Best Summer Vacation Ever - Tennessee

We chose Tennessee as our vacation destination for summer of 2009 mainly because it was one of two states my husband Brent hasn't been to. The other one is Alaska. We flew into Nashville, drove down to Chattanooga, went to Knoxville and flew back out of Nashville. It was hot, and we desert dwellers struggled with the humidity. The fabulous bar-b-que available everywhere definitely made up for the weather. And I didn't know it at the time, but my happy place was waiting for me in Chattanooga, TN. We had a great time in Chattanooga, eating a Father's Day rib feast at Sticky Fingers, seeing the world largest underground waterfall at Ruby Falls. We saw seven states when we went to Rock City, and bought a bird house that says "See Rock City" on it. And of course we did the obligatory stop at the Chattanooga Choo-Choo, although we weren't able to have dinner in the diner.

My favorite part of the whole trip was when we stopped by the Moon Pie General Store. In addition to Moon Pies and Moon Pie merchandise they also had Coke and Dr. Pepper memorabilia. The other half of the store is a book store, and in the back you can buy ice cream and soda in glass bottles. For me it doesn't get any better than eating a Moon Pie and sipping a Dr. Pepper while I'm surrounded by books.