Walk and Eat - Tupelo Honey Cafe, Chattanooga, Tennessee

There's nothing like being slightly lost and very hungry in a strange city. As we wandered around trying to get our bearings we found ourselves in Warehouse Row. It looked like an interesting place so when we spotted Tupelo Honey Cafe we thought we'd give it a try. 

We didn't know it when we went in but Tupelo Honey Cafe is a chain with  several restaurants in the Southeast. According to their website the food is described as "New South Flavors" and goes on to say they serve "traditional Southern fare that is creative, inventive and satisfying scrumptious". 

Even though it was the lunch hour and they were pretty busy we were seated quickly. The waitress was friendly and brought our drink out along with warm biscuits and blueberry jam. I'm not overly fond of biscuits but these were good. Brown and crunchy on the outside and not too doughy on the inside. The blueberry jam was perfection! Tasted just like the jam I make every year. 

The menu was full of Southern things like shrimp and grits, Southern buttermilk fried chicken breast, beef and bacon meatloaf, Carolina mountain trout and Charleston Chicken Sandwich. Everything sounded so good it took a while to look over the menu.

 I opted for the Tupelo Farm Fresh Burger. I'm a sucker for a good burger so I just had to try it out. Especially when the menu said the meat was pasture raised, fresh never frozen, Black Angus beef.

The burger was big and juicy and cooked just right. Lettuce, tomato, onions, pickles and even with the Chef's special sauce I had to have my burger with mayo. This is the south y'all.

I opted for the Kale and Carrot Salad as my side which was surprising good. I was hesitant to order this at first because kale can be tough but I was trying to be good and add a little healthy green to my meal. It was actually pretty tender and tasty. 

Nancy ordered the Grateful Dead Black Bean Burger which she said was very good. I didn't get a taste of her burger but I did
sneak a few fries and they were mighty tasty. 

We had a nice experience at the Tupelo Honey Cafe. The food was good, the wait staff friendly and the restaurant was bright and welcoming. Lunch for one with water to drink was right at $13 not including the tip. A little pricey for a burger but I felt it was well worth it.

BTW...

Tupelo Honey

Did you know that Tupelo honey comes from bees that feast on the White Ogeechee Tupelo trees that grow in the swampy areas of Southern Georgia and NW Florida? To be labeled Tupelo the honey only has to have a floral content of 51% but the real stuff can be as high as 95%.

To try the real stuff you have to head to the swamps along the Apalachicola River valley in NW Florida. This area produces the purest Tupelo honey. You can even  attend The Tupelo Honey Festival which is held in Wewahitchka, Florida, (Just call the town Wewa like the locals) The festival is held annually on the 3rd Saturday in May. 

Fun Things to do on a Walk - Finding Street Art

One of the neat things about walking is that you get an up close look at what's happening around you. While visiting Chattanooga's North Shore we scooted through an alley and I was delighted to see that the walls were covered with what some would call graffiti but I consider street art.

This one in particular caught my eye...

Street art by J.W. Butts (mute0n) found in Chattanooga, TN

There were three electrical boxes that were all covered but the one in the center looked more composed, not just a random splashing of color.  I like the lady with the big hair, she kind of spoke to me as I walked by. 

When I got home and did a little research I found that this painting was done by southern artist, J. W. Butts. He signed his creation mute0n. 

BTW - we never would have seen this if we'd been on the bus. Click here to check out a few other things we saw while walking.

It always amazes me how much there is to see in the big, beautiful world of ours.

So park your car, get off the bus 

and use your feet to see what you can find!

I'm sharing my find at Monday Mural

Wednesday Walking - Walnut Street Bridge Chattanooga, Tennessee

This is where I share my favorite place I walked this week.

Even though I have an unreasonable fear of heights I love to walk over bridges. I prefer the bridge to have a solid floor. Not those iron grates that allow you to see down to the dark water but solid cement, asphalt or wood. Solid seems so much more secure. Or so I tell myself.

On a visit to Chattanooga we found just such a bridge with a lovely walkway made of wood.

Walnut Street Bridge

If you're ever in Chattanooga do like we did and take a walk over the pedestrian only Walnut Street Bridge. The bridge connects the lively downtown area with the artsy North Shore. At 2376 feet it is one of the longest pedestrian bridges in the world. It's also an easy walk with very little rise in grade. In other words you don't have to go too far UP to cross this bridge.

This was taken from the river walk underneath the bridge on the downtown side.

Construction on this wrought-iron and steel truss bridge began in 1889 and was completed 2 years later. The Walnut Street bridge was the first to connect downtown with the North Shore. The bridge served vehicles and foot traffic until 1978 when repair costs forced the city to close it. At one time the bridge was scheduled for demolition but a group with a vision for the city pulled together to save the old bridge. Today it is an important historic component in this lively city. 

The bridge is almost like a park. There are benches lining the raised walkway and large planters of colorful flowers. And people and dogs everywhere. 

This view was taken from Coolidge Park on the North Shore

Chattanooga is a beautiful city with many historical buildings, parks, the Tennessee River and of course a few bridges. The Walnut Street bridge was one of the favorite sites of the weekend.



Lace up and see where your feet take you today!

Why Walk? For the Joy

"Now shall I walk or shall I ride? 

'Ride,' Pleasure said; 

'Walk,' Joy replied." 

W.H. Davis

My sister in law and I spent the weekend in Chattanooga at the  Choo Choo hotel. This hotel is located in the original train terminal and you can even sleep in an restored Pullman train car.  We stayed in a regular room  because the Pullman cars only have a queen bed. We like each other but not that much!!! And to be truthful we got a pretty cheap Groupon deal on a regular room.

This  the front of the old terminal. It now serves as the hotel lobby.

Anyway the neat thing about this city is that they have FREE public transportation. The bus comes by every 5 minutes and you can hop on and hop off anywhere you like. Even so we decided to use our feet and walk the city.

We got lost along the way and had a heck of a time finding the visitor's center. The funny thing is if we'd had taken the bus like everyone else it would have dropped us off right at the visitor's center.  But what fun is that?

The nice thing about walking is that you get to see things that you might not see from the window of a bus. You really get an up close look at the city.

A few of the things we saw that we wouldn't have seen from the bus...

This was a neat little shop that was off the main street AND we found a geocache with a travel bug hidden here.

As we were walking we saw this sign for the Murder Mystery Dinner Show and decided to come back for the 7 o'clock show. BTW the food was delicious but I have to say the show was corny. Funny but corny.

We could have seen this fountain with the fireman on the top from the bus...

But we wouldn't have been able to read the sign explaining what it was for.

And we got a good laugh at this.  If only the shop had been open we could have walked in and bought some memory. Maybe it would have helped us not to get lost...

And finally the real joy that comes from walking. 

We split this and since we walked about 7 miles each day we didn't even feel bad about it.

Well, we didn't feel bad about the first piece of cake but the second piece, the cupcakes and the almond horns from the German bakery now that's another story...Not sure how far we'd need to walk to make up those calories. 

Next time you're in a new city, get off the bus and use your feet! You may be surprised at what you find.

Blue Monday - Seeing Blue in Chattanooga

Before leaving on a weekend trip to Chattanooga I ran across a link up at Smiling Sally's blog. Blue Monday link up where everything is BLUE! I put it in the back of my mind to find blue things in Chattanooga and I wasn't disappointed.

Walking is a great way to banish the blues it's also a great way to find some.

Here's a few of the blues I found in Chattanooga to share for Blue Monday...

The Houston Museum of Decorative Arts

Anna Safley Houston spent her life collecting husbands and art glass. Born in Evening Shade Arkansas in 1876 she spent her life amassing a huge collection of colorful glassware, china, antique dolls, furniture and music boxes. At the time of her death she had over 15,000 water pitchers in her collection. Just a small portion is on display in the museum. It's said that  even though she had a limited education she was a shrewd business woman who treasured her collection more than her personal well being. 

Anna was an interesting character. She was married and divorced at least nine times that can be verified. Her favorite husband was James W Houston who even though he wasn't wealthy he did own a pick up truck. The truck came in handy for Anna as she bought estates and large pieces of furniture that needed to be transported!

The museum has a collection of 44 "Gibson Girl" plates illustrated by Charles Dana Gibson. The Royal Daulton Works in England produced a set of Gibson plates entitled," The Widow and Her Friends". On the top left is the first plate in this series. It shows a woman who's just lost her husband. As the plates progress she's having a jolly good time going out and having fun. So much fun that her friends have to give her a talking to. The last plate shows her as she settled down and has become a nun. So much for having fun!

While walking in Coolidge Park along the Tennessee River we came upon this guy. 

Blueboy Pull Toy #1

A statue that was purchased by the city of Chattanooga for $32,500 from local artist, John Petrey.

And at the Tennessee Aquarium I found these beautiful blue jelly fish.

Click HERE to check out this post on the Walnut Street Bridge. It's also blue! It was my favorite place to walk in Chattanooga.

/

Walk and Eat - Cupcake Kitchen, Chattanooga, Tennessee

This should be titled I eat so I must walk!

Whether you sit and enjoy just one or get a dozen to go cupcakes are a sweet treat. We found a nice little cupcake shop on a recent girl's weekend that we just couldn't resist. 

My sister-in-law, Nancy, and I took a weekend trip to Chattanooga while the guys were off at a vintage motorcycle race. Friday she and I took an extended walk around downtown  just trying to get acclimated to the area. And what do we happen to run across?

The Cupcake Kitchen

We weren't even looking for it!

Since we're always interested in supporting the local economy we had to stop in to get a treat!

I had the Italian Cream cupcake and it was molto saporito! (very tasty)

The cupcake was good but what I really enjoyed was the icing. It was light and fluffy and not too sweet. The cupcake was also filled with icing. Toasted coconut and a pecan finished the tiny cake off just right. 

Nancy had the cookies and cream cupcake and she said it was very good. She didn't offer a taste so I can't verify that. Of course I didn't share mine either.

The glass cases were full of all kinds of tasty treats. More cupcakes than I can name as well as chocolate bark, cake truffles and chocolate covered strawberries, pretzels and even chocolate covered marshmallows. They also make special order cakes. Everything in the shop looked so good it was hard to make a choice.

The shop was tiny with only about 5 tables for those who wanted to sit and enjoy a treat. Most people coming in left with boxes full of goodies. 

We ended up walking about 6 miles so I guess a tiny cupcake didn't do too much damage.

I always try to think positive.

If you're even in Chattanooga stop in at the Cupcake Kitchen and 
then take a walk around the city.