Atlanta, GA
Atlanta Botanical Garden
Friends and Family
While we love our time on the road and travel together really well (meaning we haven’t yet killed each other), one of the nice things about what we are doing is that, occasionally, we get the opportunity to meet up with friends and family along the way. This was one such stop.
Friends
Botanical Garden
As we were turning toward home from our winter getaway, we planned a stop in Atlanta to visit a college friend of John’s and his lovely wife. (Thanks, Chris and Stacie for a great time!). We got to catch up after many years of not seeing each other, see some of the local sights (like the Botanical Garden, and the Atlanta Beltline…both of which are very cool), and enjoy some great food and drinks (and maybe a bit too much of the latter!)
Family
Georgia Aquarium
By a lucky coincidence, our youngest, Blake, and his partner, Sage, had decided to spend part of their spring break in Atlanta while we were there! We visited the Georgia Aquarium together which was terrific. While there is much to see, our favorites were the whale shark (coming in at 27’ long) and the giant Manta Rays (with a wing span of 17’). We also had dinner at the rig which gave us time for some fun conversation!
Stone Mountain
Stone Mountain
Our last day in Atlanta, as we were approaching the end of our trip, we began to prep the rig to go back into storage. After getting it in tip-top shape, we went for a quick hike up Stone Mountain. This is a fairly straightforward hike. The climb itself and having to navigate your way over a lot of rocks are the biggest challenges. It’s 2.2 miles with an elevation gain of 675 feet. When you get to the top, you have a good view of the Atlanta skyline and the Appalachian Mountains. On the way back down, Christina got the crazy idea that we should run…which we promptly did…at least most of the way. Since down is always more treacherous than up, we chose to run through the trees which probably kept us a little safer and definitely helped spare our old legs from the beating they were bound to take!
