To the Moon & Back!

*****This post was originally written in November, but never published....not sure how I dropped the ball on that one***  OOPS

Happy late Veterans Day to all the Veterans out there! 

JD and I spent our Veterans Day climbing Stone Mountain.  For those of you who don’t know or haven’t heard about Stone Mountain, it is a huge piece of rock right outside of Atlanta.  It has a museum and village area with gift shops and exhibits at the bottom of the ‘mountain’.  During the winter months it is called ‘Snow Mountain’ for the tons of snow they make for people to sled down hills and make snowmen. 

We have been out to Stone Mountain a few times, but never had I actually climbed the mountain.  JD did it a long time ago but was up for the challenge again. 

Climbing Stone Mountain is not your normal hike.  The path is worn rock for the most part and very few trees.  Once we got closer to the top, the scenery made me think of what the moon would look like. 

not so bad....yet...

I wished we would have timed our hike up, but as usual, I forgot.  It was a very active day on the mountain.  A lot of families, school groups, and the overzealous workout types that run the mountain every day.   There was even a guy with a guitar singing.  It was actually very nice.  One of the school groups had a guide and she said that the guitar player usually played shirtless.  We were fortunate that day!

and the killer part

The last bit up the mountain was a killer.  The park had installed hand rails to help people to the top.  There was a little museum and gift shop at the top of the mountain along with a tram that you could ride if you wanted to get to the top but didn’t want the sweat.  It also offered some amazing views of Atlanta.

none of that ATL smog today

It was quite the workout and my butt was definitely sore the next day!