Our 8 hour adventure in Choo-choo to the Nooga!

So, Tara, my sister Amanda and I decided to have one last crazy adventure together under our alias: Tayhaymaysteenster.  Yeah, I know it's a mouth full!  We decided to let the wind blow us up North and we ended up in Chattanooga.  Or as we have begun to call it:  Choo-choo to the Nooga.  (We have a tendency to nickname EVERYTHING!)  The day started out gorgeous...blue skys, big billowy clouds, and VERY hot!  Our fun day started off like most of our fun days do....awkward.  We went to eat some mexican in Canton before heading north and found that it wasn't very mexican.  Tara's dish was supposed to be veggie fajitas.  Now, I don't know about you, but I never seen carrots, squash, and zucchini in a mexican dish before....I'm just saying.  So we get to the Nooga alittle later and find it to be scorching hot.  Like a ninny, I'm the only one wearing jeans and see that I'm not going to last another hour.  So we stop by this cute little shop called "World Next Door."  FYI: LOVE this place!  It had all of these amazing things made in other countries and the proceeds went right back to the countries that made the items, like Kenya and Ghana, etc.  Shout out to Nathan and his wife that own the shop, and thanks for making our trip completely memorable!  So I bought a beautiful, colorful, very light weight skirt and changed.  Much better.  Now, I am telling you this story because the skirt comes into major play later in the day!  We just walk around soaking up all of the beauty in the Nooga.  There is incredible architecture there...New, modern buildings mixed with the older historic looking shops, it's really nice.  We have fun wading in the little pools around the aquarium, sitting by the river, going to candy shop and finding the world's largest jawbreaker (another blog for another day,) eating some great ice cream and sorbet.  All of the sudden, within like 20 minutes, the sky turned black.  Now when I say black, I mean so dark grey that certain clouds were almost seriously black.  We knew a storm was coming so we decided to be little dare devils and sit by the river, eat some fudge and watch the show.  The few lightening bolts we saw strike were very impressive, and very intimidating!  Soon, it started to rain on us and when we couldn't take it any longer, we ran under covering by the aquarium.  When it started to let up, we decided to go eat some dinner.  So heading to the nearest pizzeria, all 3 holding hands soaking wet, (there we go with the holding hands again :) we are approached by a woman named Andy.  Now, Andy is homeless woman who walks the streets of Chattonooga and is known as the street poet.  She writes and recites her poetry to try to earn $12 a day for a place to stay that night.  We didn't have any cash, but thankfully, God showed us other ways that we could help her.  I really love it when God gives us the opportunity to live out what he has commanded of us.  Matthew 25: 35-40 sums up our experience with Andy.  

"I was hungry and you fed me,

 I was thirsty and you gave me a drink,

 I was homeless and you gave me a room,

 I was shivering and you gave me clothes,

 I was sick and you stopped to visit me,

 I was in prison and you came to me.

 Then those sheep are going to say, 'Master, what are you talking about?  When did we ever see hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you a drink?  And when did we ever see you sick or in prison and come to you?'  Then the King will say, 'I'm telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me- you did it to me."

We were all 3 very excited about meeting God in Chattanooga!  It was a great time we had with Andy, one I will probably never forget.  Just a funny side note:  We eat Thai for dinner and had another weird mishap with a dish.  2 words for you: nasty and feet.  Before parting ways with her, she told us about a large carousal that was on the other side of the river.  The weather was completely beautiful again at this point so we decided to go check it out as we are all about acting like kids!  We had a blast riding on a huge beautiful wooden carousal and laughing like children.  But we had even more fun frolicking in the huge fountain with some college students after!  We were soaked through and through!  SO fun... As we were walking back over the bridge back to our car.  I had a moment.  You know, one of those moments that feel unreal, like you are no longer in your real life, but maybe living a scene out of a movie.  It was mostly dark, just a tiny bit of sun peaking out over the mountains.  The lights had come on the bridge and carousal and on the aquarium on the other side.  We stopped to hear a musician playing his guitar and harmonica.  I was looking out over the bridge, eating some more fudge, just trying to take in the lights, city, music, and water below.  It was beautiful.  I love those beautiful moments.  We decide that 8 hours of adventure was enough for one day and make our way to our car to change into dry clothes.  As I am changing I notice that my entire leg and feet are navy blue, my hands are suddenly stained as well.  My undies, yeah,  no longer white...After getting wet, my handmade skirt from Africa dyed my skin, clothes, and Amanda's clothes a dark blue!  AAAHHG... I look like I had been severely beaten from my waist down!  It was really funny... especially considering I am writing this a full 24 hrs and 2 showers later, still blue!  Bottom line:  One of my top nites ever!  A GREAT adventure, one for the blogs in fact.  Tara, Amanda, you are the best partners in crime I could EVER ask for!  I love ya'll and thank you for the great memories!  CHOO-CHOO IN THE NOOGA! 

Pictures will soon follow!