Friday, September 1st
The pier at Ross's Landing in Chattanooga was full by Friday evening. We explored downtown and had a great appetizer (crab and artichoke asiago chesse dip with toasted baguettes) and top shelf margaritas at Big River Grille & Brewing Company, a very popular downtown destination with a great menu.

The people from Marine Max, who manage the pier, came by Saturday morning to tell everyone they were going to have to move their boats so the Mississippi Queen would have room to dock when it arrived that evening. As I mentioned in the last blog update, the Mississippi Queen needs 400 feet of the 600-foot pier; fortunately we were docked in the first 200 feet of the pier and weren't required to move. But all of the boats behind us were forced to go somewhere else since the Mississippi Queen takes precedence over transient boaters, even though the transients had made advance reservations. Needless to say, many of them were unhappy about being asked to leave.

We left the boat around noon to go buy aquarium and IMAX tickets and decided to go to the IMAX Saturday evening and to the aquarium on Sunday. We then walked across the worldest longest pedestrian bridge to the other side of the river and poked around in the shops over there. Below is a picture we took coming back across the bridge. You can see the two aquarium buildings (with the geometric rooflines) in the background and our boat on the right, under the bridge.



We came back in time to catch the 6:00 p.m. IMAX, "Deep Sea" in 3D, which was really cool! After the movie, we went back to Big River for margaritas and free Diver's Dip (with IMAX ticket stub), a jalapeno spinach cheese dip served with tortilla chips. We then walked all over the downtown area again and stopped in at a little place called Buck Wild Saloon for a beer. The bar maid was covered with tatoos and body art and had on faded, torn, holey low-cut jeans with a tight black leather top that laced up the front with a 4-inch gap that afforded a nice view of her mid-section, from her belly button to her breasts. A few other employees showed up while we were there, and all were dressed similarly - pierced lips, tatoos, body art, etc. Interesting joint and staff!

When we got back to the boat we met Jason, one of the deck crew from the Mississippi Queen which was pulled in right behind us. We chatted with Jason for a while and Todd invited him over for a Bloody Mary Sunday morning. Jason came by for his Bloody Mary just as I was taking a shower. He then offered to take us on a quick tour of the Mississippi Queen since the passengers they brought to Chattanooga from Nashville had departed and the next group, which was going from Chattanooga to Memphis, hadn't yet arrived.

Below is a picture of me and Todd in the "staged" flybridge that passengers use to take pictures.


This is a picture of the main dining room.


Here is the Mississippi Queen tied up to the pier behind our "little" boat.

It was a cool boat and would be a fun way to spend a week on the river. About noon we left to go to "The River Journey," the first of the two aquarium buildings above the pier which houses the world's largest fresh water aquarium. There was a seahorse exhibit in the basement which was coolest exhibit in the entire building. Below are pictures of a few of these amazing creatures. This one is called a Weedy Seahorse.  There is also a Leafy Seahorse swimming behind it.



This is a better shot of the Leafy Seahorse, my personal favorite - like something out of a fairy tale!


We then went back to the boat to grab a bite to eat before going to the other building, called "The Ocean Journey." Jason came by and had a beer with us, and while he was there we saw a boat coming up alongside our boat to dock in front of us. Just as Todd was getting up to go out and help them dock, we realized that the boat had gotten caught in the strong current and was getting way too close to our boat. Todd yelled at the Captain to put the boat in reverse but he put it in forward instead and crashed into the rear port side of our boat with his anchor!

The boat, a beautiful 42-foot Sea Ray, then spun around in the current so that the stern was parallel to the pier behind us and the bow was facing out into the river. They somehow managed to get a line off the starboard stern to a guy standing on the pier, but the boat was essentially dead in the water behind our boat, wedged between us and the Mississippi Queen, being held in place on the port side by the huge ropes tied off the bow of the Mississippi Queen. In front of the Sea Ray was the Mississippi Queen's gang plank, which they raised as far as they could so that the Sea Ray could hopefully go under it and out into the river.

With some coaching from Todd and others on the pier, the Captain motored forward and the Sea Ray's flybridge cleared the Queen's gang plank by mere inches as it went under. We were all a little shook up by the incident, but fortunately the anchor hit our boat in the best possible place and we ended up with just a gash in the fiberglass. Had the anchor hit higher or lower, it would have made a huge hole in the side of our boat!

After making it back out into the river, the Captain took another shot at docking and all went well. Apparently, the Captain had originally planned to take the boat out for a cruise later that evening with some friends, but after the docking incident his wife, Robin, decided that wasn't going to happen! As we were leaving to go to "The Ocean Journey," the Captain, Argil, brought us a nice bottle of French white wine and offered to buy us dinner that evening at Hennen's, reportedly one of the nicest restaurants in town.

Below are some pictures from "The Ocean Journey." This colorful fish seemed to like us and stayed close to the window as we watched it.



There were lots of sharks like this one in the big aqaurium tank that spanned several of the building's floors.


These are some funky jellyfish that aren't nearly as impressive in a photo as they are in person.


We got back to the boat about 7:30 and joined Argil and Robin and several of their friends for dinner. The joke at the table was that Argil and Robin just happened to "run in to Todd and Brenda while in Chattanooga" and invited them to dinner! On top of that, a few of their friends commented that Todd reminded them of Mel Gibson. For those of you who used to work with Todd, you will recall that he has been told that before, usually by SOAR parents, and he of course felt compelled to gloat about it! It was a good time and a fun evening topped off with a visit to Ben and Jerry's with Argil and Robin for an after-dinner ice cream. They also insisted on paying for the damage to the boat, which was very gracious considering everything they had already done.

We visited with Argil and Robin some more Monday morning and headed out of Chattanooga shortly before noon. We wanted to go back to the Shell Mound Rec Area to spend a few days, which was only about 40 miles, so we weren't in any hurry to leave. Shortly before arriving at Shell Mound, we saw numerous boats heading upriver away from an approaching rainstorm. We hung out in front of Shell Mound until the rain lightened up and then docked for the evening. Todd promptly put the dinghy down and headed out to get some fishing in before the rain hit again. There was a 60% chance of rain all evening, so we figured it was just a matter of time until another batch of storms popped up.

We spent a quiet and somehwat cool day at Shell Mound on Tuesday and then made our way downriver on Wednesday, through the Nickajack Lock, about 45 miles to a nice little cove near Goose Pond Marina in Guntersville Lake. This turned out to be a popular bass fishing cove for the locals, and Todd spent quite a bit of time trying to entice the bass to come play with him, without much success. However, in talking with the locals who buzzed in and out of the cove all day Wednesday and Thursday, they weren't having much luck either.

Since we were out of ice by Thursday, we took the dinghy over to Goose Pond that afternoon to buy a couple of bags. While there, we saw a boat we had docked with at the marina in Columbus, MS, called "Kaos." Although Alan was in Peru on business, we chatted with Susan for a while and she spoke highly of both the marina and the restaurant at Goose Pond. After perusing the menu, we decided we would have to check it out next time we're in the neighborhood!

We left our anchorage Friday morning and arrived at Alred Marina, about 20 miles downriver, at 1:30 p.m. I spent the afternoon finishing dinner preparations, reading and getting cleaned up so we could make the dreaded restocking run to Wal-Mart after we ate; Todd, of course, had to check out the fishing - again!

This morning was spent doing laundry, so now all the chores are caught up for a while. We will leave Alred's in the morning (Sunday) and continue downriver, although we aren't sure how far we are going. There are a couple of anchorages we want to check out before we leave Guntersville Lake, so it may be a few days before we go through the lock to enter Wheeler Lake. We plan to be back on Pickwick by the latter part of next week and are looking forward to going back to Waterfall Cove and to seeing Kelly, Bud (Iceman) and Bo & Terri again.