Nestled in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, Chattanooga, Tennessee, just a couple of hours’ drive away from most cities in Alabama, is a perfect family get-away offering a plethora of fun and affordable activities for parents and children. To investigate, we sent our roving nine-year-old reporter Holland to Chattanooga during spring break.

ACCOMMODATIONS

The first stop was The Sheraton Read House Hotel, located in the heart of Chattanooga and blocks away from the Tennessee Aquarium, Discovery Children’s Museum, IMAX Theatre, and the Chattanooga Convention Center. The Sheraton Read House is Chattanooga’s only historic hotel and offers 241 newly renovated guest rooms and suites, each boasting its own scene of unspoiled beauty, luxuriously sensible amenities, and Southern charm. Families will enjoy the hotel’s indoor zero-edge pool and in-house restaurant, Porter’s Steakhouse. Porter’s, famous for its sumptuous steaks and coastal cuisine, serves breakfast, lunch and fine dining options daily.

THE SHERATON READ HOUSE HOTEL
827 Broad Street
Chattanooga, TN 37402
423-266-4121
www.readhousehotel.com

ACTIVITIES
Next our teen reporter and her family jumped on the trolley and headed out to explore. By water, mountain, valley, and rail, Chattanooga offers more than 43 attractions for families to visit. Following are just a few; for more visit www.chattanoogafun.com.

1. Chattanooga African-American Museum & Bessie Smith Hall
Highlighting Bessie Smith, the Empress of the Blues who was born in Chattanooga in 1894, the CAAM has become a recognized educational institution for African-American history.

2.  Chattanooga Choo Choo
The Choo Choo complex offers several restaurants, retail stores, a ride aboard an authentic New Orleans trolley, and railroad museum. You can also sleep in a stationary traincar or eat at the Station House, where the servers sing for your supper.

3. Creative Discovery Museum for Children
Children can dig for dinosaurs, create art and music, invent science projects, or play in the new rooftop exhibit, the Rooftop Fun Factory.

4. Fat Cat Ferry & Water Taxi
Catch the Water Taxi that will take you to either the North or South Shores (depending on where you get on), or the Fat Cat Ferry, which will take you on a cruise along the Riverfront and around Maclellan Island, a bird sanctuary.

5. Incline Railway
Ride straight up the side of Lookout Mountain, called America’s Most Amazing Mile; the 72.7 percent grade offers breathtaking views through the roof and makes it the steepest passenger railway in the world.

6. Lake Winnepesaukah (seasonal attraction)
Family amusement park with over 36 rides, games, food concessions, paddleboats, miniature golf, and picnic areas.

7. Rock City Gardens
Features a 4,100-foot walking trail, massive rock formations, lush gardens, Fairyland Caverns, and a 200-foot swinging bridge, or see seven different states from Lover’s Leap.

8. Ruby Falls
Located deep within Lookout Mountain, 1,100 feet below the ground, lie water stalagmites, rock formations resembling an elephant’s foot or a plate of steak and potatoes, a 145-foot waterfall, the largest underground commercial waterfall in the world.

9. Southern Belle Riverboat
A 500-passenger riverboat offering lunch and dinner cruises.

10. Tennessee Aquarium
The Tennessee Aquarium takes visitors on a remarkable journey from the mountains to the sea. Discover amazing creatures in natural habitats, like stealthy stingrays, colorful reef fish, and tropical butterflies in the rainforest, or feel stingrays and harmless sharks in the touch pool. In the newest gallery, Penguins’ Rock, see macaroni and gentoo penguins waddle, walk, and dive into the water to rocket past you.

However, even if a child knows how to swim, he or she may not know what to do in the event of an accident. Moreover, children younger than one are also at risk of drowning. A program developed in 1966 by behavioral psychologist Dr. Harvey Barnett—Infant Swimming Resource (ISR)—has proven to be the safest, most effective aquatic survival swimming program in the world, and is being offered at St Vincent’s One Nineteen Health and Wellness and the Levite Jewish Community Center. ISR, which was featured on NBC’s Today show in May, teaches children as young as six months problem-solving techniques for surviving should they find themselves in water. It is a third layer of water safety defense, after constant eye and/or touch supervision of children in and around any body of water, and a four-sided pool fence with a locked gate.

The ISR program is a continuous course of skill development and refinement throughout the first six years of a child’s life. In the initial course, infants younger than 12 months learn effective posturing in the water to be able to roll onto their backs to sustain a floating position. After age one, children learn to incorporate the basics of the rollback and float along with swimming propulsion and flipping over to move through the water efficiently.  Refresher lessons are needed annually or every six months to maintain aquatic survival skills as a baby or child’s body changes. After age five or six, parents are encouraged to continue their child’s aquatic education through traditional stroke development classes.

ISR is taught by trained instructors who offer one-on-one, custom-tailored lessons to enhance the individual needs of each child. The instruction format is based on research within ISR that
concluded that the optimal learning for children is 10 minutes per private lesson with five lessons per week. Consistent daily lessons establish a routine with the student providing comfort and readiness to learn, and because ISR lessons are individualized the pace goes very quickly—a 10-minute lesson will fatigue most children, especially infants.

The registration fee for ISR is $105. Once the registration process has been completed online, a child’s medical history is reviewed. The instructor then individualizes any modifications necessary to make lessons as safe and as effective as possible for each child. Lesson fees are $85 per week which includes five lessons per week.

The Float and Rollback Class for children ages six to 11 months requires 20 lessons (about four weeks to learn rollback and float, including with clothes). The Swim-Float-Swim Sequence Class for children ages 12 to 72 months requires 30 lessons; children one year of age and older can be independently swimming in about six weeks. Each year following the initial training, one to two weeks of refresher lessons will be needed; the lesson fees are the same as above, while the returning student registration fee is $35. In addition, maintenance lessons are recommended for monitoring a child’s survival swimming skills, especially for children ages six to 24 months. These lessons are available throughout the season following the initial or refresher lessons and cost $15 per lesson.

A recent trip revealed an abundance of eco-tourism options and the latest in luxurious beach dwellings.

ACCOMMODATIONS

Turquoise Place is the newest high-rise on Perdido Beach Boulevard. It is comprised of two, 370-foot “turquoise” glass towers housing 400 three- and four-bedroom condominiums. The three-bedroom condos average 2,300 square feet, so families will feel right at home with the spacious accommodations.

Other amenities include a full kitchen lavishly equipped with Wolf and Sub-Zero stainless steel appliances, a dining room that seats six-to-eight guests, a spacious den with a gas fireplace, and on each balcony a Jacuzzi hot tub and outdoor gas grill kitchen. Parents of young children will especially enjoy the fourth-floor recreation area, which includes an indoor pool with swirl slide, an outdoor play system, and a lazy river.

FAMILY FUN

The Wharf

4550 Main Street

Orange Beach, AL

36561 877-942-7325

www.thewharfal.com

Another fairly new addition to the area is The Wharf, a prime destination for shopping, dining, and entertainment. Entertainment options include the Southeast’s tallest Ferris Wheel, movie theaters, and a 10,000-seat amphitheater hosting top touring music groups.

Ferris Wheel at The Wharf

Open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m.-10 p.m. and Sunday from 1 p.m.-8 p.m. Tickets are $4.

The Water Plunge at The Wharf

The Wharf’s newest entertainment attraction featuring The Hippo®, the world’s largest water slide, measuring 36 feet high, 47 feet wide, and 175 feet long. Tickets are $4.

The Wharf Adventure Zone

The Wharf Adventure Zone family recreation venue includes an 800-foot-long zip line and a 32-foot-tall ropes course. Zip line, $18; ropes course, $12; combo, $25.

ECO-TOURISM

Hugh S. Branyon Backcountry Trail

251-981-1063

Hike, bike, or take the guided golf-cart tour to explore the trail one walked by the indigenous peoples of Gulf Shores.

Gulf State Park

20115 State Hwy

135 Gulf Shores, AL 36542

800-ALA-PARK

www.alapark.com

The park’s 6,500 acres of land includes 2.5 miles of beach, three fresh water lakes, a nationally recognized scenic nature trail, a beach pavilion, picnic area, and a campground.

Sailaway Charters

251-974-5055

Take a 2-hour eco-tour through Longs Bayou and Wolf Bay with Capt. Skip. where you will see and learn about oysters, blue crabs, shrimp, and a variety of fish and birds in their natural habitat. Fun and informative. $25 per peson with 6 passenger minimum.