Harrison/Chattanooga, TN (State #6)-Harrison Bay State Park

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!