Family members from Alabama, Georgia, Ohio and Tennessee converged on Chattanooga for the annual Dunlap-Acuff-Wilmer family reunion. The reunion, in its 18th year, was initiated by John’s grandfather and unites the families his two daughters, Johna, John’s mother and her sister Alice Jane. This year family members included Johna, the children of both sisters, grandchildren and two great grandchildren on John’s side. In total, 30 people spent the weekend at the Chattanoogan, sightseeing and catching up with each other.
We arrived on Friday evening, just in time to have dinner at the Broad Street Grille with John’s immediate family. After dinner, the group of 16 jumped on the trolley and headed to the Walnut Street walking bridge to cross the river and ride the carousel in Coolidge Park. With several little ones in tow, the fountains were irresistible so the adults talked and watched while the kids splashed in the water.
Saturday’s adventure included a leisurely breakfast at the hotel, a trip to the Chattanooga Aquarium (fresh and saltwater), lunch for 17 at Mellow Mushroom and dinner for 30 at St. John’s Restaurant http://www.stjohnsrestaurant.com/ on Market Street (very good food I might add).
Sunday arrived quickly and after breakfast, the two branches of the family parted ways. John’s family went for a ride on the Incline Railway and lunch at Big River Grille http://www.bigrivergrille.com/ on Broad Street. After a lot of hugs and good-byes, everyone was off in scattered directions.
I took a few pictures but not nearly as many as I thought. I have included a few below:
Crawford, John’s nephew, playing in the fountain at Coolidge Park
Austin, Johna’s 1st great grandchild, at breakfast
On the trolley from left: Laura (in turq shirt, John’s sister), Chuck, Lee (John’s son), Sam (Chuck’s son), Catlin (John’s niece, David’s daughter), Jessica (Laura’s daughter, John’s niece), Andrew (Chuck’s son), Beth (David’s wife), David (John’s brother)….whew!
Still on the trolley from left: David (John’s brother), Belle (John’s cousin, Chuck’s wife, Sam and Andrew’s mother), Johna (John’s mother–do they look alike or what!) and John
John and I at the Aquarium
Daniel (John’s son) and his girlfriend Kendra (cute!), who drove to Chattanooga on Saturday and met up with the group at the saltwater aquarium
Richard (John’s brother-in-law and Laura’s husband) and Kaleb (Johna’s 2nd great grandchild)
On the Incline Railway front: Liz (John’s niece-in-law, Will’s wife and mother of the great grandchildren), Richard, David, Johna, Will (John’s nephew-with hat) and to the left is little Austin
Finally, we don’t know the two people in front but you can see John and I behind them, Daniel is on John’s right and Catlin is sitting behind Daniel, Lee, Beth and so forth
The Incline and a cloudy view of Chattanooga
