We spent a
couple of days at Stone Mountain Park in Georgia. Here we are in site 386. That is Stone Mountain Lake in the
background.
On Tuesday
and Wednesday we spent a lot of time sitting in the customer service lounge at
Freightliner Classic Chassis in Gaffney, SC.
It’s a very nice facility but we were glad to be on the road again. We actually expected to be here longer since
we came in without an appointment and they worked us in as they could. We were very pleased with the service here,
Pam at the service desk and Devon our shop technician were wonderful, will
definitely be back if we have any chassis issues.
One last
look at this great water tower before we leave town.
We didn’t
get to our destination quite as quickly as expected. Lots of construction on I-85. If this bothers Greg he doesn’t show it, but
I still get nervous in this much bumper to bumper traffic. I think I spent too much time as a trucking
company safety director and handling trucking accident claims. I’m confident that Greg is a good driver – I
just worry about everyone else.
This traffic
pattern just didn’t feel right when we came off of I-85, looks like we should
be on the other side of the road.
This is the
entry road into Stone Mountain Park. The
whole park is beautifully maintained.
Before we got here we thought we would leave the bike on the lift and
just walk to our destination – nope, it is much bigger with lots of hills and
is spread out more than we thought, the bike was coming off.
The
campground is inside the park so you have to pay a $15 park fee to get in in
addition to your campground fees.
The entry to
Trail O where our site was located has a fairly steep little hill, we wondered
if we would drag the bottom of the lift but that wasn’t the case.
The sites
have been built up with large boulders to be more level which is nice, but you
have quite a drop off if you miscalculate while backing in.
The first
night we did walk down to a small dock on Stone Mountain Lake. In the background is our destination for
tomorrow – Stone Mountain, one huge chunk of granite.
This is my
view from the kitchen window.
The towering
Georgia pines surrounding us dropped some huge pinecones. I picked up a few to have for Christmas
decorations in a couple of months.
The covered
bridge in the park is beautiful to look at but riding across it probably wasn’t
one of the smartest things we have ever done.
Greg had to keep the bike balanced on one of the board tracks made for
car crossings – they are pretty narrow and uneven. The bad thing is that once you have crossed
one way and decided that wasn’t too smart you have no other way out except to
repeat the process.
On Friday we
headed up to the park where the Pumpkin Festival was in full swing.
We decided
to have a quick lunch at one of several eating establishments in the park. Bar Camp BBQ offered a nice pulled pork
platter and we beat the crowd by showing up just a little after 11:00.
I am so glad
we stopped for the glassblowing demonstration.
I was mesmerized by what this guy could make from a little glob of
molten glass. In about half an hour he
added color to the glass and shaped it into a beautiful vase. I didn’t get a picture of the finished
product, but trust me it was amazing. At
the end of the process he was working so quickly that I couldn’t have followed
what he was doing if I was trying to get pictures. These pictures are taken through a glass partition so they aren't the best.
Our purchase
for the day was a glass mini pumpkin. It
fits in the palm of my hand and is only about 2-3 inches tall – should look
nice on the trays I put out on the dash with our seasonal decorations in them.
You can walk
around the courtyard area without buying a wristband.
But, if you
want to take advantage of the activities like this huge climbing area, The Sky
Hike, you need to get the wristbands. I
think the wristbands were just over $30 each for a one-day pass, but you could
probably spend more than a day here.
They did offer multiple day passes but I’m not sure of the cost.
We actually
considered riding the cable cars to the top of the mountain – Greg was
considering it more positively than I was.
We originally thought this would be the best way to get a picture of the
sculpture on the side of the mountain.
They are
making snow and setting up a winter feature called Snow Mountain. This is supposed to open in November, I think
the snow maker is going to have to pick up the pace.
This is what
we came to see, the carving on the side of the mountain that is a memorial to
confederate leaders, Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee and Andrew Jackson. Since I am a distant relative of Robert E.
Lee I was very interested in seeing it.
There has been some recent controversy calling for the destruction of
the carving, some find it offensive because of what the confederacy
represented. Not all of history is
pretty and beliefs and convictions change.
No matter what your opinion of the confederacy is, this memorial is
really very beautiful.
The idea for
the project began around 1915 and wasn’t completed until 1972 when the last
scaffolding came down. It was dedicated
in May of 1970 by Vice President Agnew.
Three sculptors worked on the project.
The original plan was to have hundreds of soldiers marching across the
face of the mountain. One of the later sculptors
decided that if the project was ever going to get finished the focus should
just be on the three main characters.
The first sculptor, Gutzon Borglum started the project in 1916 but it
was delayed by World War I and a lack of funding. He left the project in a rage in 1925
smashing his working models when he went.
He later went on to carve Mount Rushmore in South Dakota.
We bought
tickets to tour the museum which is a huge lovely building but it seemed to me
there was a lot of wasted space. Maybe I
am just too used to living in less than 500 square feet and using every inch
wisely.
You don’t
realize how big the sculpture is from on the ground. Greg is standing next to a full size replica
of Lee’s collar and stars. Lee’s head is
15’ high and Jefferson Davis’ thumb is the size of a couch.
This is a
picture showing one of the worker’s staying out of the rain by stepping into
the mouth of one of the horses.
Speaking of
rain, we made it back to the campground just as it started to pour.
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