Bell Buckle and Chattanooga

Well, once again we had a  fantabulous weekend!  We were going to go to NC to check out places for the Plan but, baby hughes has been, how do I put it.... less than agreeable lately.  So, a 7 hour car trip did not sound like a good time for Mommy and Daddy.  So, we decided to go to Chattanooga to the aquarium with a few stops along the way to antique... I mean, let baby hughes stretch his growing legs.  Our first stop was Bell Buckle.  That is right, Bell Buckle.  This little tiny town is adorable.  The above strip is pretty much it.  It is famous for it's Moon Pie and RC Cola festival... we are in the South people.  So, we went to the 4 antique shops here... some reasonable, some, not so much.

I want some of these vintage chairs and a glider.  I recently saw one that someone completely restored... so cute.  I like the rust too!

I really want to use one of these.... never mind that I have never mowed a lawn, let alone with one of these babies... some how, I don't think that Mr. Hughes will go for it.

We didn't take any photos in the affordable antique stores... too busy grabbing stuff!  This one was and antique store/ ice cream parlor... does it get much better?

Kicking myself for not getting these cafe chairs!

This place was an old pharmacy... the built in stretched across half the back wall.

Each drawer was labeled... LOVE these.  Not for sale!

Really cute booth...really expensive...

On the strip of shops going to the next one

This booth made me swoon!  These numbers were from an old grocery store that they left on all the shelves.  And, all of these booths were arranged by color, this was my favorite...

oh boy!

This was part of a church... I think it was reliquary...

drool, drool. drool,

Then we strolled around a little more after our lunch before we got back in the car to drive to Manchester.  Manchester's antique stores were disappointing.  So disappointing that we left the overpriced fine antique stores without taking photos.

We arrived in Chattanooga and had dinner and tried to keep our monster quiet so we wouldn't get kicked out.  He was in rare form!  The next morning, we got up early so we could go to the Knitting Mill Antiques before our time to go through the aquarium.  This place was HUGE!

I so wanted to take this chicken coop home for herbs... $35!  But we didn't have any room in the car.  I cried a little inside leaving this.

So, do you believe me when I tell you about the size of this place?  Now there were about 4 aisles like this, and here is the best part....

They had shopping carts, more than likely to allow you to spend mucho dinero, but it allowed for some hands- free shopping for Mommy. 

So much stuff to look at, I am sure I missed so much

More vintage goodness!

Then, we drove around the North Shore area and saw so many cute cottages and bungalows. We don't even have photos of the best ones... these are just few that we snapped so we could look them up on zillow when we got back to the hotel.  I have to tell you, I loved this area so much.  Like called a  real estate agent kind of love.

Alot of the houses were built up on stony hills.  It is very hilly in Chattanooga, so the yards were very small... the backyards either went up hill or way down hill.  All the houses were different from one another.  We even figured out where this one was and what is wrong with it.... terrible, junky neighborhood.  The main problem with Chattanooga is the crime.  Mr. Hughes (who has a knack for these things) figured that we would have a 1 in 25 chance of having our house or car broken into.  And, that just isn't the place for our little guy.

Then, we went to this place:

It is incredible!  They have built another building since I had been the last time.  We have a video instead of photos and I won't bore you with me saying..."oh my gosh, look at the turtle, shark, nemo fish...."

But, trust me, this aquarium is great! Two buildings:  the River Journey and the Ocean Journey.  They have a penguin exhibit along with a great jelly fish one too.  The butterfly exhibit was awesome and I even helped one escape (not on purpose.)  Very, very cool.  baby hughes loved the butterflies and the birds, but the fish were kind of lost on him after the first little bit.  He mainly liked the light up photos showing what kind of fish were in the tank.  

After we finished, we found a small pizza chain that we adore, Mellow Mushroom.  That is one thing I would miss if we moved too far away.... but, they do have one in Savannah too *wink*

So, there it is, another great weekend  I will try to get some photos this week of the small treasures that made it home with us.  Now, I need to go brush my monster's teeth!  Bye for now!