We had the shortest of trips this week, as my wife and I visited Atlanta without the kids. The purpose was twofold. My wife wanted to compare notes with work peers with whom she doesn't normally converse and see how her job is done in another part of the country. She also wanted to go with me to a Braves game and check another baseball stadium off the list. We were able to achieve both goals. After flying together Tuesday morning, and exploring a little that day, I flew back to Minnesota Wednesday morning and she stuck around another day and a half, returning Thursday evening. Her parents stayed with the kids and, besides some clear over-tiredness upon my return, everything went great. It was lovely getting some alone time with my wife. And we got out of there before the hurricane hit. My wife noticed quite a few flight attendants on her flight home the night before the storms arrival.
I could've written a post just about The Battery, the complex surrounding and including Truist Park, home of the Braves. It's a super nice area built all at once, I believe, that creates a sort of urban feel out in the suburbs. We got some food and drinks, saw the Braves drumline and a huge crowd gathering for a replica jersey giveaway (which we still got even without waiting in line for an hour+), it was a good time. The stadium was fun too. It didn't feel as new as it actually is and was a comfortable place to watch a game. Sometime I should finally do a major league ballpark ranking. As of now we've been to 17 different parks. Truist, on my initial reaction, would be somewhere in the 6-8 range. More on that another time. One note if you go there. It does seem you need to buy parking through the Braves, all the lots around appear to be owned by them, and I saved a bit of money buying in advance on my phone.
Before we made it to The Battery we made a stop at what's supposedly the most popular tourist attraction in Georgia, Stone Mountain Park. About 30 minutes (whether from the airport or downtown) west of Atlanta, Stone Mountain is a large state-owned park with a variety of attractions and events throughout the year. There's hiking trails, a lake and campgrounds, a historic square, an area with shopping and restaurants and kid's activities, there's even multiple golf courses. I found it slightly amusing that you pay to enter ($20 for the day or $40 for the year), where you can then drive around a big loop and park, setup kind of like many malls, but most of the rest requires you to pay again, with an 'attractions ticket.' The main draw is of course the mountain itself that everything else is centered on.
I wanted to go to Stone Mountain because I'd heard it was one of the top places to visit in Atlanta and because there's a Swiss cable car that takes you up to the top, an 800 foot rise, in only about three minutes. My research into the matter was about that deep. We learned that day you can buy just a ticket for the car and that's what we did after getting there. It being a Tuesday in September there wasn't a line and we were able to go up and down without much hassle. You can also walk up in what appears to be a fairly easy hike, btw.
First of all, the mountain is fascinating geologically. We learned at the top, from a couple signs, about how the mountain formed over time and why it's so exposed, but it's still a little hard to comprehend. It looks like an enormous rock crashed down into the landscape and is totally out of place. It was overcast, almost smoggy, that day, which was a bummer in one respect, with Atlanta and a fair amount of the surroundings obscured, but the views from the top were still spectacular. And then we weren't baking up there. I definitely expected that to be a sweaty day and it wasn't bad at all. I didn't even change before the game!
Then there's the other thing. Though it appears that this has been a recreational area for as long as Americans have lived near there, and was a Native American site long before that, the purpose of the park as currently established was a kind of monument to the Confederacy. This is plainly seen in the massive carving in the side of the mountain you pass right by in the cable car. Depicting Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson, all on their favorite horses, it's the largest bas-relief carving in the world. From a distance, 90 feet high, 190 feet wide and 42 feet deep doesn't look that huge, until you get closer. Initially the plans for the carving were even grander, but following controversy and funding problems it eventually was scaled back. Overall it took from 1925 to 1972 to complete (perhaps a lot more recent than you'd think), with several lengthy stoppages, and even with the lessened design it's still thought of as a Confederate version of Mount Rushmore. Oh, and in case it wasn't clear, the park officially opened on April 14, 1965, 100 years to the day of Lincoln's assassination.
I'll say it was definitely worth the stop for the cable car ride and our short time up on the barren top. But I did like seeing the carving too. I wonder if this place will ever go the way of Richmond, though there's so many other things going on the transition away from solely being a celebration of the Confederacy is well on its way. A huge carving would also not be as easy to destroy as are statues, even big ones. Regardless, it was an interesting place and I'm glad we saw it.
Gotta love the South.
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