Hit the road today around 8:45 so we could make it to Mass in Birmingham, Alabama. We went to the 11AM Mass at St. Paul's Cathedral in downtown Birmingham. A baby girl was baptized so we didn't get out of church until 12:20. St. Paul's was small by cathedral standards, but beautiful, with the usual flying buttresses, marble and iron work, and many stained glass windows. It was nice to see the tabernacle front and center behind the alter.The kids were famished by the time we got out of Mass, so I made sandwiches in the back like a crazy woman. We ran out of bread, so poor Mom and Dad had to stop at a Krystal for lunch.
Now, neither one of us had ever eaten there before, David says it's kind of 
cultish," so I figured hey, why not try something new, since the only other place close by was Whataburger. So we got burgers, a chicken sandwich, and a very good key lime pie milkshake (yum).
We had to cross the very northwestern corner of Georgia to get to Chattanooga, Tennessee. At one point, we were up on a high ridge, and the view was awesome-- Joshua's exact words were, "Wow, what a spectacular view!" Our kids have been deprived until now because Houston is perfectly flat, and the view is not impressive unless you've been to the top of the Chase tower downtown.
I wish we could have taken a long detour and driven down to Augusta GA, were I was born, but it's just too far out of the way, so some day we'll have to go back. David did indulge me when we crossed the state line, and took one picture of me under this sign (thanks honey!)
I'm going to go off on a tangent about Georgia. Yes, I love Texas, I've lived here for 17 years now, 11 of them in Houston. I can even slip some Texas twang in my non-existent southern accent if I'm around my red-neck family in Bryan long enough. But I miss Georgia somethin' fierce (see, it's already starting). Ya'll know I've lived in many different places being an Army brat, but no where else do people greet you by saying, "Hey!" Not, "Hi," or "Hello," or "Howdy," but it's always, "Hey...whatcha up to honey/sugar/darlin'/sweetheart." And anyone older than you is allowed to call you by any one of these endearments. And you'd likely answer with a "Yes ma'am/no ma'am/yes sir/no sir." It's just a Georgia thing (I think). Now you know why I have that song, "Georgia on My Mind" on my playlist. Sweet memories of Georgia, and it's not just the peaches either. Sigh...okay, enough reminiscing.
We got to our hotel--it's a Holiday Inn, but the official name is the Holiday Inn Chattanooga Choo-Choo. No, I'm not kidding-- here's a picture to prove it. I know you can't read the sign on the very top of the building, you'll just have to trust me. 
Now, you can stay in a regular hotel room, or you can get a reservation and sleep in an actual passenger car that they've converted into a hotel room for guests. Really neat, but likely too cramped for us and our 4 kids. After we checked in, we met up with Peter (David's younger brother), my sister-in-law Stephanie, and their four kids and went to the model train display which is on the hotel grounds. It's a huge set-up of model trains, and it's really neat. Here are some of the pics I took.
This was Joshua's favorite, the Toy Story Train. 
And here's a couple more pics.
Tomorrow we'll do some sightseeing and go explore a cave, so stay tuned! It is way past my bedtime, since we're on Eastern Standard time now-- good night!
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