Travel Chattanooga:

 Big Time Fun with Small Town Charm

by Flo Conner

Pardon me, boys, but there's more to Chattanooga than the Choo Choo. No offense to the southern city's claim to fame, but this small town in Tennessee has put a new song in the hearts of visitors. With so many fun things to see and do, it's such a toe-tapping good time that visitors often find themselves mingling with locals parading as hometown tourists.

What's nice about visiting a small town is that everything is within close proximity. Chattanooga's top attractions --- the Tennessee Aquarium, IMAX 3D Theater, Creative Discovery Museum and the Tennessee Riverpark --- are all within walking distance, as are a wide selection of shops and restaurants. And those that are not --- the shops of Warehouse row and Frasier Avenue, the Chattanooga Choo Choo and the Bluff View District --- are a few minutes' ride aboard the city's innovative electric shuttle bus.

Visitors can also rent bikes at the newly opened Suck Creek Cycle and peddle around the mostly flat downtown area. Across the Walnut Street Bridge (the world's longest pedestrian bridge) is Coolidge Park, where kids can ride on one of the gaily painted horses on the city's new riverfront carousel. Grown-ups with a desire to regress can rent a bright red "monster" cruiser, whose seven-foot length and three-foot high wheels make any adult feel like a kid again.

But don't forget to be a tourist; some of the city's most touristy spots are still the most fun. At nearby Lookout Mountain, visitors can ride the world's steepest passenger railway on their wat to Point Park and the Battles of Chattanooga Museum, located on the site where the Civil War's famous "Battle Above the Clouds" was fought. And the smiles get bigger at Rock City, where gnomes and other fairyland creatures mingle with fantastic rock formations, a swinging bridge (test it, if you dare) and a view that spans seven states. The red, yellow and orange-colored lights may not be real, but they nicely illuminate nature's masterpiece at Ruby Falls, a 145-foot waterfall located 1,100 feet underground.

Back downtown, families could spend and entire day at the world's largest freshwater aquarium. The Tennessee Aquarium boasts 9.000 animals --- including catfish the side of small sharks --- tow living forests and lots of hands-on contact with critters. If you're lucky, you'll visit on the day divers feed the piranhas --- they haven't lost one yet --- divers, that is.

Where else can kids be archeologists, artists and musicians --- all in one day? It's easy for children to be that and more at the Creative Discovery Museum. They can uncover the bones of a dinosaur in the field laboratory, toot on a tuba inside a working recording studio and create their own Andy Warhol-style self-portrait using state-of-the-art computer programs. Adults are invited to explore new career options as well.

When you're done for the day, it's only a hop, skip, and a jump to one of Chattanooga's most popular hotels: the Chattanooga Clarion. The hotel recently won the coveted Gold Hospitality Award, presented annually by parent company Choice Hotels International to hotels that exceed the chain's rigid quality assurance standards.

The high-rise hotel is well placed for AAA members, who can park in the ample hotel lot and walk to downtown attractions. The on-site lounge and restaurant are popular with locals and visitors alike, while families congregate beside the outdoor pool or enjoy the fully equipped workout room.

AAA members get automatically upgraded to business-class accommodations as space allows. In addition to king-size or double beds, work areas, irons, ironing boards and hair dryers, business-class rooms feature spectacular views of downtown attractions.

Flo Conner is a freelance travel writer whose travel writing has appeared in Meeting Professional, the Boston Globe, AAA Going Places, Successful Meetings, W Magazine, For the Bride, Streetmail and other consumer travel and business travel trade magazines.

Published in AAA Going Places Magazine