Our Trip to Chattanooga
Back in late June, we took a short vacation to Chattanooga. It is only about a two hour drive which makes for the perfect length with a toddler! And what truly initiated the trip was that JoeCon 2018 was there. It was the final JoeCon, and with it being so close, I wanted Brad to go. It is something he always wanted to do. We wanted to go last year because it was at Disney World, but we skipped it because Brad was traveling for work. So this year was going to be our only opportunity, so we took advantage of it and made it a family vacation too! I plan to post more about our experiences individually, but below is our general trip report!
We left on Thursday after Melody finished gymnastics. We stopped and ate lunch on our way out, then we left with the hopes Melody would nap on the drive. Luckily she napped for at least a small portion which always helps.
We made it to Chattanooga around 2 pm their time. It was still too early to check in our hotel, so we parked and walked over to the Tennessee Aquarium. The aquarium was an easy and quick walk from our hotel. We bought our tickets when we arrived. We did the Ocean Journey first because it is our favorite side. We wanted to make sure we were able to get it done before Melody got too tired. We ended up being able to actually do both the Ocean and River Journey in an hour. Melody is still a little young to enjoy all parts of the aquarium, but she did seem to have fun.
After the aquarium, we headed back to our hotel to see if we could check in. Thankfully our room was ready, and we headed up to unpack. We got everything unloaded from our car and unpacked inside of our room. We stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn in a junior suite. We wanted the extra room so that after we put Melody to bed, we could still stay up if we wanted. It didn't have a door separating the rooms, but it still worked out perfectly.
We decided to go get dinner around 5. We wanted to get to the convention center between 6 and 7, so we decided to just eat at the hotel restaurant. I plan to write a review later, but it was not good at all. I do wish we would have tried another restaurant looking back at how the food tasted and how long the service took, but nothing can be done now!
After dinner, we went and grabbed a ride on the free electric shuttle. It was only a block away, and it was a great way to save time and money! We made it to the convention around 6:45. We found lots of people and long lines. We had to wait in one line just to get our passes for the convention (this took about two hours), then we had to wait in another line to get into the store. Melody did great though. We brought both the iPad and her Amazon Fire tablet. So she was entertained through it all. We even let her run a little bit too!
We finished up around 10:15 or so, and we caught the shuttle back to our hotel. While the bus is amazing, the driver did warn us that there may be some homeless people that come on board since it is free. It did have some sketchy moments, but all in all I would ride it again. I mean we rode it the entire trip to get to the convention center. Now I must admit, I would be slightly hesitant to ride it alone at night, but we were 100% safe during our ride.
Friday was going to be a full day at the convention. It was the only day that was exclusive to those who pre-registered, and we wanted to take advantage of the exclusivity. So we had a quick breakfast at the hotel restaurant before heading to the shuttle around 8:30. [Luckily we are Hilton Gold Members and got free breakfast; otherwise it was $11. I wouldn't have paid that, however. It was the same breakfast you get for free at other hotels minus the omelettes that they would make.]
We spent the first part of the morning in a panel. Melody once again did awesome thanks to the tablets!
Then we went and viewed the parachute drop.
After the parachute drop, we went to one more panel. Then we headed to grab lunch. I had read about a place called the City Cafe Diner. We headed towards it not knowing too much about it other than the menu and a few good reviews. It turns out it was part of a Days Inn. And by the time we got there, we had to wait about 30 minutes because it appeared everyone had the same idea we did. Unfortunately the food we received did not live up to the reviews I read online. Again, I plan to do a more thorough review later.
After lunch, we headed back to the convention even with Melody having a complete breakdown! We did some looking around the vendor hall, and we took a few pictures. Then we headed back to the hotel around 4:30.
We went and had dinner at The Blue Plate {AMAZING}, and we had dessert at the Ice Cream Show. I was able to snapped a few pictures on our walk between the restaurants and our hotel. Thankfully everything we did was within walking distance or a shuttle ride! It made for a much happier child.
JoeCon didn't have much that we wanted to do Saturday morning, so we carved out time to go visit the Creative Discovery Museum that was literally next door to our hotel {we shared the same parking lot}. We had another quick (and slightly busier) breakfast, then headed over so that we could be the first ones in.
They opened at 9:30 since it was summertime, and we literally walked right in. We received a small discount since we had our ticket stub from the aquarium, we received some wristbands, and off we went. Melody seemed to really enjoy getting to roam and play freely. It was nice to let her get to spend a few hours doing whatever she wanted since this trip wasn't entirely focused on her.
After nearly two hours, we decided to head to the shuttle so that we could get back to the convention in time for the other panels Brad wanted to see. We decide to eat lunch at the convention to save on time as well. We watched two panels (thanks to the Amazon Fire), walked through the vendor halls, and viewed the diorama room. We then waited out a massive storm before catching the shuttle back to our hotel.
We relaxed a bit before heading to get dinner at Bluewater Grille.
Then of course we had to go back to the Ice Cream Show. It was that good!
Even with the rain earlier in the day, it was a beautiful night. So we decided to take a walk on the Walnut Street Bridge. It was literally next to the Ice Cream Show, so it made perfect sense. Melody once again enjoyed the freedom of walking where she wanted. Of course, I am terrified of heights, so I couldn't walk the edges very much, but Brad and Melody enjoyed them.
We let Melody push her stroller some on the way back to the hotel.
Then off to bed!
Sunday we had to pack up and head out. On Saturday we contemplated staying Sunday night and not leaving until Monday, but we eventually talked ourselves out of it. We were just having so much fun, and I really wanted to go back and eat at The Blue Plate, ha! But really, we still had some time to spend at JoeCon Sunday, so we were unsure if we would feel super rushed. But luckily we didn't.
We slept in a little bit, then headed downstairs for a quick breakfast. After breakfast, we packed up our room, then loaded up the car. Melody was sure to pull her weight!
After Brad checked us out, we headed back to the convention center, but this time in our own car. We contemplated taking the shuttle, but it didn't seem worth it to make the round trip since we were going to leave directly after the convention anyhow. So we opted to park at the convention center and just pay for parking.
We went through the vendor halls again, and this time Brad bought Melody her first set of GI Joes!
We had a quick lunch from the convention center, then we relaxed while waiting on the last panel to start. Brad actually snuck back into the vendor hall to buy one last thing before the panel started. Then we watched the last panel before heading back home!
We had such a great trip to Chattanooga. Melody did so great not only at JoeCon but during the entire trip. We ate at some great restaurants (and a few not so great ones). And JoeCon was a huge success. Brad came out with lots of GI Joes, and some fun accessories too. And we generally love conventions too {Dragoncon and Huntsville Expo}. It's sad there won't be another JoeCon, but this was another good test for future conventions!
