I've been to the mountaintop

Previously I mentioned that we were going to dive head first into everything that Georgia has to offer as far as state parks, museums, culture and history. Our latest installment of "All things GA" takes us to a hike at Panola Mountain located in Stockbridge, GA.

It has been on my list for a while but seemingly bothersome minute things like strollers, potty training, pregnancy and bed rest always got in the way of fun. Now that none of that above applies, the crew and I rose early (for a Saturday anyway) and headed for that giant beacon of granite. We walked the smaller self-guided hike that was just a little over a mile long instead of the 2.5 hour guided tour with a Ranger because our girls are still a little too young endure the terrain and the distance of a longer hike. My girls handled the 1+ mile hike like champs because that's part of our weekly workout anyway at a neighborhood park.



I love my hat because it is practical...



The weather was perfect. It was sunny with a few clouds and a gentle breeze, that was a relief when in the shade the tree's understory. The view from the summit was very pretty and I could have stayed longer to enjoy the view but I was starting to get hungry. Tonya + Hunger simply doesn't mix well and should be avoided at all cost. My girls most enjoyed watching the animals in their natural environment. Payton couldn't understand why the lizards kept running from her... that child is fearless and I like it!

After lunch we enjoyed another light trek around Alexander Lake. We watched the turtles sun bathe on a log in the center of the log. My husband was so excited that he scared the turtles back into the water to safety. Mike was convinced that he would capture a turtle and bring it home with us... Good thing for me that the turtles returned back to water in time. I am not interested in having a turtle. That's just one more thing to clean up after. No, thanks!

Next stop... Georgia's Little Grand Canyon!

All things GA or bust!

Recently, we were sitting around talking about our weekend plans and I realized there are so many places that we haven't been to in Georgia considering how long we have lived here. We have been married 9 years (that is another blog post for another day) this August but we have been here longer if you include college. So we decided that we would theme our excursions as "All things GA." This essentially means we are going to use our weekends and other miscellaneous down time to enjoy everything that Georgia has to offer. We have seen majority of the "mainstream" attractions here in Atlanta but not very many attractions off the well-worn tourist path. It is actually a bit pitiful that we have not been more places that speak on the rich history of GA. I can't count the number of weekends that we have complained that we had nothing to do! I can spend a whole afternoon talking about other states and countries that I want to visit but I haven't even played in my own backyard yet. What a shame?

So in order to get prepared I had to acquire a map (of course!) that included all historical landmarks and State Park and I printed a list of museums and other attractions. We made this pledge on New Year's Day and so far we have visited the Jimmy Carter Presidential Museum, Callaway Gardens, Atlanta History Museum during to the last 3 weekends. Let me just say, I have been pleasantly surprised (to say the least) at each place that we visited. Next on our list will be Sweetwater Creek, Panola Mountain, Etowah Indian Mounds, Red Top Mountain, Amicalola Falls and Tellus Museum. That list should keep us busy for the next 6 weeks. I need weather contingency plan for the outdoor activities just in case we get rain, which is not a surprise here in Georgia.