Stone Mountain, GA

Stone Mountain isn't really a mountain at all.  It's a monadock made partially of quartz monzonite as well as other semi precious stones.  A lot of people think it is the largest exposed piece of granite in the world and you might even read that somewhere, but geologists have discovered it is not solid granite so that isn't exactly true.  However, on its North face is the largest relief carving in the world which depicts three Confederate Civil War leaders. The "mountain" is home to Stone Mountain Theme Park now, but according to Wikipedia, there is quite a bit of history that took place there before the state of Georgia bought it in the 1950s some of it nice and some of it not-so-nice, which is very interesting. Martin Luther King Jr. referred to this rock in his "I have a Dream" speech when he said "let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!"   In more recent history, some of the 1996 summer Olympics were held at the mountain and the venues for archery and cycling are actually now part of the beautiful running trails in the area.

You can take the Skyride cable car and gain 825 feet of elevation in several minutes as you ride in style to the top of the mountain, or you can hike to the top.  Someday I think it would be fun to hike to the top, but not with such little kids!

Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee, and Jefferson Davis on their favorite horses.

We took the boys on their first train ride.

Geyser Towers is one of the attractions in the theme park.

 Taking the Skyride up to the top of the mountain.

 View from the cable car.

 It's incredible up there!

 Downtown Atlanta on the right.

There are many carvings on the top of the mountain, most of them that I saw were from the sixties or seventies and I am guessing the more historical ones have already been erased by the wind and rain.

Little Brother in the Moby.

 Downtown Atlanta

 It was fun to let him crawl around up there and we got a lot of cool shots.  There was another baby crawling around too, and I mention that just to prove it wasn't as crazy as it looks. ;)

 In some areas there are little pools of water during the rainy season and there are two kinds of tiny shrimp that live in them.  That might sound weird, but we learned the same thing when we were in Moab, Utah so it wasn't a surprise to me.

 It turns out the top of the mountain is the perfect place to fly a kite!  Someone had this beautiful kite up there, they were so smart!  A lot of people were sitting and eating, or just taking in the view.  One guy was playing a guitar... it was a nice atmosphere up there.

 After a LOT of playing at the theme park, we were ready to head to Atlanta.

We ate dinner at Farm Burger.  We just stumbled across it on our way to find a restaurant, but we were glad!  It was delicious!

 Little Brother's dinner. ;)  Not something he gets very often, as these were given to us by a friend whose child outgrew them.  They make such fancy older-baby food these days.

 They had gluten-free buns at Farm Burger and their toppings were fantastic.

 We remembered the Lord in Decatur/Atlanta on Lord's day and then before we headed home, we were treated to lunch at Picadilly, which is a fun place to eat with a group.

 I will never tire of taking photos of my sleeping children ha ha!  It is SO pleasant and peaceful.

The perfect ending to a great weekend is a beautiful sunset!