My Wonderful Weekend in Chattanooga

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Chattanooga is one of my favorite cities in the entire universe. I’ve written about the Scenic City several times on this website. We’re there every August for the Scenic City Invitational. We’ve been down for the Chattanooga Film Festival for two years in a row now. The city is kind to us.

But, this weekend illustrates just how much you can cram into a simple day trip from Nashville while still having plenty of time to relax.

The entire reason for this past weekend’s trip was to send “Nature Boy” Brandon Vick down to cover the 2019 Chattanooga Film Festival. I was there strictly to help with the podcasts this time (last year, I visited and wrote reviews for five different restaurants). He thought it’d be nice if we both brought our girlfriends down with us so they could get a taste of the rock star life us SoBros lead on content trips…

…..anyway…the first movie on Brandon’s itinerary started at high noon, so we sat out early in order to grab some food before showtime. First stop, Maple Street Biscuit Company (full review coming soon). We enjoyed a hearty breakfast with about an hour to spare.

We discovered a newly opened pinball museum adjacent to Maple Street Biscuit Company, and found that at $12, you could play as much pinball as you could stand in a day. It was even ‘come and go’ – that came into play later when we ventured back downtown and had another hour to kill in between.

We dropped Brandon off at the festival around noon, and went on to the hotel to check in. We weren’t there for long before we decided to check out the Chattanooga Zoo. It ain’t much – I’ll level with you guys. But, it was still a good way to kill a couple of hours, and at just $11 a pop to get in, why wouldn’t we try it out? We watched a live chimpanzee training session, marveled at the red panda, and sat and played with the jaguars (with a pane of glass between us) for what felt like forever.

From there, it was up Lookout Mountain to Rock City, where we spent another two or three hours exploring and resting at Lover’s Leap with some cold adult beverages. Brandon was seeing four films on Saturday, so we killed some time with another round of drinks and appetizers at The Honest Pint.

We couldn’t risk getting full because Brandon was getting out of the festival shortly, so we paid our tab and went BACK to the pinball museum. Since we all kept our bracelets, we walked right in and played for another hour before it was time to pick Brandon up.

Then, it was on to Community Pie for dinner – it was Sangria Saturday, so you know we were in on that. Two glasses for $7? Are you kidding me? I indulged in the sweet fig pizza while Brandon and his girlfriend ordered the vodka pie. Nothing new for me – Community Pie is one of my favorite spots in town.

We strolled through a showing of The Creature from the Black Lagoon at Miller Park, where the four of us stood and watched the ending. My girlfriend has been talking about Matilda Midnight for the last…like….three trips…we’ve made to Chattanooga and she succeeded in taking us there Saturday night.

I’m not going to ruin the experience for everyone – the ambience and decor of that place is wild and well worth the price of a drink. I just made the mistake of ordering something that sent my stomach into a tailspin – something with espresso bourbon and an egg white. Maybe just stick with beer next time.

At that point, it’s past midnight and we’re all dog tired. Back to the hotel for a good night’s sleep.

We went to Brewhaus, my absolute favorite spot in Chattanooga, for an early lunch before dropping Brandon off for Day 2 of the film festival. Then, we did some light shopping in the area – I came away with a new pair of sunglasses and a couple of books.

After that, we scoped out the 4 Bridges Art Festival, and holy shit – the creativity of this town never ceases to amaze me. What an excellent way to spend a couple of hours….even if I am too broke to buy any actual art. We drove up Lookout Mountain again…this time, just to ride around and look at all the marvelous houses we will never be able to afford.

By that time, Brandon was wrapping up at the festival. So, we made a pit stop at Clumpies (banana puddin’ milkshake, y’all), fueled up, and made our journey back to Nashville.

Kind of insane how busy this trip was and yet it still felt like we were gone for at least four days.

So, to recap….that’s Maple Street Biscuit Company > pinball museum > zoo > Rock City > Honest Pint > more pinball > Community Pie > movie in the park > Matilda Midnight’s > Brewhaus > shopping > Four Bridges Art Festival > Lookout Mountain > Clumpies > home in time for dinner and Game of Thrones. All within 24 hours.

There’s just such a great laid back vibe to the city to begin with, but when you can pair that with a loaded slate of activities, man – you just can’t beat it.

CHATTANOOGA CONTENT ARCHIVES

Brewhaus Review
Chattanooga Film Festival 2018 Film Ratings
Chattanooga Film Festival 2018 Recap
Clumpies Ice Cream Review
Tremont Tavern Review
Urban Stack Review
We Went To Chattanooga And Left A Piece Of Our Soul There (2017)

Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD and #BeBetter. “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, Alabama Crimson Tide football, the WWE, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley

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