Stone Mountain, Georgia

On Tuesday we moved from Chattanooga, Tennessee to Stone Mountain, Georgia (just outside Atlanta).  We are actually staying in the RV park located in Stone Mountain Park.  I had been to Atlanta on numerous business trips but never had the chance to get out to Stone Mountain to take a look at the carving in the mountain, so it was on my list of places to see.  Fran had worked her before we were married and had the chance to see it.  Before I get to the sightseeing and pictures, let me tell you about our arrival and set up.

I had made the reservation for the park via their website and what it does is give you a list of spaces to choose from that meet the criteria you have input (dates, rig size, connections).  The premium sites are fairly expensive ($57 a night with no weekly rate) and none were available for our stay.  I chose one of the standard full hook-up sites.  I had about 5 to choose from.  I then took a look at the park using the satellite feature in Google Maps and it showed that all the spaces, except for the premium spaces, were amongst the trees.  This most likely meant we would not be able to use our satellite dish.  When we arrived I inquired about a satellite friendly space and was told that some of the premium spaces would work but none were available because of a big arts and crafts festival this weekend.  So, it was onto the space I had picked.  The section where our assigned space was is on the lake and winds through the trees.  However it became quite obvious that they do not spend as much time and money in this section of the park, but rather are focusing their attention on the premium spaces.  We find our space and discover it is next to the bath house and has a raised manhole cover (4 feet off the ground) as part of the site.  I begin to back the trailer in and see that it is going to be difficult to get the trailer level as the site is very rocky and uneven.  As we were surveying the site a campground maintenance worker comes up to me and asks if I actually picked this site as generally they only put smaller rigs in the site.  He recommended we go back up front and see what else is available.  The office gave us 4 other choices, all near our original space.  We settled on one and backed the trailer in.  Fortunately this site was fairly level from side to side as we only had to put one set of blocks under the tires on one side.  The issue was to level it from front to back.  It did not appear the site sloped down that much but as I was lowering the front and watching the level it became evident the front of the trailer might hit the ground.  It got to within 4 inches, but it is level!

I tried our automatic satellite but the trees were too thick for its use, so I pulled out my portable dish to see if I could find the satellite.  I found an opening in the trees that faced southwest and played around with and finally was able to get the satellite up and running.  I am amazed I was able to get it working as the trees are tall and thick here.

On Tuesday evening we took a drive over to the mountain so we could see the carving.  It is pretty cool but I was expecting something bigger (don’t know why). 

On Saturday they put on a light show in the evening which we are planning on attending.

On Wednesday we decided to see the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum and the Martin Luther King Center and Museum.  Both are close to each other and about 20 miles from our park.  First up was the Jimmy Carter Library.  This will be the 7th Presidential library for me, 6th for Fran (there are 13).

The entrance to the museum

Replica of the oval office during his presidency

Nobel Peace Prize won by President Carter

Presidential Medal of Freedom awarded to Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter by President Clinton

This is one of the nicer presidential libraries and the museum was very informative and well laid out.

From there we went to the Martin Luther King Center which is about 2 miles away.  This is actually a group of buildings in a block area near downtown Atlanta.  It includes a museum, the Ebeneezer Baptist Church (original and new one), the King Center and his boyhood home.  Personally I was disappointed with the museum.  It was small, not laid out well and had so many TV’s going showing clips that it was difficult to listen to the one you wanted.  They did have the caisson on display that carried his body during the funeral march.

Across the street from the museum is the original Ebeneezer Baptist Church.  This is where King and his father were pastor’s and where King’s funeral was held.  The park service has a done a fantastic job of restoring and maintaining this church.

Up the block is the house where he was born.

And lastly, nearby is the King Center.  This is where he and his wife Coretta are entombed.