Our family adventure begins

A few weeks ago Jess and I decided it would be nice to take Chase to Stone Mountain to see all the Christmas decorations, the laser show, the Atlanta skyline at sunset, and the building of the Snow Mountain area. Despite living in Georgia my entire life, I have never been on top of Stone Mountain. I know…it is a shock to me too! We packed up the camera, got bundled up, made a quick stop to get a snack, and we were on our way.

The park was NOT crowded at all. Then again it was a Monday afternoon and people still had to work I reckon. We walked around for a bit, checked out the Snow Mountain area, snapped a few photos, then decided to take the sky bucket thing to the top. I was pretty excited. I mean, it’s the top of Stone Mountain! I had heard how beautiful the city was from up there, but I never imagined it would’ve been as beautiful as it was on that day.

Got'cha!

Chase pretty much took off running as soon as we got up there. Jess and I just took our time and enjoyed the view. We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day. Yeah it was cold and the wind was kickin just a bit, but the sky was perfect and the view was amazing. There were a good deal of people up there, but not too many where we couldn’t just sit down in a nice cozy spot and enjoy it all. Chase had fun jumping over puddles, climbing on trees and rocks. However, he got a little ambitions and slid off the side of a big on. Luckily, Jess was there to catch him. Using her Super Mom abilities, she pulled him to safety! To celebrate, we decided it would be a grand idea to walk down instead of take the lift.

I had always wondered what it was like walking up/down the mountain. I mean…where did it go? How steep was it? Were there steps or was it just huge rocks you had to navigate around? Would there be bears or timberwolves? Perhaps there was a great chasm that one could fall victim to if you stepped in the wrong spot! Unfortunately there was no such thing, instead it was a gentle walk down a steep graded rocky mountain. Don’t get me wrong though, the walk down, far outweighed the ride up.

The sun never sets on happiness

Neither one of us were really prepared for the mountain excursion we had just embarked on, but we weren’t going to let some mountain get in the way of our fun. So we took off and every once and a while would stop, take it all in, enjoy the view, holler at Chase for going to fast, slip on a slippery rock, or race each other to the next tree before realizing we were running down a mountain…and there were slippery rocks all around. About half way down we paused at a clearing and watch the last few moments of the sun set. It was beautiful to see the sun just slowly move out of view before saying goodbye and dipping just below the horizon. It was definitely one of the best sunsets I’ve witnessed.

Once we got to the bottom we realized we were now standing in a random parking lot on the other side of the mountain. The train was no where in sight and there didn’t appear to be any easy way to get back to where we started. Never fear, Jess and I are not one to let a little diversion stop us from having a good time. So we pulled out our map and decided on the best course of action, which was simply to walk back around to the front of the park. Chase was tuckered out from all the scurrying around, but that was nothing a quick piggy back ride couldn’t alleviate. We finally made it back to the front and were all set to walk around the shops, get some hot chocolate, and fill our bellies with what ever wonders the great people of Stone Mountain Park could come up with. Unfortunately, the only thing they could come up with was an additional $26 PER PERSON to just walk into a shop. Wait…what?! Yeah. In order to walk around the “towne” we had to pay MORE money. If we wanted to go into a shop and buy a glass blown ornament of a fat Santa snoozing in a chair or a snow globe of Stone Mountain it would cost us about $80. Even if we DIDN’T buy anything, it would still cost us. We couldn’t even walk around the village and look at the lights!

So rather than hang around any more, we chose to pack up the kiddo and head on back home. After a stop by Garcia’s for some delicious Mexican food, we got home, got warmed up and settled in for a long winter nap. Well, more like a few hours, but still.

And there you have it. Our first trip to Stone Mountain. I have to say that it is an adventure that I’ll not soon (or hopefully ever) forget. There were so many “ahhhhh” moments that I can’t even begin to recount them all. Despite the fact that we had to walk around the mountain to get back where we started and the steep price to pay for some extra fun, we found our way. We got back to where we needed to be. We made our own adventure. We made the trip ours.