Stone Mountain & Atlanta, GA

Just finished spending four days in the Atlanta, GA area. We stayed at Stone Mountain which is approximately 16 miles east of Atlanta. Stone Mountain is lichen and moss-draped, rising some 825 feet above the Piedmont Plateau. The base circumference is about 5 miles. This is one of the biggest hunks of freestanding granite in the world. The park is 3,200 acres with many tourist attractions.

The big attraction is the Confederate Memorial Carving, depicting Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, and Stonewall Jackson riding their horses. The figures are 76 feet high and 160 feet wide, making it the world’s largest relief sculpture. It covers an area of 3 acres on the mountain face. We rode a cable car that took us to the mountain’s peak. It passed right by the Memorial providing a great view.

Back on the ground we toured their museum where we read a historical explanation of each of the three figures – southern style. It was amusing reading about Jackson. They told how he was shot by friendly fire and mentioned that “if that didn’t happen the outcome of the Civil War might have been different.” We were surprised that they didn’t want a rematch.

We took in several rides, a 4D movie, craft demonstrations, toured an antebellum plantation, and many many gift shops.

The park has a fantastic evening laser show that is projected on the mountainside and fireworks.

One day was spent at the “World of Coca Cola" in Atlanta. We saw the history of coca cola beginning with the creation of the original formula by John Pemberton in 1886. Can you imagine that the rights to bottle it was purchased for one dollar! We went through a small bottling plant where we saw how it is made, watched commercials from all over the world, saw all sorts of memorabilia, and got to taste forty different beverages that coca cola makes all over the world. We also received a commerative bottle of coca cola that was produced there.

The next day we went to the Georgia Aquarium that opened in 2006. It is the world’s largest, and was a $250 million gift to the city from Bernard Marcus where his company, Home Depot began. The aquarium is a state of the art facility with a staggering 8 million gallons of fresh and salt water that contains more than 100,000 different animals. It is divided into several marine life areas.

That evening we got together for an enjoyable dinner with our friend Alice Brown from Bakersfield. She was attending a convention in Atlanta – timing is everything.