Chattanooga, Tennessee

As previously stated, I LOVE Chattanooga.  I love everything about it...the mountains, Sugar's Barbecue Restaurant, the pedestrian bridge (my fave), the cool shops, the gorgeous downtown, the fantastic aquarium.  I am just a huge fan!  :)  So we stop there for an overnighter whenever we can, usually on our way back from Florida. 

This time, we were both a little under the weather with colds from the grandkids, so we didn't do as much walking as we normally do.  But we stayed at our favorite place...the Delta Queen!

The ship is docked now, as required by Tennessee law in order to be used as a hotel.  But it's just beautiful!  It's docked right downtown Chattanooga, very close to the pedestrian bridge, so you can easily get over to the downtown area.  Once we get there, we normally park the car and walk everywhere we want to go.

The view from our room was incredible.  To the left is a wonderful view of my pedestrian bridge.  The rooms are small, and there's no TV, no phone, which we actually love.

The interior is filled with antiques and history.  You could spend an entire day just wondering around, reading plaques and scrapbooks about the ship and who has stayed on it.  It has a grand staircase that sooo makes me want to put on an evening gown and heels so I can float down those beautiful stairs.  (And there are NOT many things that make me want to wear heels....ever!!!)

And I have to add, that they have by far THE most comfortable beds I've ever slept on in a hotel.  Seriously!

Once we dragged ourselves out of that amazingly comfortable bed....hard to do when you're sick and it's so warm and cozy....we went to find at least one or two bakeries before heading home.  I can't enter a town, ever, without finding a bakery!  :)  We stopped by The Cake Gallery and picked up a cupcake to split there.  Pretty good cupcake, but they keep them cold, which is my least favorite way to eat a cupcake.  I guess I could've waited for it to warm up, but I was hungry!  Great flavor though, and a wonderful fudgy filling.

We thought we might like to find more of a breakfast type of bakery, so my hubby found this place, the Vine Street Market:

This is one of the most charming bakeries I've been to in quite awhile.  They didn't offer alot for breakfast, but we did get two fantastic muffins, steaming hot right out of the oven.  They were amazing!!!  Their lunch items sounded so good, we really wished we were going to be in town another day just to try it.  But the interior was so comforting and earthy...very close to what I want when we finally open our shop!



Notice the fire place off to the left of the counter?  I just love that!  We sat and had our muffin and coffee and would've been quite content to spend most of our day there!.  But alas, it was time to head home!  We need to get back to work...to save up money for our next vacation!!!  :)