Harrison
Bay State Park is located just outside of Chattanooga. It's a nice
park and in the next 6 or so months it will probably be fantastic.
They have three campground loops and all of them are getting a
complete makeover.
When we
pulled in, there was no one at the registration building, which I
thought was a little strange since it was midday on Sunday, so we
just headed on to our site since we had reserved a specific one. We
entered the loop and pulled up to the site and got out to look. I
thought “No way!” I said “We cant get in there!” And Greg
said, “Sure we can!”
While I
can't say his confidence was that positive 100% of the time, I can
say that he did an AMAZING job of getting us in that spot. The
entrance to the site was uphill, in a curve and ran perpendicular to
the road rather than angled for an easy back in. And to top it off,
there were trees on both sides of the entrance!
It was
interesting watching many of the RVs moving into their sites.
Several of the sites are quite challenging. Of course, that will
probably change with the redo.
And
since there were no sewer hookups here, it was so wonderful that we
were right across from the bathrooms. Because there was no way we
were going to move the trailer to go dump the tanks in the middle of
our 2 week stay! (We can only make it a week if everyone is using the
toilets all of the time)
If you
have ever been camping with us, then you probably know how much our
kids love the hammocks. Well we FINALLY were able to put them up.
It has been 4 months of camping with no hammocks! Either the parks
did not allow anything hung in the trees or we were in campsites that
didn't have the properly spaced trees for hammocks. The kids do not
go outside to play without spending at least a few minutes in their
hammocks.
The
campground is located on Harrison Bay. There were swimming
areas in the day use
area
nearby our loop. There were several sites right on the water but we
did not have one but I really like the site we had. There was plenty
of space for the kids to play.
The park
has a pool (not open until Memorial Day), playscape, marina and
restaurant. Unfortunately there was no laundry room.
They had
only one bike trail but it was a lot of fun. There were lots of ups
and downs with several views of the lake. Jordan rode on my bike of
course and screamed and laughed with joy as we rode over the hills
and bumps. We also saw a number of deer along the path.
I would
stay at this campground again but, so far, I would say this was
probably my least favorite campground. The main and really only
reason for this is the some of the younger adults who were there.
Maybe because there is no entrance fee, it was the place to hangout.
Loud music and loud mouths were plentiful. There were two vehicles
parked only a couple of spaces from each other with doors open wide
and music blaring. And of course they were two very different styles
of music. Ugh!
The two
weeks here were a little more relaxing for us. We weren’t running
everywhere to try and see everything. Most of our outings were on
the weekend days when Greg could join us.
One
thing the kids and I did was to go to the $1 movies. I didn't know
those still existed.
Jordan
found her gymnastics leotard in one of her drawers and expressed
interest in going to a class, so I found a local gymnastics center
that offered a free trial class. She had a great time
and got to do a few more things that she was able to do in her class
back home.
One of
the places we knew we needed to visit was the Tennessee Aquarium.
But instead of all of us going, Greg and Jacob went to an overnight
program there called Sleep In The Deep. Jordan was not old enough to
attend so we had a Mommy/Daughter date instead.
The boys
had a great time. There were 32 guests divided into 2 groups and
each group given their own separate tour of the aquarium. It was
like they had the entire place to themselves! In addition, they had
a pizza dinner (Papa Johns!), a 3D Great White IMAX, talks on ball
pythons and legless lizards, and behind the scenes tours showing what
it takes to care for all of the animals. This included a visit to
the food prep room and a walk through the walk-in fridge and freezer,
where dead rats and dormant mealworms were expected. Then they slept
in one of the big aquarium exhibits, which is a long cave surrounded
by aquarium walls and ceiling!
At midnight, it was “lights out” and you could see fish sleeping
above (some just floated horizontally on
their sides) and Oscar the
sea turtle buried himself under some rocks right next to them. Oscar
has to do this because he's missing 2 flippers and has an air pocket
trapped in his shell due to a run-in
with
a boat before coming to the
aquarium.
(apparently, no so "HOT")
They had
such a fantastic time learning about things like 12 foot fish that
can jump out of the water and eat monkeys. Jacob wanted
to go back so badly!
Next, we
all visited the Chickamauga/Chattanooga National Battlefield Park,
the nation's first national military park. We started in the Visitor
Center and Museum and watched a video on the battle. Well, it was a
little bloody and sad for the kids (oops) which I guess should have
been expected since Chickamauga was the second bloodiest battle in
the Civil War with about 34,000 casualties (killed, wounded, or
missing) in only a few days of fighting.
Then we
drove the 7 mile loop and listened to the Audio Tour, which took a
few hours. The kids did really well going along with us. They did
some work on their Junior Ranger Badge but mostly just checked things
out with us. There are 1400 monuments and historical markers.
Needless to say, we only scratched the surface.
Honestly,
I get confused when they just use the general's names because I can't
always remember quickly which side they were fighting on and then
they say Federal sometimes rather than Union but I have learned more
in just a couple of days than I can remember about it from school.
And trying to understand all of the positions on the battlefields;
well sometimes I get it and sometimes I don't :)
This is
the Wilder Brigade Monument. Wilder's Brigade became known as the
“Lightning Brigade”. They were known for how fast they could
come in on horseback and defeat the Confederates. Now, what set them
apart, was that they were armed with seven-shot Spencer shooting
rifles. The typical rifle could shoot 3 shots per minute but the
Spencer could shoot 14 per minute. Quite the advantage!
There are 136 spiraling steps to the top. But
from there you can see the now beautiful surrounding battlefields.
After we
made it back down, Jacob wanted to go back up. If you look closely at the picture above,
you can see him at the top, but here's one with a little closer view.
The next
day we headed up to Lookout Mountain Battlefield and Point Park.
There was a $3 admission fee each for Greg and I.
As soon as we
arrived, the park ranger began his talk on the battle. It definitely
helped to hear it again but I am still a long ways off from being
able to even give a proper summary. But from up on the mountain, it
was a little easier to see some of the landscape challenges and
benefits.
We took
the short hike to the Ochs Memorial Observatory and viewed the items
in the small museum there. We got to see the hardtack 3"x3" crackers that the men
were supplied for meals. The certainly didn't look tasty and they
were supplied with 9 crackers per day. But when the Union General
Rosecrans and his army were under siege in Chattanooga, there supply
was reduced to 3 per day. The men were starving and some resorted
to eating rats! Ulysses Grant made his way in and opened a supply
route known as the “Cracker Line”.
The kids
finished their Junior Ranger packets and headed in to receive their
badges and be sworn in. The ranger decided to have a little fun with
them! He had them stand in a silly position and added a bunch of
extra words into the pledge. The kids just went right along with him
and probably don't even realize that he was being silly.
Our
plans to see Rock City were rained out so instead we drove to
Southern Adventist University to see where Aunt Kristen went to
school. It was a nice campus but we didn’t get out to explore much
due to the rain.
Across
the street was the Little Debbie factory. Unfortunately, I couldn't
find the samples. But here is the trailer they made some of their
first deliveries in.
Then we
visited the Chattanooga National Cemetery. It was a dreary day, but
it was still beautiful and amazing (but sad, of course, for what it represented).
Another
thing that happened this week was Jacob got his first haircut from
Mom. He wanted his hair to be a little longer but it was driving me
crazy! So I bought some clippers to see what I could do. I figured
that if I messed it up too badly, I could take him to have it fixed the
next morning. So here is the “before”:
And here
is the “after”:
He's still smiling! Thank
goodness!
And
another update: Our trailer is almost 100% repaired. Notice I said
“ALMOST”. The guys who came to repair the trailer did a great
job. Unfortunately, Camping World sent the wrong fender. It looks
very similar, but does not have quite enough allowance for the tires.
It was already installed when we figured this out. So the repair
guys trimmed it very nicely and we will pick up the correct fender
later and Greg will put it on.
We are super excited! Next week we will be in the Great Smoky Mountains! Yay!
