North Carolina to Stone Mountain Georgia June 16-17, 2009

After bidding farewell to Chad, his family, and the Hershey Ice Cream guy, Ben and I were back on the road, originally bound for New Orleans, Louisiana. That drive, however, is about 11 hours long and we didn't want to punish ourselves like that, especially since driving on the east coast is as awful as it is. So instead of plunging straight through the night, we stopped in Stone Mountain, Georgia, which is about 10 minutes outside Atlanta. We stayed in a cheap motel for the night, I can't even remember where, and crashed immediately.

The thing that had made us decide to stop in Stone Mountain specifically was, crazily enough, Stone Mountain. It's basically the Confederate version of Mount Rushmore, which the images of Confederate President Jefferson Davis, General Robert E. Lee and Lt. General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson. The mountain is about 825 feet high, and the hiking trail to the top is 1.3 miles. Ben and I figured it was a good way to ease into our future hiking adventures, and to finally get the chance to break in our hiking shoes a bit.

Reaching the top, you get a great view of the entire Stone Mountain Park, and there's a visitors center there to get the necessary post cards, souvenirs, and water. There's also a tram lift that you could ride to the top and back down if you don't feel like trekking up.

Getting back down into the parking lot, we felt a little refreshed for burning off some of the toxins built up from spending so much sedentary time in the car. Getting some sandwiches for the road, we were finally off again and on our way to bubbly, loud, exuberant New Orleans.