Winter Lookout Mountain Visit
Our annual winter cabin visit was just as cozy as last year's. Funny enough, winter is definitely the "slow season" on Lookout Mountain. The area is very active in the fall, summer, and spring. The winter, however, does not draw in as many visitors which always shocks me as it is my favorite time of year to visit! Perhaps it's because we are coming from Michigan rather than the Southeast (where most of the travelers in the area reside). Winter on the mountain consists of crisp mornings, temperate (50s-60s) afternoons, and beautiful early sunsets (we love that we could catch them just before it's time to put Brooks to bed!)
Each family trip to Lookout Mountain becomes more fun as we have begun to find our "places" around town and create family traditions. While at home in Michigan, we often talk about the crispy potatoes at Canyon Grill, the pistachio croissant at Milk & Honey, and the evening walk we love along the golf course resulting in beautiful sunsets from hole 2.
Our winter trip to the cabin was slow and relaxing. We enjoyed quiet mornings, mountain drives, and evenings cozied up to Harry Potter. Our cabin routine felt balanced...a pace that we would like to replicate at home. Brooks woke us up early, typically between around 6 am. Ty would pour each of us a cup of coffee while I toasted some local Chattanooga Niedlov's sourdough. We enjoyed breakfast as a family, savoring each sip of coffee while Brooks threw his food on the floor. Life with a toddler! Each breakfast ended with us taking out our computers to start the work day.
Typically, we tend to stay on the mountain with just a trip or two to the city during our visits, but because Brooks likes to nap in the car, we drove down to Chattanooga several times on this trip after breakfast to get in a nap and grab lunch (along with a second cup of coffee!). It was a nice addition to our the morning routine. We looked forward to grabbing take out for lunch. Ty and I have agreed that Chattanooga has the BEST food scene in America. I'm sure others may disagree, but we have traversed 48 states and have truly found some of our favorite food in this mid-sized Southern city, believe it or not! Great local eateries abound, as does coffee!
After our late morning drive, we typically spent the rest of the day working from the living room, often with a mid afternoon walk break. We stocked up on groceries at the Chattanooga Whole Foods and cooked dinners at home. After dinner, we loved to hop in the car and drive to the McLemore clubhouse in the neighborhood for the BEST view of the sunset (photos below). About a mile down the road; it's a view worth taking in every day. It blows me away! After reading to Brooks and putting him down to bed, Ty and I tuned into the next sequel of the Harry Potter series. I often used the hours between 7-10 to get some work or blogging done, too. We ended the nights with with reading in bed. Ty is currently reading Three Pianos which is a memoir about an artist he likes and I am reading Salt Fat Acid Heat which is a book about cooking.
These are the local Lookout Mountain/Chattanooga spots we long for when home in Michigan! You can also find Edley's, Frothy Monkey, and Milk & Honey in Nashville, too!
Canyon Grill
Lookout Pizza
The Creag
Niedlov's
Edley's BBQ
Frothy Monkey
Public House
Urban Stack
Milk & Honey
Southern Squeeze
Canopy Coffee (pictured below)
Velo Coffee
Mad Priest Coffee
Below is part of my cozy cabin wardrobe!
Purchasing this property was a risk, one that felt totally out of the blue. I still can't believe we drove down to Rising Fawn, GA on a whim (two summers ago now!) to look at a random cabin I found one evening while perusing realtor.com, day dreaming. I had literally been looking at cabins all over the country. For some reason, this one spoke to me. I showed Ty. The next morning, we drove 10 hours South and found ourselves there.
The other day, I asked him what compelled him to agree to drive down to see this place. Typically, he would roll his eyes at these types of crazy ideas that I concoct....to be honest, I didn't think he would actually go for it! I remember showing him the cabin, thinking he would take a glance then move onto another conversation. Instead, he said he would be up for seeing it! I remember thinking, Really?? He called my bluff! He confessed that he obliged my request for two reasons. First, he wanted to go on the roadtrip. Ty loves to hop in the car and roadtrip. If it were up to him, we would be in a different state every month. He saw this as an opportunity to squeeze in another summer adventure. Second, he thought it would (his words) "pacify me." You see, I get a little...let's say...passionate about new ideas, often pertaining to real estate. These ideas are the things that lead us to move every year and buy property across the country. He thought that if I saw the property in person, I would chicken out or admit that buying something so far from home was too complicated. I guess he called my bluff--and then I called his!
We both laugh at how it all came together! It's hard to wrap our heads around the fact that Rising Fawn, Georgia meant nothing to us at a time. I hadn't heard of, nor been to, this mountain spot. Now, it's a huge part of our family story! We visited the area nearly a dozen times and made some special memories. We will have always been part time residents of the tiny town of Rising Fawn, nestled on top of lush Lookout Mountain, which sprawls throughout Georgia, Tennessee, and Alabama. It's these random twists and turns of life that lead to adventure and some pretty fun memory making.
Soon, we'll be sharing more about another huge pivot in our life, pertaining to the sweet cabin! Stay tuned for more on that!!
You can shop the cabin here, too. We're already missing this oasis in the woods.
Hannah