June 12-15,
2019 (Part 2)
High Falls
State Park, Jackson, GA
On our
second trip into the Atlanta area we went to Stone Mountain Park to celebrate
my birthday.
Stone
Mountain Park has a wide variety of family-friendly activities. We purchased our tickets on-line in
advance. There are many options for
tickets. We chose the Adventure Bundle
which included access to all attractions including the summit skyride, scenic
railroad, mini golf, laser show with reserved seating and unlimited popcorn and
beverage. The pass is a VIP pass which
allowed us front-of-the-line access to all attractions and it also included
free pictures taken by park photographers at different attractions.
The top
attraction at the park is the Summit Skyride, a high-speed Swiss cable car that
provides a stunning view of the Confederate Memorial Carving as it transports
guests more than 825 feet to the top of Stone Mountain. There are amazing views of the Atlanta
skyline.
At Camp
Highlight Outpost, Monte challenged himself as he made his way through the rope
course of SkyHike.
Closed-toe shoes were
required so I could not do the course because I was wearing sandals. (That’s my story and I’m sticking to it).
We had a
good-natured rivalry as we puttered around the mini golf course.
We were following a large group so we were
constantly waiting for our turn. There
was a large group of teenagers following us who didn’t wait their turn on
several holes. It was a little rude.
Monte wanted
to rest his feet so he sat on a park bench while I toured Historic Square, a
collection of original buildings from around the state of Georgia, built
between 1793 and 1875. Each structure
was moved from its original site and restored. I enjoyed going through the houses so much that I forgot to take pictures.
Another
attraction that we really enjoyed was viewing Ice Age: No Time for Nuts in
4D. Scrat, Ice Age’s resident nut-crazed
squirrel travels through time battling a wonky time machine that zaps his
beloved nut for a ride.
Even though
Megabugs is more geared toward children we took a walk though the exhibit. Some of the bugs come to life as they crawl,
fly and dig. Some of the megabugs
included in the exhibit are a 15-foot Emperor Dragonfly, a 20-foot Hissing
Cockroach, and a 50-foot Madagascan Fire Millipede.
The trip on
the Scenic Railroad lasts 25 minutes and travels five-miles around the mountain
in an open-air car.
The ZUZU
African Acrobats are amazing athletes who perform high energy entertainment
including limbo, contortion and pyramid building.
At lunchtime
we ate a picnic lunch we had brought along with us.
At dinnertime we chose to eat at Base Camp
BBQ. It was reasonably priced and
delicious.
The evening
was capped off with a spectacular laser show with state-of-the-art digital
graphics that featured lights, music, lasers, fireworks, flame cannons and
choreographed drone flights.
I had a
great birthday with my sweetie. The
weather was perfect and having a VIP pass just made it that much more special.
On our final
day at High Falls State Park we hiked the High Falls Trail.
The trail descends a series of wooden
platforms along the river, catching increasingly better views of the
whitewater-filled waterfall.
