I celebrated my 50th birthday with a trip to Chattanooga, TN. We did a few new things and some things that we always do when in Chattanooga, uh hmm Clumpie’s LOL!!

We started out by booking a riverfront room at an artsy hotel. We stayed at The Edwin Hotel in the art district. After all, you only turn 50 once so why not go for it!!

This is just a sampling of some of the art from around the hotel. There was so much everywhere and tucked into every place they could find. In the lobby there were a set of chairs with faces on the back of them. We walked by them but didn’t get any pictures. There is art everywhere!!

I may have had Clumpie’s 3 times in as many days. Why not you only turn 50 once and we were in the area after all!! For 2 of them I did walk across the walking bridge and back to get it, so I did get some exercise!!

We arrived at our hotel in the rain Friday night. After we got checked it the storms came. We are glad we did eat on the way since it was raining when we got there. It ended up being a really stormy evening.

On Saturday morning we ate breakfast at White Bird, the restaurant in the hotel. I got what was described as a sausage, egg and cheese muffin and skillet potatoes. I was not expecting it to look like an egg mcmuffin!! Jeff said that is what he was expecting when I ordered. There was no description to tell me that it was going to be served on an English muffin, as it wasn’t what I was expecting, but it was good. Jeff had the biscuits and gravy with scrambled eggs.

**For completing the survey we have since received a couple of emails inviting us back and using the managers private reservation line.

It ended up being a cool rainy morning. We prepared for walking in the rain and when it was close to time for Clumpie’s to open we walked across the walking bridge, did a little window shopping and were some of the first customers when Clumpie’s opened the doors. They have so many yummy sounding flavors that it was hard to choose. I ended up going with Key Lime Pie and Peach Cobbler. I found out that you can get half scoops. Game changer!! Jeff had a vanilla bean shake, you can’t get much plainer than that!!

We finished our window shopping and based on the time we decided to go ahead and grab some lunch before we walked back across the bridge to the hotel. We went to Basecamp Bar and Restaurant. We had eaten there one other time. We started with the Pimento Arancici appetizer. It is pimento cheese, risotto and bacon fried and topped with grated parmesan served with locally made pepper jelly. Let me just say that pimento cheese was SOOOO spicy. The pepper jelly actually helped cut the heat just a bit. I had the pulled pork slider with a side of sweet potato fries and Jeff had the Fire in the Hole Potato with a side of Mac N Chz.

We headed back across the walking bridge and there was suppose to be an arts and crafts show outside the aquarium so we walked down to take a look. I assume that the rain kept most of them from coming as there were only about 5 tents there. We talked about visiting the aquarium but decided to just head back to the room and relax. Little did we realize that the hotel we were in was a STRAIGHT UPHILL hike from the aquarium. It didn’t seem that bad going down, but boy walking up the sidewalk on the way back was something else. I had to stop a couple of times. Not sure why we thought the sidewalk was a better option than the stairs that we went down. Then we get back to our room and found out from social media that our niece, nephew and great-niece were at the aquarium. I wasn’t about to think about conquering that hill again. I didn’t get any pictures as I was just trying to survive. LOL!!!

We did a late afternoon train ride with the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum. We weren’t sure of the route and if it would be one where we’d go so far and then the engine moves and we’d go back the way we came. It ended up being a line where you go so far out and then the engine moves and pulls you back the way you came. It was storming so bad at the stop where the engine moved that it appeared to take them quite some time to get reattached.

We settled into our table and enjoyed a scenic train ride thru the woods and some parts of the city with a three course dinner. This was another rainy afternoon which made for cooler temperatures and they apparently didn’t adjust the air conditioner in our car for that as it was FREEZING!!! We started with bread and butter and a tomato bisque. This tasted kind of like a sweet pasta sauce and not just straight tomato soup. Jeff who doesn’t like straight tomatoes actually ate some of the soup. We then had our meal, which we had to choose when we bought the tickets. We had stuffed chicken and it came with green beans and mashed potatoes with the skins and some sort of cranberry compote. For dessert we got to pick from chocolate cake, peach cobbler and cheesecake. I did the chocolate cake and Jeff did the cheesecake. Our napkins and the edge of the tablecloth were used as covers for our arms from the cold. Jeff was so cold he was shivering after dessert. Between the main course and dessert we set out to find the restrooms. I ended up having to go thru the other dining car (which was warmer than ours by the way) all the way to the front of the train which was good because I found a regular car that had the seats where you sat two facing forward and two facing backwards. After dessert we moved to that car along with most of our dining car passengers. We sat alone in two seats facing forward. While we were in this car we got to hear some history of the train and the railway and it was a little warmer sitting in those burgundy crushed velvet seats, still cool but warmer than our dining car. We got back to the train station and it was still storming. We made it to the car and drove back to the hotel in a storm. We got back to our room and was finally able to warm up.

Sunday morning we got a late checkout. We went to breakfast at Rembrandt’s coffee in the art district. I had a sausage, egg and cheese croissant and Jeff had french toast. We made our second trip to Clumpie’s when they opened and were the first ones in the store. This time I had half scoops of lemon-berry cake and malted peanut2. This time Jeff had a scoop of mint chocolate chunk. We walked back across the bridge and as we were getting ready to leave we started looking for lunch places to go before we headed home. After looking at several we decided on Taco Mamacita’s. They had a parking lot that they shared with a couple other restaurants and it was busy but we were able to find a spot. We had a short wait time. I had fish tacos and a side of sweet potato fries, not a normal thing at most Mexican restaurants. Jeff had sloppy jose own tacos and a side of street corn.

After lunch we went and found the umbrella alley and then hit up the Chattanooga market. Guess what the only thing we came away with was……my 3rd stop at Clumpie’s. They had there truck there and I had something like orange dreamsicle or something like that. It was probably my least favorite of the 5 that I tried over the weekend.

Unfortunately, it was time to head home, and as usual traffic was bad going out of Chattanooga. This is why we always check Waze before we leave that area. So we took Highway 11 back to Trenton, Georgia and then got on Interstate 59 and headed south.

It was an enjoyable birthday full of adventure!!