a LOT jealous), but he's got a pretty crazy schedule while he's there - 10 shows throughout England, Scotland, Ireland, and Northern Ireland - so it really is better that I stayed. And, as disappointed as I am that I don't get to meet the close friends of Levi's that I've heard so much about, or visit with those that I had the privilege of getting to know during my last trip over, I think it will be that much better when we get to make the trip as a family and we can introduce them to Lincoln as well.

Anyhow... all of that brings me to this: Levi and I decided to take a spur-of-the-moment getaway last weekend before he left. Our last trip as a family of two (well, kind of - you know what I mean). We chose Chattanooga because it's an easy, beautiful, two and a half hour drive away from Nashville and there's (surprisingly) a lot to do there. After a late start and a time-zone change we ended up arriving in Chattanooga around 5:00 on Saturday evening. We went to the Tennessee Aquarium first, which has two different buildings - The River Journey and The Ocean Journey - both of which house amazing displays of fish, sharks, alligators, butterflies, birds (even penguins!), and other creatures. Afterward we decided to check out the Murder Mystery Dinner Theater across the street. The theater was, um, interesting (?) but the food was decent and we had a great time despite the Italian-Redneck wedding story-line.

Sunday we woke up late and found a local diner (Belle's Diner!) for breakfast - well, lunch really, but the chef was kind enough to special-make omelets and hash browns for us even though breakfast food wasn't on the menu. From there we drove to Lookout Mountain. We decided to squeeze two of the attractions offered into the day - Rock City, a beautiful trail up to the top of Lookout Mountain (from where you can see 7 states!), and Ruby Falls, a guided cave tour down to the largest underground waterfall open to the public (260 feet underground). We did A LOT of walking and had an absolutely wonderful time. The entire weekend was spent marveling in God's spectacular creativity and enjoying every moment together - it was perfect!

Here are a few pictures from our trip:

My favorite display

Lincoln's first shark encounter - he's so brave.

Rock City

Bridge to Lovers Leap

View of 7 States behind us

Tight squeeze

REALLY tight squeeze

Super creepy nursery rhyme cave display

Ruby Falls

See all of our pictures from the weekend here.