Hey gang! Our family was fortunate to be able to turn HOOCH into a family vacation. I thought if there were any new families to the HOOCH experience this year that might also be finding themselves on a family vacation, you might enjoy hearing some of the things that made our trip so fun!
One of the first places we visited was Aretha Frankensteins. It's a little farther out than everything else I'll be talking about, but we had heard from friends it was a neat little place to visit. They have an all-day menu of diner staples, plus beers & espresso, in a funky house with a porch & outdoor patio. It's fairy small, and popular, so we found ourselves eating outside, but it was well worth it! Jack was able to grub up on a big stack the morning of their practice.
The Tennessee Aquarium is AWESOME. They have both freshwater and saltwater life displayed. I won't bore you with too many photos here of my cute kids, but I will tell you that we enjoyed it so much, we will be going again this year. Something cool about the aquarium for our purposes of being in Chattanooga, so that you can watch the teams practice from way up high in the aquarium.
Another fun place is the High Point Climbing Gym. Our son Luke had a blast there with their day pass. I may have lost my lunch when I was sent a pic of him scaling the exterior of the building, but he loved it!
We were able to fall into lunch one day with one of our favorite families at Agave and Rye, which is right in the center of the action. Great food and a fun atmosphere.
Let's talk about the venue for HOOCH. Here is a map of the area:
The dotted orange line is the area that they have for vendors. There are a ton of vendor tents at HOOCH.
When the rowers aren't racing, they can choose to walk around in groups and check out the different tents. Of course Concept 2 is there for the kids to muscle out their best erg time.
If you look back at the map, the grey area by my orange oar, is the spectator seating. It's several rows of large concrete steps. The orange oar is basically the finish line. The grassy area behind that is where the team tents are. Jack came out to visit with us for a few minutes.
Something else I like about this venue, you are able to see the kids loading and unloading boats, warming up before races, getting checked in, and some good old fashion teamwork as they assist our boats with oars.
The photo above on the right...I don't think the forecast is calling for temps as cold as last year, but I wanted to share a few things that Jack wore to keep warm. Some of these races start just as the sun is coming up which can put our kiddos in climates much colder than they are use to in Florida. Make sure your rower as a compression shirt. We sell them on
our store website. Jack also wore compression tights, like Tanner behind him. This particular morning was extra cold - mid 30's - and so Jack threw on his joggers on top of his tights. He had his heavy coat, that he was somehow able to jam into the corner of the boat while racing. And SOCKS. The socks that Jack is wearing are waterproof. Super helpful bc they will be walking quite a bit in the grass that is covered in dew in the morning. He also had lots of Hot Hands with him. They can't wear gloves while rowing, so it's nice to have the Hot Hands ready for before and after the race.
I hope this information was helpful! Please feel free to reach out to me with any questions. If I don't know the answer, I can steer you in the direction of a parent that does.
And as always...
GO OARS!!!
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