Tuesday 4-10 Downtown Chattanooga

Visiting Downtown Chattanooga

Yesterday when we were driving around we changed time zones, now we're in Eastern which means we lost an hour. I stayed up until 2:00 reading a book, which was 1:00 my time. 

We had spent the night in a Walmart parking lot five miles from Chattanooga downtown because we wanted to do a few things in the downtown. We woke up to 47 degrees and sunshine. We weren't sure if we were going to ride the motorcycle to town or take the Minnie when we went to bed last night. We decided it would be easier to take the motorcycle. We had breakfast and then got the motorcycle ready to go. It was a little chilly. 

The first place we wanted to visit was Coker Tire. There were two tours, one at 10:00 and the other one at 1:00, we decided on the 10:00 one. We were a little early so we drove around the downtown. The tour was almost an hour and there were four of us. Steve was our tour guide. He took us around the showroom explaining the vehicles on display and what Coker Tire does. They collect old vintage tire molds and make vintage tires for collectable cars, they also collect vintage cars and restore them. Steve was very knowledgeable on the history of Coker Tire and the vehicles. They had their own mechanic shop for the vehicles to be restored. They build the wooden wheels on some of the cars in their own wood shop. The vehicles that were on display were vehicles they have rebuilt. The museum had a lot of beautiful cars, motorcycles and bicycles. It was a great tour and it was free. After the tour we walked around the gift shop. Steve recommended a place to have lunch, which was right next door called Southside Saloon and Bistro. The food was just ok but they did have great pineapple casserole.

Entrance to Coker Tire

Our tour guide Steve

The machine shop

The woodwork shop

Coker Tire Museum

The vintage motorcycles in the museum

Larry and I having fun at the Coker Tire Museum

After lunch we moved over to the Aquarium parking lot. One thing about downtown Chattanooga, it has a lot of parking but you have to pay. We ended up paying $9.00 for three hours. As we walked around we found out we could have paid $2.00 for two hours. Next time we'll know better. We walked around the downtown for three hours, a bit over five miles. We walked an old bridge that they converted to a walkway for people. It was a half mile long wooden bridge that went over the Tennessee River and the views were gorgeous. A lot of people used it for bicycling, running, walking and enjoying the great day.

On the other side of the bridge there were shops and a giant Carousel. Larry bought me a ticket so I could go for a ride. After my ride we walked around the park. The park had a fantastic splash park with lions, tigers and elephant fountains. Then we headed back to the other side of the river via the bridge where we walked around the art district and saw a lot of great sculptures. We walked through a small art garden that looked over the Tennessee River. It always amazes us to see the talent some of the artists have. When we were walking back towards the Minnie a couple of ladies were walking and told us that Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream was giving out free ice cream today. It was located right across the street from where we parked so we stopped by and got a free ice cream. Larry got the Bourbon Brown Butter and I got the Chocolate Therapy. They were both good. After eating our ice cream we walked down to the baseball stadium of the Lookouts, which is a minor league team. We looked to see if they were playing at home but they aren't until next week. Then we went back to the Minnie and called it a day.

Larry getting ready to cross the Tennessee River

A car bridge going over the river

Having fun riding the carousel

The splash park water fountains

A sculpture of a Great Dame giving me a high five

A father and son sculpture in the art garden

Ball room dancing sculpture

We spent the evening in the Minnie reading and relaxing. We had a super day visiting Chattanooga.