Monday, January 30, 2006

georgia on my mind 1: stone mountain

five days ago, we drove 400 miles to Georgia.

we started out last Friday, sixty miles away from Orlando. plans were made as early as December when the idea of an interstate roadtrip was conceived. together with Sas' aunt and a male friend, we agreed on a six-hour drive to Atlanta to be complemented with a tour of the Coke Museum, Georgia Aquarium and Centennial Park located within the city limits.

a few days before, the plan was changed. instead of Atlanta, it was changed to Miami, which is obviously close (and down south). for whatever reason, we ended up sticking to the original plan, but on a different itinerary. our primay destination would be a few clicks away from downtown Atlanta, and into the heart of a Georgian tourist spot known as: Stone Mountain. (i'll post pics if i can, and if my photos aren't that much blurred).

Stone Mountain is a large slab of granite rock with an elevation of almost 2,000 feet above sea level, and serves as an intangible memorial to the Confederacy during the American Civil War. carved in the face of the mountain are three figures significant to the southern rebellion a hundred plus years ago- - -two of them were generals: Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson; and the other one was the president of the secessionist states: Jefferson Davis. the easiest access to the summit of the mountain is through a cable car (appropriately called Skylift) that would drag you up on a 45-degree vertical climb.

the view from the car:

note the building on the left (with the white pointed bell-tower) is the Confederacy Memorial Museum, one of the largest (or so they say) civil war musuem in the whole south. unfortunately, for us, it was closed during the time we went there. darn. oh, well, next time i'll try to visit gettysburg. hehe.

before we went up the apex of the mountain, we passed by the museum (however, as I'd said, it was closed) and a small bronze plaque commemorating the effort of the southern forces during the civil war. each state that seceded from the Union was given a fitting tribute through erected stone obelisks together with the corresponding state flags.

i have taken the liberty to convert the original photograph to sepia to give a more historic effect.

view of the trail towards the skylift entrance. on the left of trail (not visible in the picture, unfortunately) is a small marker dedicated to the first casualty of the engraving of the mountain, who, as the epitaph stated, was killed when a slab of granite hit the worker in the head and pushed him off the scaffolding.

near this particular trail is the entrance to the park itself, which you can see in the distance, beyond the small clump of wilderness up front. i haven't made a clear shot of that specific place (i'm still in the process of tinkering with my camera), but i can describe how it was set up. since it was weekend and the sparse population of visitors, the minute town at the foot of the mountain resembled somewhat, a ghost town. most shops and eateries were closed as well as few of the picturesque attractions within the town itself. one of the reason why we decided to head towards the direction of the skylift and up the summit.
...

next stop: the summit and the walking trail up the mountain...

latest musing of Etchie at 00:08

1 Comments:

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