High Point Climbing and Fitness

Here's my twelve year old son's impression of our time at High Point.

My whole family went to High Point Climbing and Fitness for our Gotcha Day, to celebrate the day we adopted my little brothers. High Point is a great place to climb. It has a lot of climbing walls, and it’s not too expensive. High Point is the perfect place to go if you are a young child or a strong adult. The best things about High Point are that it’s a big place, it’s in a very convenient location, and it has many different levels of climbing. Our family stayed there for about three hours and everyone enjoyed climbing the whole time.

PICNIC? no 

SWIMSUIT? no

COST? 

                       Adult    $16

Child 10 & Under /Personnel/Senior$14

                Plus $5 each for climbing gear

If you have an aquarium membership, there is a discount. There are also coupons available through school coupon booklets.

PLAYGROUND? It is one big play ground!

AUTHOR'S RATING? four out of five stars!

HOURS? 10am-6pm

Closed Major Holidays

High Point Climbing and Fitness is in a huge building. It has an entrance room, a kid room, a pit, a bouldering area, and lots of other walls. The pit has the highest walls because they start lower. The kid room has at least fifteen walls and a small bouldering area. Last, but not least, it has several outside walls climbing up the side of the building. All of these things are bigger, taller, wider, and more spacious than they even seem. When I was there, I climbed walls in the kid room, the pit, and even the outside walls. I think my favorite was the outside walls because they’re so tall but not as hard as the ones in the pit.

High Point is right in the middle of Chattanooga. There is a parking garage right above it and restaurants all around it. For dinner the night we went, we ate at a pizza place called Mellow Mushroom that was right next door. There is even a movie theater about a block away. Best of all, the building is just the right shape for lots of climbing walls. If you live or visit anywhere in Chattanooga, it is an easy drive because it is in the middle of everything. High Point couldn’t be in a better place or have a more convenient building.

High Point has all kinds of different levels of climbing. There is a room of fun and easy climbs just for kids. In the front room there are some climbs that are easy but challenging for beginners. The really challenging climbs are in the pit and behind the pit. Outside the walls are tall and they have easy and hard climbs. There is also an extremely hard bouldering area for ages 14 and older. The climbs are graded from 5.5 (easy) to 5.13 (really, really difficult). Every climb has a different level but everything is still really fun. The hardest climb that I did, I used rocks from both a 5.10 and 5.11 climb.

High Point is one of the best climbing places ever. It has huge rooms with plenty of space. It’s right in the middle of downtown Chattanooga, and it has a lot of easy, medium, and difficult walls to climb. The oldest person in our family who climbed is 38 and the youngest is six, and everyone who climbed loved everything they did. I enjoyed it so much that even though it’s only been three weeks since I climbed there, I want to go back again as soon as possible. 

Note from mom: All climbs are belayed (you and your child wear a harness that clips in). A few of the climbs are manual belay (you have to have help from someone who can hold your belay line) but most of the climbs are automatic belay with a motorized pulley at the top. This makes the inevitable falling (and the trip down when you're done) safe and fun.

{map for High Point Climbing and Fitness}

Tellus Science Museum

On I-75 70 miles outside of Chattanooga, in the middle of seemingly no where, there is an interesting building off to the right that for many years I either wondered about or just ignored. Finally our family checked it out, and it is amazing! We've been many times since then and have been members of it or a reciprocal museum for 5 years now.

PICNIC? yes! 

SWIMSUIT? no

COST? 

Adults: $14 + tax

Children (3 – 17): $10 + tax

PLAYGROUND? not really, 

but the "My Big Back Yard" room is very play ground like

AUTHOR'S RATING? five out of five stars!

HOURS? 10am-5pm

Closed Major Holidays

We love that the scale of the exhibits when you are in the parking lot and when you first walk in is

BIG.

We love the dinosaurs (although we often remind ourselves that, even though the information on the dinosaurs speaks as if the scientists are absolutely sure of their dates and facts, all they can do is make some educated guesses.)

Don't miss the panning for gems room that is located on a hallway branching off the transportation room. We didn't visit this our first time and really missed out! You get to keep a little bag of the real gems that you find! Behind the gems room is a dinosaur dig room where you can keep one fossil that you find. 

The transportation room goes from bicycles and buggies to space and aeronautics. We love it!

There are great picnic tables (under a huge pavilion) outside for picnics, and we often end our morning at Tellus enjoying food brought from home out there. 

{map for Tellus Science Museum}

Foster Falls

PICNIC? yes! 

SWIMSUIT? yes!

COST? none

PLAYGROUND? no

AUTHOR'S RATING? five out of five stars!

HOURS? sunrise to sunset

Last summer we took family to Foster Falls to hike and see the falls. 

Here's the map of the trails around the pool where the falls are. The big loop is a really long trail. We hiked from the parking lot to the right around the pool and made it to where the two trails get very near. (That was about a mile away from the parking lot.) There is a way to get from one side to the other there, but you have to do some pretty advanced climbing/scrambling. We hiked to the right of the circle first,

and found a great stream to start our wading in and to eat our picnic by.

The kids caught crawdads.

We hiked more around the rim and then backtracked around to the falls.

The hike down to the falls is a rocky staircase,

and a cool swinging bridge.

The falls are amazing! I wasn't planning to swim, but got in the water anyway. All of us swam under the falls, which is extremely exhilarating. The kids swam across and under the falls using swim rings. The water is COLD, but refreshing, and being out in the middle of the pool with the cliffs going up around you is am awe-inspiring experience. 

{map for Foster Falls}

The Pumpkin Patch

PICNIC? yes! 

SWIMSUIT? no

COST? none

PLAYGROUND? yes

AUTHOR'S RATING? five out of five stars!

HOURS? sunrise to sunset

When it comes to creative, exciting, fun-for-everyone kinds of playgrounds, you can't beat the Pumpkin Patch on Signal Mountain.

From the winding woodsy trails, to the tire dragons to the hillside slide, everything is a fun discovery and adventure for many different ages of kids. And you have to love a playground that has "Be kind" as its first rule!

This playground is always in the shade and with the elevation, pretty cool for most of the summer. The trees do bring in the bugs, so be sure to wear some spray!

I love the picnic area at this playground. It is close to the action, but very picturesque.

Put the Pumpkin Patch on your summer bucket list!

{map for the Pumpkin Patch}

Camp Jordan Park and Arena

The kids and I were at Camp Jordan for a 5k Color Run and festival on Saturday and we were surprised to see some big changes. There is one of the most interesting play structures I've seen on the far side of the park right next to a new restroom. (Hooray for lots of restrooms in large parks!)

When you add that play structure to big open fields, a 2 mile hiking path, a huge event arena, a picnic pavilion, a fishing/duck pond, and a disc golf course (coming soon) you get what I would say is a major force in the Play Chattanooga world!

PICNIC? yes! 

SWIMSUIT? maybe, when the weather is right and you don't mind your kids wading in a muddy creek

COST? none

PLAYGROUND? yes

AUTHOR'S RATING? five out of five stars!

HOURS? n/a

For information about hosting events at Camp Jordan, go to

East Ridge Parks and Recreations.

{MAP FOR CAMP JORDAN}

Chattanooga Choo Choo Model Train Museum

The Chattanooga Choo Choo is not just a song or an icon of our fun city; 

it's also a great place to eat, play or hang out!

I've heard several people say that the Model Train Museum there is one of those hidden gems of the city--come and check it out!

You also might want the Chattanooga Choo Choo if you're looking to sleep in an old railcar, be sung to by a waiter, or walk in lovely formal gardens.

PICNIC? I don't see why not. I don't think I would go full out picnic, but hanging out in the gardens and having a picnic snack would probably be fine.

SWIMSUIT? no

COST? Model Train MuseumDaily at 11am, 1pm, 3pm, 5pm: $5/adults; $3/ages 3-12

Trolley Ride: $3/person

(Daily at 11am, 1pm, 3pm, 5pm)

PLAYGROUND? no

AUTHOR'S RATING? five out of five stars

HOURS? 

Sunday - Friday:  1pm - 6pm 

Saturday:             10am - 8pm

From its earliest days, Chattanooga was a river town. But in 1849 the first train arrived, and Chattanooga also became a town of the rails. In 1871 the luxurious Stanton House was opened to cater to the traffic of those rails. After its heyday the Stanton House was neglected and finally leveled in 1906 to make way for the Terminal Train Station, opened in 1909.

This train station bustled until the 60s and then closed entirely when the last passenger train passed through Chattanooga in August of 1970. It wasn't long (just 3 years) until The Chattanooga Choo Choo was opened as a hotel. Cincinnati Southern's engine was brought in to be the official Choo Choo and the bustle of the old railway days surrounds her in the yard of the hotel.

I've given the Choo Choo my highest rating because of its historical place in our city and its variety of entertainment and hotel options. Do you need train pictures of your toddler? A fun date idea? A fancy place for out of town friends to stay? A morning outing for your train-loving son? Shops? Garden background for prom/engagement pics? All of that and more can be found at the Choo Choo!

The Model Railroad Museum has a representation of Chattanooga, her attractions and her resources.

My kids favorite part of the model museum was the few interactive parts of the display. You could push a button to make the Incline Railway run or a lumber jack chop down a tree. They were enthralled!

{map for the Chattanooga Choo Choo}