Tennessee Lodging Hunt - A Great Family Adventure
Why did we have to have a Tennessee Lodging hunt?
I still cannot answer that question, but I'm glad we did.
After the Fourth of July Independence celebrations, we decided to run
off to Tennessee. We had no plans for lodging - no reservations
whatsoever. For more than a moment, it seemed we would have to call it off
and go back to Georgia, but it turned out to be a great family adventure.
Normally it would not have been difficult making Tennessee lodging
arrangements at short notice. This time it was. We drove for two hours
to Chattanooga where we expected to find a nice two bedroom suite. We
needed to have some place with a kitchen, swimming pool, free high speed
Internet connection, and great rates. As we crossed the
Georgia-Tennessee border on I-75, we headed for the Visitors Welcome
Center. Oh, lots of promotional brochures with discount coupons made me
feel we would find the best Tennessee lodging in town. But our hopes
melted faster than a snowball in the hot July afternoon sun. The
Tennessee Lodging Hunt Begins
Combing through the pretty promotional brochures, Jean and I made a
list of about 5 hotels in the Chattanooga area that seemed to have all the
amenities we prioritized.
After my second call, we learned that there would be two big sports
events taking place in town on the weekend and all the hotels were booked
full. "Where are we gonna stay, dad?", my 8-year old daughter asked.
That question sparked a bitter debate about whether we needed to go
somewhere else in Tennessee, go back to Georgia and find some place to
camp out, or postpone our 5-day vacation. No agreement could be reached
on any other option but to find lodging in Tennessee - Chattanooga, in
fact. Everyone was bent on going to the I-Max theatre and the Tennessee
Aquarium in downtown Chattanooga. All the info from the brochures we got
at the Tennessee State Welcome Center did not get us anywhere, we decided
to drive around and find other hotels that may not have advertised in the
brochures. It was a long Tennessee lodging hunt. Soon the evening was
about to disappear. A mom, dad, and three kids in a double cab Toyota
Tacoma. All the space seemed to be taken up by the growing despair. Then
an Idea hit me. Kids on the Chattanooga Lodging Adventure
These guys were getting on our nerves. They seemed to want to blame us
for making our family adventure into a nightmare. So I decided to get them
more involved in the search. Why not? We drew up a table listing the
amenities we needed in any lodging accommodation - 2 bedrooms, kitchen,
swimming pool, free broadband connection, reasonable rate. I turned the
list over to our three kids and drove to each hotel we could find. We
had a pair of walkie-talkie (two-way radio) so we could keep in touch with
them as they went from the lobby of one hotel to another. They enjoyed
their survey. It was the perfect way to eliminate their boredom! Night
fell quickly over the Lookout Mountains. In almost no time it was dark.
Still no room - no where to stay. The Tennessee Lodging We Shouldn't
Have Found
Jean and I did well to stifle our discouragement, but the three kids
were enjoying meeting front desk personnel at every hotel.
They seemed to give
these scouts more attention than would be given Bill Gates wielding a
credit card. All three enjoyed the attention, the candy they sampled from
each lobby, and the fact-gathering. Soon they seemed to be the ones taking
us for a vacation.
Now it was dark. We were all tired. They had a long list of places
visited. They took good notes. Their stomachs were full of sugar, but they
did not find a place yet where they may brush the cavity-inducing sugar
from their teeth. It was time for dad to act. After all, I was a very
tired driver by then. I made the decision to dash for the Eastside
section of the city. Looking for any hotel advertising sign visible from
the Interstate 24, I was determined to take any place I could get - even
for one night. We pulled off the highway and found a Ramada Inn. It was
undergoing construction renovation and not many guests were there. We took
a room just for one night - all 5 of us caged on two double beds!
It was the dirtiest hotel room I have ever seen! Needless to say, no
one wanted to use the bathroom - there was dirt everywhere. It was a
nightmare.
That was the Tennessee lodging we shouldn't have found. End of Our
Tennessee Lodging Hunt
We vowed to find a nice place to stay for the next four days if we were
to have any sort of vacation. The place we spent the night was not the
kind of lodging that would make you want to sleep late. We checked out
early. On the road again, with lots of time, we set the youngsters to
work again. They narrowed their choices to a two room suite at Country Inn
& Suites. Although we never found a place with a kitchen, everyone had a
great time. You know your adventure vacation turned out right whenever
you hear your kids say, "Let's do it again soon, Dad." It was a great
Tennessee adventure for the whole family.
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