I have been busy the past week, with interviews and appointments. This has been giving me the opportunity to visit and explore more areas.
I was at Greenway Farms, a park in Hixson, Tennessee, which is about 15 minutes from our place. It’s a large park with hiking trails, a dog park, community garden plots, and an old restored cabin.
The cabin is host to events throughout the year. While I was there, there was a type of mommy and me class happening.
The cabin was built in the 1850s by Christian Sniteman. The Snitemans were a pioneering family of the area.
It was originally tucked back into the woods, but was deconstructed and rebuilt again back out in the open.
Last weekend was the Hamilton County Fair, located at Dallas Island at Chester Frost Park.
The County Fair was the first event I found when looking up events, right after we announced our move to Chattanooga. There is no county fair in Harris County, which is where Houston is located, (there are some further away in neighboring counties though) so I was excited to be able to go to this event.
It was a good sized event. It was much bigger than what we were used to back when we lived in rural Pennsylvania, though I will say that there were more vendors and entertainment compared to the amount of animals.
We enjoyed walking around and seeing the animals, the prize winning items, and the vendors. My favorite part of the day was watching the pig races. I grew up seeing pig races at the New Jersey State Fair, and I also saw them at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, but Derek had never seen them before.
We also found a new restaurant to check out in the future too. We were figuring out what to eat for lunch, and we noticed the Home Folks food truck. They were selling pulled pork sandwiches, and they were delicious! Derek also got the peach cobbler. It was hands down some of the best food we have ever gotten at an event like that. We looked at the Home Folks Restaurant online when we got home. They are located in Soddy-Daisy, and the menu looks great. It is nice to find new things to do by attending other events.
I would also like to go back to Chester Frost Park as well. The Park starts out on the mainland and then extends out into two islands in the Chickamauga Lake. Because it was on an island, we parked at the mall and took a shuttle over. It seems like a nice park, with walking trails, a beach and a campground too. We checked out some of the camping sites. Maybe that is something we could do in the future too.
Getting outside for sunshine and fresh air is key for me to have a good day, and a good attitude. We found a park that’s just down the road from our place.
The park is small, and isn’t anything special, but it’s good to have a space near by. It’s behind an elementary school. You have to drive through the school’s parking lot to get to the park’s designated lot.
The park has one large loop that goes in and around some trees, and through open green space too. I can do two loops in about 15-20 minutes.
Derek and I went once together, and then I went a second time on my own when Derek was at work, which leads me to a silly little story.
Derek usually leaves for work around 2-3 p.m. I headed to the park at 2:30… and promptly got stuck in the parent pick up car line! There were two lines forming, and cars came in behind me, so I was unable to get turned around. So I sat. And I sat some more. Finally the kids came out at 3 p.m. Not being a parent, it had not occurred me that the school would let out at 3, and parents would line up so early at 2:30.
Derek teaches a night class, and I’m at home for now until I find a job, so we have the morning and the early afternoons together. It’s nice that he has the time to spend with me, instead of when he was a busy student at the University of Houston, so we try to put most mornings to good use.
Last week I looked online for free things to do in Chattanooga, and we found Sculpture Fields at Montague Park.
According to sculpturefields.org, the park is 33 acres, and is the largest sculpture park in the Southeast. There are a couple of paths that go around over 40 large sculptures.
With both of us having art backgrounds, it was a place that we both enjoyed visiting
“Anchors” by Peter Lundberg
“Red Tree” by Ruth Midgal
“Temple Mayan” by Linda Howard
A wider view of the park and the paths, with Lookout Mountain in the background.
“The Least Amount of Space” by Jason Kimes
“Star Center” by Linda Howard
“Duke” by John Clement in the foreground, with other scattered sculptures in the background.
