By Christine Tibbetts

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — I figured out what to have for dinner while walking through the dynamic two-building Tennessee Aquarium.

Not just in a Chattanooga restaurant but any night, eating in or eating out. Serve and Protect is what this aquarium on the Tennessee River calls its newest focus to help the rest of us understand what sustainable seafood really means.

Why are catfish one of the five species? News to me until reading a simple sign next to a big fish tank declaring catfish get their protein primarily from plants, more sustainable than eating other fish.

The other recommended sustainable fish are yellowtail snapper, oysters, rainbow trout and lobster.

Connecting people to nature in a meaningful way is the goal all over the fresh water and ocean water exhibits and special events; that’s why I did not choose halibut for dinner that night.

Launch is a pivotal word in this river city with downtown docks to launch kayaks and stand-up paddleboards, eco-tour boats, dinner cruises and water taxis.

With the Hiawassee Wildlife Refuge and Chickamauga National Park in sight of downtown, eco-tours deliver exciting sights fast.

The Tennessee Aquarium features the River Gorge Explorer, a high-speed catamaran, and the Ocoee Adventure Company runs the Blue Moon Cruise, a 70-foot cruiser.

Both go to the Grand Canyon of the Tennessee River Gorge, passing the Chief John Ross landing with seven water jets and petroglyph-style paintings, symbolizing the tears of the seven Cherokee nations forced in 1838 to leave their lands and head west.

Titled “The Passage,” this is reported to be America’s largest public art project regarding the Trail of Tears.

What wildlife to see? I cruised on the Blue Moon an October early morning and saw Great Blue heron, white-tailed deer, cormorants, Mallard ducks, wild turkeys, osprey nests, rock climbers and Cherokee and Creek shell beds.

The canyon walls in the gorge feature 200 trails claimed by rock climbers who look like tiny dots from the eco-boats.

If I can figure out how to return Jan. 14 and 15, 2012, I’ll see sand hill cranes, striking four-foot tall birds honored those days with a festival celebrating their annual migratory return.

“We see whooping cranes here too,” Blue Moon Captain Dave Anderson told me, “pretty amazing since only 350 exist.”

The Sand Hill Crane Festival will happen at the Hiawassee Refuge and the Cherokee Removal Memorial Park in Birchwood, west of Cleveland, TN. Find them both by following the Tanasi Trail, one of 16 Tennessee trail maps with ultra-detailed information about places to explore.

Red Clay is certified by the National Trail of Tears Association. Before you go, pick up a “Passport to Explore Cherokee Heritage” from a Tennessee visitor center or order from a website because the information is helpful.

“This part of America’s history was such a travesty that people can hardly bear the truth, the facts,” says area resident and elementary school teacher Debbie Moore.

She’s so interested that she has become a resource, sharing with Tennessee State Park rangers also dedicated to the research.

Interesting to me, such discoveries along the Tennessee Tanasi Trail. Wonder how many years I need to poke into all the nooks and crannies of 16 state trails?

The 43-mile Cherohala Skyway astonished me; I drove it in mid-October to see the autumn leaves.

Motorcycle drivers love this winding road.

At elevation 5,390 I was suddenly in an ice storm. Surreal. Santeetlah is the name of this overlook, handicap accessible, three picnic tables, easy parking.

My autumn leaves were covered with ice and snow so I turned around, and in a few moments was in the midst of autumn again. Guess I learned something about Mother Nature on Tennessee’s Cherohala national scenic byway.

Alternating this visit between downtown Chattanooga and trails into Tennessee was easy, and full of contrast.

Downtown gave me the Hunter Museum of American Art with works from colonial America to this very moment, sleeping at the Read House, a modern Sheraton property dating back to 1847 Chattanooga, and the Bluff View Art District.

Could have slept there too with 16 rooms total in three inns. Next time maybe.  Rooms start at $95.00.

This is a tiny neighborhood filled with abundant aromas: chocolatier, coffee roaster, pastry chef, bread baker.

Go on in and breathe. I did, and also watched artisans at work from little garden spaces because Bluff View believes in picture windows.

I ate their results in several Bluff View restaurants. Staying here would make Chattanooga life easy because the art gallery, sculpture garden and eateries are all in walking distance.

So is the art museum, aquarium and Walnut Street Bridge, reportedly America’s longest pedestrian bridge.

Revel in the artistic, interesting exhibits at the McMinn County Living History Museum in Athens-----lifestyle possessions and tools I’ve seen before but put together in more meaningful ways here.

Hope and pray you’re lucky as I was to meet Helen Brown and Gail Anderson at the Textile Museum in Englewood.

Helen’s 86 and Gail doesn’t say her age, but they’re passionate about their community’s textile mill history and they built a museum with ongoing projects to help the rest of us understand our socks and the women who made them.

“Then and Now: The Women of Englewood Mills” is one of their books built on local interviews.

The last of Englewood’s 25 mills closed in 2008. Not sure where else I’ll ever see original paychecks for Men’s Cotton Ribbed Union Suits.

That was Eureka Cotton Mills.