Chattanooga visit

I was in Chattanooga Monday through Wednesday of this week. I didn't have high expectations of the town, but boy was I wrong! I went for an audit of a chemical manufacturer with my manager, Scott and a director of Quality from the UK, David. David arrived the day before us to deal with jet lag and when we arrived around dinner time on Monday, still did not have his bag. The poor chap was wearing a Chattanooga Choo Choo T-shirt, blazer, pants and sneakers when I met him!

We took him shopping and ate at the Big River Restaurant on Monday night. I also didn't have high expectations for the mall, after all the girl at the desk told us to either go to to Hamilton Place Mall or Wal-Mart. David seemed more like a mall kind of guy so we headed there. Again, I was pleasantly surprised! We entered through a store I'd never heard of, but I would have loved to shop around - it was a department store just for women called Belk! We also had to find a Wallgreen's so he could get deodorant and those types of things. While waiting int he car we saw across the street, a huge building with a neon sign stating it was an "Amputee clinic". We wondered if there were really that many amputees in Chattanooga to warrant an entire clinic! Anyway, we stayed at The Chattanoogan and as you could guess, I wasn't expecting much. Again, I was pleasantly surprised, my room looked just like the one on the website!

The audit, while exhausting, went well. The people at the company were very receptive to our suggestions and super nice. The company sat just below a high cliff where there was a Civil war battle and now there is an inclined railway and other attractions.

The site hosted us for dinner on Tuesday night. It was the nicest meal I've had yet while on business. We went to the St. John's Restaurant, where I didn't know what half the menu items were! We enjoyed ourselves in true southern style, slow, not rushed, taking over 3 hours just because we were having fun. I got a kick out of our British friend, he had been to some amazing places and has funny stories to boot (I guess the accent always helps too)! I had Maine Lobster and Parsnips soup (I later found out I liked parsnips but had no idea when ordering) and a Kobe beef dinner. Of course I had a Chocolate dessert - Chocolate molten cake. Everything was super! David was overjoyed with the service and time spent on the meal "Not anything like the rubbish service and rush you get in Philadelphia, yeah?"

The second day of the audit again went well and our flights home went off without a hitch. Too bad I didn't have more time in Chattanooga, the little town that defied all my (low) expectations!