In keeping with the reasons why I love all things fall, our very first anniversary was Sunday! You only get one 1st anniversary, so I tried to take as many pictures as possible. (I have recently become terrible at documenting my life in photo-form.)
This gem is brought to you by Pinterest. Because I totally forgot to bring the big framed wedding photo like you see here, we resolved to print one off at Walgreens and do it anyway. I think this is a quality memory. Totally worth narrowly-escaping a nose-diving flock of pigeons on the pedestrian bridge (and Craig getting pooped on by one of them). I am thankful that Craig is an enabler when it comes to cheesy things like this (his idea to print the picture at Walgreens).
We inadvertently stayed at the Chattanooga Choo Choo due to our adventure with Priceline. If you haven't used Priceline before, it's awesome. The only catch is once you specify your price & your star-level, you get what you get. We'd had great experiences with it so far. Lesson learned: wait until closer to your trip dates to book via Priceline. The Choo Choo may take their throwback feel a little too literally. (All I'm saying is a fresh coat of paint and non-vinyl tablecloths would've gone a long way.) But we had fun and enjoyed the experience anyway.
Making sure to hit up all that the 'noog has to offer, we visited the Tennessee Aquarium on Saturday. I was most fascinated by the jellyfish. Seriously, they have no faces. Yet they are animals. What is their purpose? What would they feel like if you wouldn't get stung in an attempt to find out? Mind blown. I know I could have easily thought about these questions before now, as I have long been aware of the existence of jellyfish, but I was entranced by these things for at least 5 full minutes. At each tank.
Also the penguins were awesome, despite my friend Jason's assertion that they are useless. If for no other reason, they exist to bring joy to millions and inspire many adorable animated movies. How is that useless? I had fun watching them from behind the glass and narrating what I imagined them to be thinking. I don't think Craig found it nearly as amusing as I did.
We got a free milkshake at Urban Stack (delicious, by the way) because our sweet waiter found out it was our anniversary. He brought one to us and it just happened to be s'mores flavored. Divine intervention, I tell you. These camp people couldn't have been happier. It had real toasted marshmallows in it. [Drool.]
We stopped by Rock City on the way home Monday, which, by the way, is totally worth it. The 2904 signs you see along I-24 are not lying. The weather was perfect, and the trail was beautiful. Plus we supposedly saw 7 states at once. So, there's that.
Craig and I love going on trips just the two of us--in fact, a lot of our favorite memories are our experiences exploring new places together. We have similar modes of travel and really enjoy just getting to do whatever we want with no rigid agenda. It's always such a sweet time of reconnecting and sharing an adventure, and this one was no exception. We had a great time Sunday celebrating and reflecting on our first year and talking about goals for year 2.
What other places should we visit for future trips?