Georgia on my mind - Part IV (Atlanta & Stone Mountain)

Hello! Welcome to my last post from my trip to Georgia. After a lovely visit to Savannah, we headed north toward Atlanta. We checked out of the historic 17hundred90 Inn, collected some mini cinnamon rolls and blueberry muffins for our 3.5 hour car ride.

We stopped first at the Stately Oaks plantation house in Jonesboro where Margaret Mitchell spent her summers as a child and supposedly set the story of her famed novel, Gone with the Wind. The plantation home was surprisingly smaller than I would have imagined, or smaller than I always pictured Tara or Twelves Oaks being, but it was still really neat to visit a historic plantation from the Civil War era.

Stately Oaks Plantation - Jonesboro, Georgia

From Jonesboro, we drove just 30 minutes more to Atlanta. We didn't spend a lot of time in Atlanta. Major cities aren't really my thing, but we did make a point to visit the World of Coca-cola and the 1996 Olympic Park. If you ever get the chance, the coke museum is super fun. You can taste cokes from all over the world. Some of them are delicious, and other are super super gross!

Olympic Park - Atlanta, Georgia

The olympic park was neat, but it just reminded me of all the other forgotten olympic cities. When we were in Germany, we passed the site of a former olympic games, and there was hardly a marker commemorating it. Cities bid years in advance to host an olympic games, and then spend millions in preparation for it, only to have it practically forgotten just a few years later. I felt the same way when I visited Beijing. We stopped for a glance at the former Olympic park, and that was it.

Anyway, for dinner, we indulged in a some classic southern food. I got fried chicken, and my husband got catfish and grits.

After dinner, we left Atlanta for the Hampton Inn at Stone Mountain. The last day of our trip also happened to coincide with my birthday, so we planned a day at a place called Stone Mountain. Stone Mountain is kind of like the Mount Rushmore of the south. It's this giant stone carving that's really really far away. Stone Mountain (unlike Mt. Rushmore) is a carving of Confederate generals from the Civil War.

Stone Mountain - Georgia

We didn't bother walking across the grass to get a closer look. At Stone Mountain, they also have hiking and a high ropes course which we enjoyed, though it wasn't as challenging as I would have liked. It was definitely more geared for kids.

I enjoyed a birthday funnel cake and some mini golf complete with a hole in one! We went to a place called Aldo's Cafe for dinner, thinking it was ok to dress casually. It ended up being a much more upscale Italian eatery, so we felt very underdressed, but enjoyed a delicious meal nonetheless.

We flew home from the Atlanta airport the next morning and were home by dinner. I hope you enjoyed reading about the fun adventures you can have right here in the United States. Although I still think I prefer foreign travel, I really did enjoy this week and remember it fondly!

Thanks for reading!

- Foxy the Traveler