Everyone has a favorite item they like to buy when on vacation. It might be a cool t-shirt or a tote bag or even a shot glass. My favorite vacation souvenir will always be a unique mug and Krissy enjoys collecting unique magnets to put on the side of our refrigerator. 

I started collecting them during our first trip to Jacksonville, FL for the Georgia/Florida football game. I currently have a mug for Amelia Islands, the Southernmost Point in Key West, the Bahamas, Miami, College Football Hall of Fame, and I’m slowly but surely adding to my collection. One cool mug that I’ve picked up recently is a clear Spongebob Squarepants mug from Ross that I couldn’t resist. 

For now, they are all in the cabinet above the coffee maker, but I’m quickly running out of accessible space to store them. I have about two free shelves at the very tip top of the cabinet, but I can’t reach them without grabbing a step stool. Similar to how a china cabinet displays really elaborate pieces of serveware, I aspire to get a cute cabinet to display my specialty mugs for all to see. I have a few options saved in my Dining Room Inspo Amazon list and most of them are either black or dark espresso brown with clear doors to match the dining room table. 

My most recent find is a mug that says Lookout Mountain - Incline Railway from our weekend getaway to Chattanooga, TN. Even though it was only a Friday through Sunday trip, we did a whoooooole bunch in such a short amount of time. 

We got there at about 1 PM on Friday and immediately went to eat at Buffalo Wild Wings for lunch. Then we found an off road trail to hit while we waited to check in to the hotel at 4 PM. It was raining so the truck got really muddy and it was awesome! The trail led us to a nearby attraction overlooking the Tennessee River. It was beautiful seeing the mountains and horseshoe shaped river. Thankfully it was nice and secluded since the weather kept most patrons away. 

After that, we drove back into town to check into the hotel. We stayed at The Chattanoogan Hotel in downtown Chattanooga, and it was close to a lot of eateries and whatnot. The room was pretty fancy. It had a shower with sliding glass doors, which I didn’t realize how much I liked until I experienced it. The only cons were the sporadic A/C, which we didn’t figure out until the day we checked out, and the fact that we had to pay to park on property. Other than that, the hotel was pretty solid in my books. 

I used to be a leave everything in my suitcase and just rumble around for things I need girl, but  I unpacked during this trip just to see how it was and I liked that method waaaaaay better. And it makes it incredibly easier to pack when leaving. I used the hour of free time we needed to burn to unpack all of our clothes and set up the bathroom with our hygiene stuff since I seriously didn’t want to do it when I was tired later that night. 

We left roughly around 5 PM en route to a sunset cruise down the Tennessee River. We were on the top of a three story boat, but there were loads of children yelling, screaming, and playing in our vicinity. A light rain shower came but thankfully it was pretty brief. I was actually surprised by how far down the river we went. We’ve been on sunset cruises before, but I feel like this one was legit an hour and a half in duration. The other ones seemed shorter and not as far, but that’s what keeps each boat ride interesting and unique. 

After the boat ride, it was time for dinner. We got a Groupon for a large pizza and two drinks from this eatery close to our hotel. Krissy was going to park in the parking lot directly behind the eatery, but the price was literally $12. Instead of paying that steep fee for at most two hours, we parked at our hotel and just walked the ten minutes to the restaurant. I noticed that the streets were really clean and didn’t seem to be too busy, but there were definitely some weird intersections throughout the city. We got a Nashville hot chicken pizza and it was so good but so hot. I couldn’t finish my last slice but Krissy finished all four of his. We watched LSU come from behind to win over Virginia Tech in the NCAA women’s semi-final game while we were there. 

Saturday started with us going to a rather busy (but surprisingly efficient) Waffle House for breakfast. Then we ran to Wal-Mart for some bottles of water before we took a passenger train ride to a working railroad depot. I think that was one of the only times I’ve been on a passenger train and I can see why it takes so long to get from destination to destination. We lucked up by sitting in the train car with A/C and not the one with the natural breeze. The conductor gave us a history lesson over how the tracks in the area changed over the years and some recent repair jobs they’ve completed. We also got to see how the engine turns around and changes directions. 

After that, I believe we ate lunch at Chick-fil-A before heading to the Incline Mountain excursion on the other side of town. The line was obnoxiously long and they were having mechanical issues, but the views were to die for. I picked up my latest mug from the gift shop at the top of the mountain and then we hustled to make it to our first men’s soccer game. We watched the Chattanoogan Wolves lose in the bitter cold, but it was a really fun time. For dinner that night, we ate at Twin Peaks (if you know, you know) and I got some delicious fish tacos while Krissy got an order of wings. 

We safely got home on a sunny Sunday and didn’t get stuck in too much traffic until we were literally 20 minutes away from our house. We even stopped at Bucee’s on the way back and it was packed! That location could’ve been a whole bunch bigger because it was a struggle getting in, getting gas, and getting out. And, of course, we’re already planning our next adventure away from home. 

Signed, 

Jessica Marie