After a long day of driving, we finally got to my cousin Marcella’s house in Ootlewah. Tennessee is so great for having towns with such awesome names! She and her husband, Justo, kindly let us park in their driveway (we just fit!) for the night. The weather in Tennessee was a welcome break from hot and stuffy Louisiana and Florida.

Marcella took us all to breakfast Friday morning at a great place called The Farmer’s Daughter. It was screaming NE Portland in there, built out of an old gas station and serving up tasty, simple, local fare. After eating we made our way to the famed Walnut Street pedestrian bridge. Luckily, the weather held up for us.

Marcella is such a good cousin, she wouldn’t let us leave the North Shore area without stopping for ice cream. Her favorite place is called Milk & Honey, and we also give it two thumbs up! They are another locally sourced establishment, and the results are sweet.

We had just enough time after ice cream to get a glimpse from Lookout Mountain. It’d been too long since we’d been that elevated! There’s also an incline railway that brings train cars straight up the side of the mountain. Back in the day, it was the only way to get up and down.

Even though we only spent one morning in Chatt, we think we got a great feel for it. Marcella and Justo were excellent tour guides, and made the day even more stellar by sending us off with some delicious Peruvian food from Justo’s aunt’s restaurant. We left for Asheville feeling revived and ready for our trek into the Smoky Mountains.