If you are going to Chattanooga anytime soon you should seriously consider staying at the Stone Fort Inn. It was absolutely adorable. After the excitement of the day, we were so ready to just chill out. We checked it, and were given the run down by one of the ladies running it. The Wine and cheese hour (which was included) was about to begin and we were told where breakfast was going to be in the morning. They then took us to our room. It was gorgeously decorated and very charming. It had exposed brick walls, old hardwood floors, subway tiles in the bathroom, whirlpool tub, aveda products. It was the whole sha-bang. Matt immediately noticed that there were chocolate chip cookies in a bowl right when we stepped off the elevator and was ready to partake. The room was very comfortable and there was an old coke machine in the hallway that dispensed the 8 oz. cokes in glass bottles. We relaxed for a bit, checked the library of VHS tapes that we could help ourselves to if we felt like watching a movie in our room; and then, I had some wine while we decided where to have dinner. We were so tired from getting up at 3:30 a.m., we knew we weren't going to be up for too much that evening. We walked downtown ate a little dinner and came straight back.
The next morning I got another wonderful surprise from our Inn. I had read that there was a continental breakfast, which is a big selling point for me. I don't want to have to go seek out a place to eat first thing in the morning when I go out of town. Well folks… the Stone Fort Inn goes way beyond a continental breakfast on the weekends. They had two chefs come in and cook a gourmet hot breakfast. Homemade berry scones, breakfast casserole, quiche, bacon, sausage, vanilla yogurt with fruit, French toast, Yummy! They had cereal too, but with all that, who would eat cereal? Caliborne and Brian, the chefs, did a wonderful job. I also found it thoughtful they had disposable travel cups for the coffee. I definitely made myself a large to-go cup when we checked out to go down to the aquarium. I've paid more to stay at places that don't even come close to my stay here. I highly recommend it, if you are looking for a relaxing get away.
Here are some pictures:
Front Lobby
Where the wine and cheese was served
After we left the train station, Matt and I decided to punch in the address to the Inn/Hotel on the GPS and head there to relax for a bit (We like to call the GPS our "Guups"). And as usual with all the road trips that Matt and I have been on, we manage to find a low income part of town. I swear every time we go to a different town on a little trip we manage to find at least one little section of hood. For example, We decided to drive around and look at the old antebellum homes in Savannah Georgia one time we went to visit. We are all, "ewww… Ahhhh… look at that one!" and then we get to the end of the street and make a turn and BAM! Ghetto! What the heck!
Anyhow… back to the Chattanooga story. The Guups sent us straight into a lower income part of town, it wasn't completely ghetto, but it wasn't exactly somewhere we wanted to visit. We just drove along aimlessly following the Guups directions and commands. We were stopped at a light, when we heard an extremely loud pop followed by what sounded like crackling. Matt ducked, I pop up and stiffen and start looking around. I'm looking for a rock, a bullet hole, some point of impact or entry. I was sure we had been hit by something. Then we hear the spewing and hissing. Matt had left two cans of coke in the back seat of my tiny car. During our train ride, they had apparently gotten really hot. Which led to them exploding at just that moment. After our heart rates lowered to a functioning level, we surveyed the damage in the back seat. The mess wasn't that big. But as for the butt puckering factor… I give this one a 10! It scared the Hell out of us.
Matt has been requesting that we take a train ride for quite some time now. So that is just what we did for his Birthday Extravaganza this year.
Me waiting to board
Matt looking over the side of the train
Around noon we arrived in Chickamauga, Georgia. It was a quaint little town. We had lunch, walked around the Gordon Lee mansion, and visited some of the shops. They had a hat shop, and if any of you know my love of hats, you know that I must have tried on every hat in the shop. I seriously fell in love with a 20's/30's era hat with large feathers and netting and a green velvet hat that I can't describe, but Matt gasped and said that I should buy it. I didn't though. I haven't any idea when I'd be able to wear such a formal hat.
Gordon Lee Mansion
On the way back to Chattanooga, the train made a brief stop at Chickamauga National Military Park. It had tons of monuments, but we only stopped at one. It was shaped like a chess piece and you had to climb 136 stairs to the top observation deck. I hope that Matt and I can make another trip to the park and check it out further. On the ride back Matt and I again fought off the urge to drift asleep and just enjoyed the ride.
Matt in front of the monument
We arrived back at the Depot, took a look at the exhibit of amazing photography from the 1950's, looked at a few more train cars, headed to the hotel. We had so much fun! And I have so much more to tell you about the trip, but I'm going to break it up into a couple posts.
Maybe later this year or next we'll go back and take the Autumn Leaves train that is the steam engine (I love the smoke coming from the stack and the sound that whistle makes). They have different cars added to the train for these rides. They have a car that was used in the filming of the George Clooney movie Leatherheads and one similar to the Marilyn Monroe film Some like it Hot. It was a wonderful little trip and I suggest that you click the links and check it out the train for yourselves. If I had children, I would totally take them to the Polar Express one with hot chocolate served and Santa aboard. The only thing I would have changed would to have headed down on Friday evening so we would not have been so tired. 
The tunnel
Aren’t the sheep sweet and festive? I thought it would be funny to put party hats on them... and was it ever. Sally Pearl pranced around with hers on. Hannah keep pulling hers down over one eye like an eye patch.We laughed and laughed. I tried to put one on Hans (fat cat), who managed to get it on the front of his face. He was all confused and walked around backwards thinking he could back himself out of it, like he does when he crams himself in a paper shopping bag. Biscuit thought it was a new toy and destroyed hers with excitement. It was a lot of fun and giggles for the 1 dollar cost of party hats.
I’m back at work now. I wasn’t exactly planning on going back to work so soon after the bar exam, but here I am. I wasn’t thrilled about it. But as my first payday after returning draws near, I’m starting to feel better about it :) This weekend is Matt’s Birthday Extravaganza Part II. I have planned a little getaway that fulfills a request Matt has made a couple of times. I’ll have to give you the scoop on it next week. Speaking of the birthday boy. Matt started back to school this week. He wasn’t able to get a teaching job this year, so he will be substitute teaching and continuing on his masters. He’ll actually be done in the spring if all goes well with his thesis. As far as me, they have pushed back the release date for the bar exam results another week. So I won’t find out until October 16th. Also… I found out that the school messed up on my transcript and final GPA calculation. They fixed it, and I’m getting a new transcript. It bumped me up 2 places, and everyone keeps reminding me how they could care less, they were just glad to graduate. But, by golly, I care. I worked hard for my grades and I want that little piece of paper to reflect every bit of that. So now… I graduated 23rd in my class of 139 (even if no one else cares and I happen to fail the bar exam).
What’s that you say?
You want to know how the pumpkins are doing? The pumpkins are doing great. Check em’ out.
So the one of my previous blog post said that you might see my husband walking around. Well my husband read it and looked at the pictures and said, "I wasn't in any of those pictures". Therefore, I must clarify and post some that do contain my much neglected Husband :) It was a good show and Matt was a great assistant judge. My Father-in-law was a super great judge. And of course at the end of the day we brought home our two bossy, yet sweet, sheep. The show was held at the sleigh farm out near our house. They run H & S farms, a pick your own strawberry operation, in the spring and early summer. If you have never come out there for it you really should. This year not only could you pick your own strawberries, but you could buy strawberry cake, strawberry jam, and they also worked out a deal with Coldstone Creamery and had strawberry ice cream!
* sorry about the dotted out kids faces, but you could recognize some of them.
The little kids really liked showing their lambs. Of course some of the lambs acted up, jumping, kicking, trying to run off and dragging the little kids behind, but they really tried their hardest to keep control. I had no idea that these lambs are around 100 lbs and stout. You have tiny kids trying to control a farm animal on a leash. I have a hard time holding our sheep and at least I out weigh them. Years ago, Matt won the top showmanship award when he was just a wee little guy. Apparently his lamb acted up. She drug him all over the ring. Literally he fell and was dragged through sawdust and dirt by a 100+ pound runaway beast. He said when she stopped he stood up, dusted her off and cleaned her up, walked her back over to the judges and positioned her for them to observe her body composition. Then once they were finished, cleaned himself off. He said he cried he was so terrible embarrassed, but he ended up winning, because he made his lamb a priority, regained control, and showed well… good showmanship.
These kids work so much with the lambs and I know that it must have been hard to let go of them at the end of the day. I'm 26 years old and I would have probably shed some tears when they sold off the lamb to well… you know… market. But that is how the program works. Except for Hannah and Sally Pearl of course.
Expect a lot of puns and silliness with these post people!
And the beginnings of the "Baby Boos"
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