1.19.2005 |  Chattanooga

posted by Jon
07:36 | SAY SOMETHING |







Back to the daily grind. I actually returned from my trip on Monday, but haven't had time to post since then. I was going to post last night, but it seemed like Blogger was down or something.

Anyway, the trip to Chattanooga and Lookout Mountain was very productive. Friday night Joe, Beth and I went to Greyfriar's Coffee & Tea Company in dowtown Chattanooga, then rented "Open Water" and watched it back up at Beth's house on the mountain. STUPID MOVIE.

Had lunch with a potential business prospect on Broad St. in downtown Chattanooga at a place called Big River on Saturday. Gained some much needed insight as well as a firm possibility of a future professional relationship. Had dinner with Joe and Beth at Macaroni Grill where I was informed that Tennessee doesn't allow "honor systems" such as the one Macaroni Grill employs with their house chianti. Joe and I went to some bar back downtown (to see Shawn Mullins) where we were subsequently told after spending about 30 minutes there that we were not welcome to stay. I won't elaborate.

Worshipped at Reformed Presbyterian Church up on Lookout on Sunday. The pastor, Kevin Skogen, and his family know the Benos, so that was kinda cool to find out. After worship, Joe & Beth, and Robby & Courtney Rayburn and I drove to this rather long house (also on the mountain) for lunch. The family that hosted us was very hospitable (complete opposite of my experience up in Moscow, ID, where my compadres and I spent our Sunday dinner at Subway), and served us an incredible meal. The head of the household was a fine and well-traveled Southern gentleman with a taste for the Great American West, and his lovely wife was a yankee transplant with a Belgian accent (she spent several years in Brussels - think Bianca from The Rescuers). All in all it was a very rewarding Lord's Day.

Not too much happened after that. Stopped in Atlanta briefly on the way down to scope out another coffeehouse and then just drove home. I love it up in Tennessee. The air is crisp and cold right now, but the vista from the mountain (and even of the mountain if you're down in Chattanooga) was beautiful and the people there are so kind it almost put LA (AKA Lower Alabama which is AKA Northwest Florida) to shame. But I'm glad I live in Florida, and VERY glad I live in the South.