Stone Mountain

The Civil War was a terrible time in United Sates history. Brother against brother...state against state. A lot of casualities on both sides, and some people are still fighting the war.

Stone Mountain Park honors 3 of the Southern generals. Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee, and Jefferson Davis.

It is a huge piece of granite. The carving is the largest bas relief carving in the world. The carving is 400 feet above the ground, and measures 90 feet high and 190 feet long. The top of the mountain is 1,686 feet, and is 825 above the surrounding ground.

Yes...you can walk up it, and yes...I did. 1.2 miles up...1.2 miles down. Smooth big rocks, and ice and water made it pretty tough. I put a few shots of the hike, and other features of the park on my Flickr Page. Quite a place. I stayed for about 3 hours...could have stayed longer.

But...miles had to be driven. Twice today...I had to belt out a couple of songs. When I crossed the river near Atlanta...I had to sing...Down by the river called the Chattahoochee...it gets hotter than hootchie cootchie. When I stopped for gas...I asked a local..."Just how hot is hootchie cootchie?" He spit a huge chaw of tobacco on my shoe. Some people have no sense of humor.

The second song was another river. This time in Florida. Way down upon the Swanee River...far, far away. At that point...I was about 1100 miles from my home.

I pulled into our condo at 7:30 p.m. Tired. Beat. Spent...but nothing that a good nights sleep won't take care of.