For the first time since December of 2014, Zach and I got to go on a real vacation! Originally, we wanted to head to Nashville, but we decided on Chattanooga instead. 

Honestly, vacationing in Chattanooga had never crossed my mind as an option. When I think of Tennessee, my mind automatically goes to Nashville. However, spending $150 a night for a hotel room, just wasn't an option. 

When we finally came to the realization that Nashville wasn't going to happen, we turned to the maps app on our iPhone. We zoomed out of Alabama and looked around in our neighboring states. Basically, we looked for big city names and then searched what you could do in them. 

Our options were still kind of limited though. I knew that with my illnesses, sitting in the car for long periods of time was too much for me. So we decided a four hour drive would be the max for us. I also knew that I wanted to visit some place we've never been before. We've already seen a majority of the east cost, so we didn't want to visit Florida or Georgia again. 

After finding Chattanooga on the map, and searching what they had to offer. We couldn't believe that we hadn't thought of it before. How did we not know about all of the wonderful attractions?!

Our minds were quickly made up, we were going to Tennessee! We took all of the appropriate measures, applied for leave, booked the hotel, and found boarding for the pup, and began planning our trip.

It wasn't hard to make a list of all the must see attractions. Our biggest struggle was figuring out where we wanted to eat. Normally, we end up going to the well known chain restaurants and a couple fast food joints. However, now that I'm a blogger, I wanted to explore a little more out of my comfort zone. So, I put it out there on social media and asked all of you where we should go and this is what came of it...

Day 1:

• Checked in to the hotel
• Explored the area
• Dinner at City Cafe Diner
• Planned our itinerary

Day 2: 

• Breakfast at Bluegrass Grill
• Shopped at Starline Books
• Chattanooga Zoo
• Lunch at the hotel
• Tour of Ruby Falls + gem mining
• Explored Rock City + gem mining
• Dinner at Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen

Day 3:

• Breakfast at Maple Street Biscuit Co.
• Tennessee Aquarium
• Lunch at Clumpies
• Browsed Blue Skies + Homegrown Silver & Stone
• Relaxed at the hotel
• Gem mining at Raccoon Mountain
• Relaxed at the hotel
• Fancy dinner at Hennen's

• Breakfast at Dunkin Donuts
• Hit the road

Ultimately, we weren't able to accomplish everything that we wanted to do, but we were able to do a lot. We originally planned to do more on the last day before heading home, but we were missing our fur babies. 

Overall, I'm incredibly happy with how our vacation went. It was much needed and much enjoyed. I can't wait to go back and see what else Chattanooga has to offer!

Have you been to Chattanooga before? Do you have anything to say about the places we went or recommendations for our next trip? I'd love to see them in the comments!