Stone Mountain

After my long weekend in Chicago, it was a short work week (since Monday was Labor day) and before we knew it, it was Saturday already, which meant it was time for us to go to Stone Mountain!

We woke up late since we were out the night before (it was Friday night, what else should we do?), we left the hotel around 10 AM already. It was good that we called the cab company before hand to confirm if they can take us there and ofcourse, pick us up.

The cab cost around almost $100 (good thing we are splitting the cost between the 3 of us) and took probably around 30 - 45 minutes. It was a nice drive going out of the city and seeing new places. We experienced a little traffic coming in to the park since again it was late in the morning already and it was a Saturday so there were a lot of families wanting to spend their Saturday at the park as well. 

It was a beautiful day (and a hot one) good thing I just wore a comfortable shirt, shorts and my trusty trainers because I knew we were going to do a bit of walking around.

Tip: Buy tickets online and you'll save. I bought my ticket the morning before leaving and I got a confirmation right away. I just showed the email confirmation to the ticketing booth and I was done. 

 

The first thing we did because we thought would be a nice challenge was the obstacle course. You'll be strapped in for safety and you'll be hoisted up to walk through different obstacles.

      

      

Unfortunately, Lui and Louise were wearing sandals and you have to wear closed shoes to go through the course. Good thing the shop has somehow a selection of shoes (don't expect anything fancy mostly for one time use here. Also, we weren't able to take many pictures while going through the course because pockets have to be empty. Because of that, you'll have to rent out lockers to keep your stuff and so all 3 of us shared one locker.

With the difficulty, the last thing you'll want to be distracted with is taking the perfect shot. All your concentration was on making sure you grip anything you can hold onto, you have balanced and not to fall off. Also I was perspiring already and I didn't want to have a picture where I was haggard already.

On the last course I was about to quit already (since I was a little scared of heights) and you'll walk on a rope with barely anything to hold onto. But the father and daughter team that went before us was able to. Also the dad told me that if his 8 year old daughter can do it, how much more me. It was a slap in the face and it was "challenge accepted". He laughed after and said that he really had to say that.

Good thing I did it too because the feeling of accomplishment was good. After sweating it and and having tiring ourselves, we decided to have lunch already so that we can also rest as well.

After a hearty lunch, we decided to rest some more and do an activity sitting down. Like what I mentioned previously an attraction wouldn't be complete without a 4D show (see Georgia Aquarium and World of Coca-Cola). 

We watched Journey 2 and we were just in time. It was from the original chopped up and it was fun and drizzling since most of the scenes involved water so there you go. 

 

After the theater, it was time to take more pictures and just have fun. We were waiting for the train so we had time to goof around.



Once the train was there, it was all aboard. We were so excited that we rode in the 1st car after the engine.

It was a nice leisurely ride as the train circles the mountain. You have the mountain on your left and the park at your right. There's also a guide that explains the history of stone mountain and what can be seen around the park.

After the train ride, would we miss out on taking pictures with the main attraction?! It was still early and the lawn doesn't have as much people yet so we were happy and excited to just take pics and have fun. Since we were still wearing the same clothes earlier and we were lying in the grass, we thought of buying a new shirt since we felt we were wearing dirty clothes already (remember we did an obstacle course and were perspiring a lot).

 

After taking pictures, we decided to ride the cable car to reach the top of the mountain. Much to our dismay, when we got there, they closed it already because of weather concerns. Too bad since we were really looking forward to it, but safety is they're primary concern and I wouldn't want to be stuck hanging how many feet above the ground anyway. To compensate, we took more pictures before heading out to the lawn again and wait for the laser and light show.



When we got back to the lawn, there were a lot of people already but good thing we still found a spot.

It was quite a wait but we didn't mind. We had fun just talking and people watching. It was nice to see families spending time with each other and also waiting like us. Unlike them however, we were unprepared because all of them had lawn chairs or like a blanket while we were just sitting on our asses on the grass. hey were just visiting and we didn't have a car anyway.

After waiting for a few hours, and when the laser light show was about to start, it drizzled. Then it turned into light rain which made everyone took shelter and the rest just deciding to go home. Lui and Louise also wanted to go home already and called the cab to pick us up. I wasn't able to ride the cable car already so I wasn't gonna miss the laser show. I went back and took cover under a tree. I can still feel a light drizzle but it was OK. The show wasn't over yet but the cab already called me up saying that he was already there so it was time to head back home.

It was a very tiring day but all in all it was a fun day. Maybe next time that I'll be in Atlanta, I'll definitely come back and see Stone Mountain.