The traffic from Charleston to Atlanta was phenomenal as it seems we are traveling on yet another end of Spring Break. We arrived at Jones RV Park to find that the office was closed on the weekend and there was no indication that they knew we were coming. A couple that arrived just before us informed us that they are "full up" and they were told to park in overflow right there at the entrance. We walk around to find that there are a few sites open so we picked one and pulled in hoping that our reservation was good. The next morning when I went over to check-in they had no record of our reservation, but said they had plenty of space.
We used our first day to drive to Stone Mountain "Georgia's #1 Attraction". Think enchanted rock on acid with an adjoining amusement park. It is privately owned, but extremely well done. The park surrounding the rock is 3200 acres filled with hiking trails, historic sites, museums and a few rides for the kids. The centerpiece is a carving on the side of the mountain picturing Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson on horseback measuring 90' x 190' and 400' above the ground. The carved surface is larger than a football field and is touted as the largest bas-relief sculpture in the world. We never could find out was a bas-relief was but we know that whatever Mt. Rushmore is it isn't a bas-relief because Rushmore is bigger than this. I guess we will figure that all out when we visit South Dakota. It was quite impressive none the less.. The exhibit explaining the geology of the area and mountain made Peg proud. We drove around the entire park and took several hikes. It was a beautiful day. Peg has more to say about Stone Mt (St. Mt.) as compared to Enchanted rock (Erock). Ok, some of you out there may want to know that they are both Pluton's. Intrusive igneous rock that is crystallized from magma cooling slowly deep within the Earth's surface. Basically, a large bubble of molten rock (magma) that solidifies underground. St. Mt. is larger than Erock and the granite is a different chemical composition than Erock making St. Mt. a different color. St. Mt. lacks the microcline feldspar (pink stuff) and instead contains plagioclase feldspar (white stuff) so St. Mt. appears black and white instead of pink and white. St. Mt. granite is called diorite, Erock granite is actually called Texas granite. St. Mt. has smaller crystals than Erock, meaning the crystal size of St. Mt. is due to faster cooling. Erock is very "chunky" and coarse grained. Erock is about 300 million years older than St. Mt. Erock is early Precambrian forming 900 million years ago and St. Mt. is late Precambrian forming 600 mya. A. is telling me not to write a novel so I best quit here. They are both very cool big ass rocks!
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| Stone Mountain |
Cherry Blossoms are in bloom!
Hike in Stone Mountain
One of the reasons we came to Atlanta was to visit the Georgia Aquarium which claims to have the largest tank in the world and the only one to have whale sharks. When we made the drive downtown we found out that we arrived just in time for the Final-Four. It seems we have a knack for being in cities just in time for these huge sporting events without knowing it. We were in New Orleans for Superbowl and Mardi Gras as you might recall. After conquering the downtown parking challenge we entered the aquarium with much enthusiasm and were well rewarded. They have several tanks with sea-life from different parts of the world, but their coup-de-gras is the huge tank containing three whale sharks, five different kinds of rays including the manta, at least four different kinds of sharks and what seemed like thousands of very unique and beautiful fish. There is a walk-through acrylic tunnel and a large viewing area where we sat for a very long time enjoying the beautiful tank. We also very much enjoyed the tropical tank which boasts the largest living reef exhibit in the world and the river tank with albino alligators and piranha, and the artic tanks featuring beluga whales and the very cute sea dragon.
Tropical Reef Tank
Whale Shark - not a whale or a shark just a huge fish
Buddha Frog!
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| Sea Dragon |
On our last day in Atlanta we decided to take a trolley tour so that we could see everything the city had to offer. Everyone on the tour was in Atlanta one their way to the Masters - another sporting event! Too bad we aren't sports fans we would be in heaven. It was a very nice tour that took us around the historical district, museums and midtown. We saw the old Atlanta neighborhoods which have homes that are slowly being restored and are marked with a sunburst plaque on the front; corporate Atlanta including CNN, Coca-Cola and the Braves; the home and burial site for Martin Luther King Jr. and Loretta Scott King complete with the burning eternal flame; Centennial Olympic park; and Margaret Mitchell's house where she wrote Gone with the Wind. It was a really well done tour and we feel we got to see all of Atlanta.
State Capitol
Margaret Mitchell's house she called "the dump"
Coming soon... Cherokee, NC and the Smokey Mountains!
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