Working at a summer camp in the States, is not only fun, but gains you awesome friends from all over America and even the world. One said friend, Logan, picked us up in Nashville, the Monday after Labor day, and took us on a mini road trip to the town where he goes to school – Chattanooga.
On the way we stopped off in a small town called Shelbyville, where we popped into Walmart to buy bullets. Yep you read that right, we popped into a store where you can buy groceries or clothing, and casually picked up some bullets. The reason for this, was to go to the home of one of Logan’s old friends and shoot some guns! I have never shot a gun before, so it was pretty cool to give it a go! After our target practice we had another stop off – Lynchburg. Lynchburg is a tiny town, where the Jack Daniels Distillery is located.
I had already done a tour there a couple of years before, so the boys headed off on their tour and I had a wander around Lynchburg (which took about ten minutes!) They took the ‘Angels Tour’ which cost them $22. Aside from the tour they also got to try four shots of the different types of JD.
We got back on the road and made one more, unscheduled stop. At camp we have a skit called ‘Blue Raiders’ it would take too long to explain but it’s a comedy skit we perform for the kids. We were driving along and passed a baseball field where the team was called, you guessed it, the Blue Raiders. We couldn’t pass up the opportunity for a photo, so we jumped out took a quick pic, and then on noticing a baseball and bat on the side, had a go at batting too!
Fast forward an hour and a half of country roads and country tunes, we had arrived in Chattanooga. Logan took us to an awesome bar called Clyde’s, which was my favourite bar/restaurant of the trip. It has a really cool atmosphere and the food is awesome. We grabbed a beer and played some ping pong while we waited for our food. Get the pulled pork sandwich and sweet potato fries – it is really good!
After Clyde’s we went to ‘The Ice-cream Show’. You choose your flavour ice-cream and then your toppings and then they mix it all together for you. It is awesome! We took our ice-creams for a walk over the bridge up to the art museum, admiring the view of Chattanooga at night.
It had been a long day, so we headed home, where the boys played a couple of rounds of Call of Duty, zombies, (which just reminded me of my Whistler season) and we headed to bed, watching Lilo and Stitch.
The next morning Logan had class and left us in bed to get up leisurely – which we took full advantage of! We headed to a place called Milk and Honey for breakfast, a really cute little coffee shop. I got a strawberry smoothie and Paul made his own bagel – you can choose whatever you want on it! Logan met us there and grabbed a biscuit, I couldn’t explain to you what that actually is, but it’s not like our biscuits in the UK!
Paul had been hankering for a tattoo ever since we started our trip, so we went in search of a tattoo shop. We spent a couple of hours while he got tatted up at Inked Expressions, who did a great job.
After our tattoo trip, we headed up Lookout Mountain. We passed Ruby Falls and stopped off at Sunset Rock, previously known as Point Lookout, and a popular climbing spot. Apparently it was used to spot Union troops in 1863, prior to the Battle of Wauhatchie. We tried to go and hike Rainbow Lake, but unfortunately it was closed – if you’re heading up the mountain check when the lake is open!
It was beer time, so we set off to Brewhaus for a brewski! The German/American bar has a bunch of different beers and a lovely outdoor area out the back too. It was taco night at a different bar – Mike’s Hole in the Wall, so we went off in search of dollar tacos. Turned out it wasn’t until 7pm and we were an hour off, tummies rumbling we decided to just split a bunch of appetisers between the three of us. Mike’s is awesome, it is an American drive bar and actually has a hole in the wall, it also has darts! Logan’s friend Nick, from Memphis, joined us for dinner and very kindly offered to lend us his guest pass at the climbing centre Logan works at, meaning both Paul and I could go for free!
High Point is a huge rock climbing place in Chattanooga, I have never seen anything like it. Having scored our free passes we geared up to try climbing for the first time. It was really good fun, hard work, but fun! We started in the kids zone (my favourite part) trying out all the cool kids sections. We worked our way through to the outdoor climbing walls, which looked insane, and which I completely chickened out of! The views must have been incredible from the top, looking out over Chattanooga at night.
To finish our last night in Chattanooga, we headed to our favourite fast food joint – Cook Out. We met another of Logan’s friends, Rhonda, AKA Lauren, and they grabbed some food. She had the best country accent and it was awesome listening to them all banter and pay each other out it was hilarious. It definitely made me miss my mated from back home. Side note – Logan and Nick both carry guns, Nick even takes his to class! Bit of a difference form back home!
So our time in Chattanooga was up and we had to get home so Paul and I could pack for Cuba. When we got back I realised I hadn’t actually booked my flight from Mexico to Cuba and I had to panic buy another one! We had an amazing time in Chattanooga and I would love to live there – maybe even more than Nashville!
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