Day Two: Atlanta Trip

Atlanta, Georgia:  A blustery, foggy morning sky welcomed us as we began day two of our Atlanta trip.  The overcast skies were a flashback to the winter days I remember browsing up where is was always gray and cold during the winter. Today's adventure was the highlight of the trip, our visit to Stone Mountain.

Stone Mountain was the main purpose of this last minute trip.  My wife and son have been begging to see snow and after growing up in the Mid-Atlantic, I've seen my fair share of it.  So when we came across the advertisement for Snow Mountain, I knew we could make that work.

After breakfast we still had a little time remaining before we needed to hit the road for Stone Mountain so we headed over to the airport for some photography.  Anyone whose been through Hartsfield-Atlanta Airport knows how busy and how large the airport is.  We decided to head over to the south terminal cell phone lot for an up-close view of the action.  Boy was it close!  The cell phone lot is night next to the taxiway into the south terminal.  We sat there and watch for about a half hour before departing for Stone Mountain.

The drive to Stone Mountain was beautiful.  Rolling hills and mountains, something that you don't see in the flat lands of the sunshine state.  Just outside the park is the town of Stone Mountain which looks like it had been frozen in time.  A wonderful sight in the hustle and bustle of the nations ninth largest metropolitan area.

We then reached the gate to Stone Mountain Park.  In addition to being home to the attraction, Stone Mountain is also a park with hiking trails, camping and much more.  The park service collects a $10 admission fee to the park which allows you access to the grounds all day during your visit.

After entering the park, we headed to the ticket office where we would encounter our second major hurdle of the trip.  We have planned our trip with the public relations manager of Stone Mountain.  She had helped us get planned and was supposed to have tickets and a 4pm snow tubing reservation waiting for us.  Well I checked in and they knew nothing about it.  I tried calling her and emailing her with no response.  I showed the box office manager my website credentials, photo ID and e-mail correspondence of our coverage arrangements and they wouldn't assist either, said their was nothing they could do, but if I went around and waited in line to buy tickets, I could still get in for our original planned time.

I was so frustrated, we had this arranged and now things were falling apart.  Even though it would put our trip over budget, I decided to purchase the tickets to keep from disappointing the family.  I mean after all, we drive 8 hours and jumped through hurdles to make this trip happen, now to watch it slip away again would be heart breaking.

We got in line for the tickets and by the time we made it to the window, the 4pm hill time was already sold out.  So we were put on a later time slot.  Now we were over budget and running out of time, but at least we were in.

Our first stop inside the park was the Stone Mountain Railroad.  The railroad was a scenic trip that circled the mountain, It was a gorgeous journey and gave an up close look at the beauty of the park as well as a glimpse into the history of the park.

From there we headed to the snow, the reason for the trip.  In the Snow Zone, we built a snow castle and threw some snowballs. Snow Zone is the free play area at the base of the tubing hill in which you can play in the snow all day at the base of the stunning Confederate War Memorial carved into the side of the mountain,

After playing in the snow, we headed to enjoy some more of the park.  Next up was the Discovering Stone Mountain exhibit in the Memorial Hall.  The museum gave a look into Stone Mountain both the carving and the area's importance during the Civil War.  Inside the museum, there were replicas of the carving to show the sheer size of the carving.  Its amazing how small it looks on the side of the mountain but how large it is up close.

Then it was time to embark to the top of the mountain.  There are two ways to reach the top of the 1,683 foot summit, hike the trail or take the Summit Skyride.  Well we decided to the skyride and save the hike for a visit with warmer weather.  The skyride is an enclosed gondola that scales the side of the mountain, transporting you to the top of the mountain.  I bet the view from the top of the mountain is amazing, but we couldn't see due to the low clouds.  We were actually above the clouds and could not see the ground.  The top of the mountain looked like the surface of the moon and the vast rocky terrain just disappeared into the clouds.  Since there wasn't much to see, we headed back down the summit and on to more exploration.

We then headed over to the Antebellum mansion to take a glimpse into southern living.  The mansion grounds included several structure pivotal to life in the region during the Civil War.  This included the plantation, slave quarter, farm and much more.  All the buildings were restored to represent the period and included historical interpreters to help tell the story.  The historical interpreters were on-hand to help the kids with holiday crafts that the kids during the era would do.

We hopped into the car and headed out to explore more of the park.  We made a stop at Confederate's Hall, the old wooded bridge and Grist Mill before heading back to play in the snow.

Once back at Snow Mountain, we spent some more time playing in the Snow Zone before our hill time.  Once we reached our time for tubing we headed to the top of the hill and the group tube, Avalanche Alley.  The whole family climbed aboard the tube a zoomed down the 400 foot hill.  From there we rode the single tube run, Tube Runners before tackling the Avalanche Alley on last time  Because of mechanical problems with the lift release on Avalanche Alley that had us waiting 20 minutes to depart down the hill our 2 hour hill tie was constrained to just 5 runs down the hill.

By the time we were done, we were exhausted and headed back to the hotel to get some sleep.  But before we left, we took a stroll through the village to look at the Christmas lights before calling it a night.  

Tomorrow we head back to Florida and wrap up our trip.  Before we hit the road for Florida, I see another stop at the cell phone lot at the airport and maybe a trip back downtown before we leave.  We will see what we can get into before leaving to tomorrow, but first, I need to get some sleep and get back some energy.