Our marathon vacation all began because of my brother, Pete. He decided to get married in Florida. Since we wouldn’t miss it, we began to make plans. And the plans kept growing… and growing… and growing!

We left our house and start driving to Florida. Normally we drive straight through, but we decided to do things a bit differently this time. Jim planned a stop in Chattanooga for us. It was great. When we got there, the first thing we did was walk across one of the world’s longest pedestrian bridges. It is 2376 feet long and spans the Tennessee River.

Everybody looking at the views:

Jade continuing to check out the view:

Jade realizing everyone else is gone and running to catch up (it was a long bridge):

An interesting building lining the river:

River boat:

First thing we did when we crossed the river was ride the carousel. It is a wooden carousel that was created in 1894.

After the carousel, we went and checked out the park. Fletcher figured out how to float a soccer ball in the fountain:

Then of course Colter had to copy:

Then we got to pose on all the statues:

Brett took a minute to take a picture of a relaxing Mom and Dad:

When they got tired of the water, they played with frisbees for a while:

And then it was time to get dressed, drag our tired & hot bodies back across the 2376 foot long bridge (somehow the bridge grew longer on our return trek, I’m sure of it), climb back into the Hulk, and continue on toward Atlanta, where we were spending the night.

A VERY good first day of vacation!