Stone Mountain

The final day of my stay in Georgia saw me taking the opportunity to visit Stone Mountain, one of Georgia's largest parks and also home to the largest natural rock outcrop in the U.S. I had been told that a taxi would cost me around $30 each way. Maybe I misheard the concierge when he said that as the actual amount was $80.

The park consists is really just a vast expanse of land around the rock but to keep the public entertained they've built a small theme park on the Northern side of it. You're not going to find any coasters or dark rides here, it's based more around the traditions of the area. There is a 4D cinema, that's perhaps as good as it gets here!

I recall seeing this water based clock thing at Dollywood. This looked nicer but didn't have the ridiculous number of water wheels that the other park did.

At Islands of Adventure in Florida the talking fountain is one of the more fun attractions for the little kids. Stone Mountain has a similar attraction here, and it was just as well received.

The centre piece however is the massive rock which does look very immense and totally out of place. The guy that was responsible for carving Mt. Rushmore also started a piece here but for reasons unknown he left the project before it was completed.

It was finally completed in the 70s.

The three dudes depicted in the carving are all important to the history of the American Confederacy. Rather worringly the rock also has a significance to the KKK who famously performed a burning on the top. Fortunately the park does not celebrate that.

You can ascend the top of the rock by two means; a cable car or a lengthy walk. Guess which I chose? Actually I did both. On the top of the rock it does look like being on the moon, only without the space suits.

I found it quite funny that on the path down (or up) the rock they'd erected hand rails on the steep bits. I guess the threat of a lawsuit meant that they had to add these.

Although if that was the case you'd think they'd ensure the help phone boxes were up and running. If you had a problem at this point, you'd either have to make your way back down the rock to the previous phone or struggle up to the top.

A locomotive takes you around the base of the mountain and does the lap in just under an hour.
During the trip you're given some background to the area and how important the trainline was to the people there when it was first built.

15 minutes of the train journey is spent at this rather sad music show where they sing train inspired songs such as "locomotion". I felt sorry for the performers having to do this every hour to a train load of people who'd rather just move along.

The park also had a couple of shows to keep people happy. The better of the two was the dog show that had dogs racing around assault courses and catching frisbees. One of the dogs was so fast at doing that that he had to wear socks because he'd burnt the soles off his paws.

The other show was an acrobat thing that had to take place out in the baking sun because of the heights the people got to. This was the reason why I prefered the other show to this one, at least that had shade.

Can't fault the park for its surroundings!

New for this year was the ducks ride which is a guided tour that goes into the lake on the southern side of the rock. I had just missed one of them and didn't fancy hanging around for the next one. I was starting to run out of things to do.

This big barn is home to one of those play areas where kids can shoot foam balls at each other.

This rather normal looking drinking fountain was a cruel joke put out at my expense I think. The buttons to fire the water are on the side of the sinks but the left button operates the right fountain and vice versa. What it really means is that you can't press the button and get your head to the water. Very cruel, especially in the hot temperatures. Had someone else fallen for it I would have been laughing. I guess it serves me right.

The plan had been to stay at the park into the evening when the park uses the rock as a screen for a laser, lights and firework show that comes very highly praised. However I got around everything so quick that I wasn't prepared to wait around for it. As I left the park they were putting out signs for cheaper entry, so had I left this park to the afternoon I could have had cheaper entry, got around the park and seen the light show. Well I know for next time!

Time to hit the beach, Myrtle Beach that is.