24 hours in Chattanooga, TN (Part deux)

July has been a busy month. Two set of families visited us in Chattanooga. The last batch of visitors was our cousins from Houston, Texas and Paris, France. We were their tour guides for five days, and had so much fun showing them our favorite places. Normally, we like to stop and smell the roses (we had planned to stop in Chattanooga for a week, and 11 years later, we are still here!), but on this particular day, we covered three attractions. It is a lot when you have young kids in tow; however, everyone was eager to walk, climb and swim.

We started the day with a tour of Reflection Riding Arboretum and Nature Center at the foot of Lookout Mountain. The kids enjoyed the treehouse and the native animals exhibit which includes an eagle, a bobcat, owls, wolves and sandhill cranes. Other activities offered here are a butterfly garden, hiking and canoeing. Summer camps were in full swing and we ran into some kids who had just finished playing in mud!

Bébé was fascinated with a sandhill crane napping

a cute treehouse awaited us

Admiring the beautiful horses

Next stop: Foster Falls. We stopped at Western Sizzler to load up on carbs and other scrumptious southern food (fried chicken livers, anyone?), energy needed for our hike down to the waterfall. We've never seen Foster Falls so crowded! 2-year old Zach got cranky and clingy. His poor mom had to carry him part of the way down and back up the steep and craggy rocks.

Fortunately, the last activity was a relaxing one, absolutely no work required. Floating on the river is the best antidote for a hot summer day!

Off to our favorite swimming hole

Enjoy the outdoors and the rest of the summer, y'all!

This post is shared on Through My Lens.

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