Our Summer Road Trip to Myrtle Beach - Complete - 1/21 - Page 2 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Thanks to everybody for joining me ... on to the report:
Day 1 - Friday, June 29
We woke up and started getting ready, and Jay got home after a few minutes. While I went through my regular routine of getting myself and Joshua ready, Jay packed up the cooler and loaded it and our other things into the car as I got them ready. Our departure time was set for 7:30, I believe. It's hard to remember now if we left on time or not, but I'm betting we were running a few minutes late, as that's been the case on our last few trips. I didn't make any notes as to what time we left, or arrived at any of our scheduled stops. One more reason to have PassPockets ...
Our first leg of the journey was about a 2 ½ hour drive across I-20 to the Alabama border, where we stopped at the Alabama Welcome Center to have our morning snack. Jay got a little rest along the way.
The next portion of our trip was very short - only about an hour and 15 minutes. And even though we had just had a small snack, we were going to be eating lunch at the next stop, which was a rest area on the interstate. Normally I would have preferred to drive further than that, but there were no other rest areas between there and the Georgia state line, so this was our only option. It was located just past Tuscaloosa. Seems like this was the one that still had construction going on, and the picnic tables were roped off. We simply ate in the car.
After eating we continued driving along I-20, although I did take the 459 loop around Birmingham. Towards the end of the loop, just before getting back on I-20, I could see a terrible storm coming up. I think it was around this point or shortly after that I developed my headache. I believe it was a combination of the storm and the heavy traffic and unfortunately it lasted well past suppertime. This portion of the drive was a little over 2 hours, then we stopped at the Georgia Welcome Center to have our afternoon snack. We also picked up a few brochures and coupon booklets while we were here.
We only had about another 90 minutes to drive before reaching our hotel for the next two nights. Heading into Atlanta, I realized we might be in trouble since we were arriving just at the end of rush hour. I watched the message signboards over the highway - one said that there was a stalled vehicle ahead. Should we take the loop the entire way around south of Atlanta? That was so far out of the way that it didn't seem worth it. But when we reached the point where the loop branched off, there appeared to be no delays ahead so we stayed straight on I-20. There was indeed a stalled vehicle, but it was in the process of being moved and traffic was easily moving around it.
To reach our hotel we would have to take the loop North on the opposite side of Atlanta. When we got there, I was glad that's the direction we were heading, since traffic ahead of us was at a standstill heading out of town. We headed north against the traffic, took the exit going toward Stone Mountain, and after a few miles reached our hotel, the Comfort Inn and Suites. I got out and checked us in, then we drove around back to get a parking space close to our room. We grabbed the few things we would need for the next couple of days, including our cooler and other food and got settled into our room.
Our room was nice - just a basic Comfort Inn room, with a refrigerator and microwave. Jay wanted to go get supper at the McDonald's a couple of doors down, but by this point my headache was so bad I told him there was no way I was going anywhere. : I convinced him to take Joshua and eat supper, and he brought me back some fries and a Coke. In the meantime I took some Tylenol and laid down to rest. After a little while I started to feel better, and organized our papers and did a little reading.
When Jay got back and I ate, we talked about what we should do while in town. We knew that we would be at Stone Mountain all day tomorrow, but we were debating whether we had time to do something Sunday morning before we headed over to Myrtle Beach. Jay had picked up brochures for the CNN tour and the World of Coke downtown. They both sounded really interesting, but after much discussion we felt we should save those for another trip - maybe one day we could make a trip just to Atlanta. They offer a CityPass for admission to I think 6 attractions, and that sounded like a good deal. Another reason we passed this time around was the parking situation. Jay said if he knew we could go directly to one place, park, and go in and see it, he would do it. But it looked like parking was going to be a challenge, so perhaps we will "do" Atlanta one day in the future.
Having made up our minds as to our itinerary for the rest of our stay in Atlanta/Stone Mountain, we got ready for bed and pulled out everything we would need for tomorrow. We looked over the Stone Mountain Park brochures we had picked up at the welcome center, and looked over the show schedule and operating hours I had gathered online. There were so many options we knew we wouldn't be able to see half of it. We picked out a few things we really wanted to do, and then decided we would see how much time we had left and make a decision at that point as to what else to see. ~Lights out time!
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Ah, the headache was nothing compared to the Myrtle Beach Arrival Day Blues ... but that's another chapter!
On to the picture portion of the report ...
Day 2 - Saturday, June 30
We all slept pretty well during the night, and woke up refreshed and ready to go. This hotel offers a fairly decent breakfast, so Jay took Joshua down the hall to eat while I finished getting ready. Once I finished, I joined the boys in the breakfast area. By the time I arrived Jay had finished eating, so he went back to the room. I encouraged Joshua to eat a little faster, and eventually we also went to the room to get ready. We slathered ourselves with sunscreen and got our fanny packs and cameras together, then drove down the road to Stone Mountain Park. Stone Mountain Park: Georgia theme park in Atlanta
It didn't take long to arrive at the front gate. We paid our $8 cash admission/parking fee and were handed a driving map in return. The property is huge, and includes two hotels, a campground, golf course and several museum/attraction areas. Jay thought it would be best to park in the main lot, and we were one of the first ones there.
the front gate/ticket office
Because you can enter the property without buying a ticket (and just buy tickets for individual attractions) there are no turnstiles. We walked around the front area waiting for the ticket booths to open.
water clock - except for the year, it appeared to be keeping accurate time
the treehouse that Joshua could have spent the whole day in - a good shot of the bowling ball contraption in the middle that I'll try to describe later - all those wires that go up three stories, looks like a sculpture
a shot of the town (Crossroads) area before opening
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While waiting we discovered they were having a character breakfast - we saw Spongebob Squarepants, a duck from the Ducks ride, and Bob and Larry from the VeggieTales walk by to go into the restaurant. Joshua said hello to Spongebob; I failed to have my camera out at the time.
Finally Jay was able to purchase our wristbands. At 10:00 only a few things were open, and we chose the Great Barn. It is a three-story building full of foam balls that you shoot through air cannons. However, this one is themed - you have to help the family get the harvest in. You get a barcoded wristband when you enter, and type your name and age into the computer. As you pass all the different stations, you can participate in various "challenges". The ones on the first floor were easy - like "put 3 plums in" or something like that. Every time you completed a challenge you swiped your wristband across the sensor and they credited your account with a certain number of points. As you go, the challenges get more difficult, like aiming the cannon toward a target, or working together to balance two buckets, etc. Eventually you work your way to the top floor, dump your remaining balls for a few extra points, and slide down the 3-story slide. You can check the screen for the high scorers list, but Joshua never made it for his age group. The air cannons making all those popping noises were too much for him, and he really wasn't into it. We played for a while, then gave up. One day perhaps noises won't bother him as much.
Jay was really looking forward to riding the skyway to the top of the mountain, so we walked that direction. On the way we passed Memorial Hall and went inside.
There was a museum here which told about the process of creating the carving. We looked around for a few minutes and watched the ending of the movie.
detail of the horse's bridle
as seen from the museum
detail of a collar
this is a replica of course; the sign informs you that this spot (on the actual carving) was a favorite photo-op for the carvers - HA! - I just noticed Joshua is doing his SpiderMan hand in this picture
The restaurant in this building was just a sandwich shop, and we decided to eat at the café by the skyride station. On our way out of the building we stopped in the gift shop and purchased a few items: the official souvenir book of the park, another book that told the story of creating the carving, a plastic snowglobe for Joshua and a crystal with the carving inside for Jay.
We were getting pretty hungry by now, and walked toward the Big Rock Café. I was rather disappointed to discover it was just pizza. All the nearby options were just snack stands, and since we didn't know what might be on top of the mountain we decided to just eat here. Jay and I both got a pepperoni combo and Joshua had the cheese combo. While eating we watched the tram cars come and go at the station outside the window.
Great updates Christie!!! I visited Stone Mountain once when I was even younger than Joshua, but I can still remember that walk up the mountain! Great photos!!
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me and Joshua walk down to the fence to get a better look
detail of the rock (granite) This reminds me - I guess I should explain Stone Mountain to those of you who aren't familiar with it. It is the largest exposed granite monolith in the world - 1683 feet above sea level, 825 feet above the surrounding ground.
geodesic survey marker at the top
Joshua started asking what the white and yellow lines were on the rock surface. I explained that it was to mark the trails. I asked him if we should walk the trail down the mountain, or ride the tram car. He chose the trail, and I did too, so Jay was outnumbered on riding down.
After a restroom break inside we came back out and started down the trail.
Along the trail we stopped a couple of times to rest. Somehow, on this large chunk of granite, trees can find room to grow. So when we found a nice shady spot we would stop for a few minutes. Eventually we made it to the bottom, where there's this flag display:
The trail sign for those starting at the bottom and hiking up
After another restroom break, we decided to wait on the train instead of hiking back to the Crossroads area. We weren't sure how long it would be until the train came, and Jay walked over to the Confederate Hall museum building. He came back after just a couple of minutes, however, because there was a power outage and they were asking everybody to leave the building. He was disappointed, as he said it looked very interesting inside. It wasn't much longer and the train pulled in:
The leg of the journey from here back to the Crossroads was the short part of the train's route, so it didn't take long to make it back. We got off and started looking for somewhere to have a snack. Just across from the station was an ice cream stand. The receipt says we got two bowls of vanilla, but I know one of them was a feature flavor, maybe pecan praline? We sat down on a bench in the shade and enjoyed our snack. By the time we finished, the power had come back on and the gift shop at the train station had reopened. After looking around for quite a while, all we left with was a Max and Monty vehicle set to add to Joshua's Thomas train collection. (They are the dump trucks ... I didn't know )
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I didn't make any notes as to what time we left, or arrived at any of our scheduled stops. One more reason to have PassPockets ... 
I think it was around this point or shortly after that I developed my headache. I believe it was a combination of the storm and the heavy traffic and unfortunately it lasted well past suppertime. 
This portion of the drive was a little over 2 hours, then we stopped at the Georgia Welcome Center to have our afternoon snack. We also picked up a few brochures and coupon booklets while we were here. 
I watched the message signboards over the highway - one said that there was a stalled vehicle ahead. Should we take the loop the entire way around south of Atlanta? That was so far out of the way that it didn't seem worth it. But when we reached the point where the loop branched off, there appeared to be no delays ahead so we stayed straight on I-20. There was indeed a stalled vehicle, but it was in the process of being moved and traffic was easily moving around it.
We headed north against the traffic, took the exit going toward Stone Mountain, and after a few miles reached our hotel, the Comfort Inn and Suites. I got out and checked us in, then we drove around back to get a parking space close to our room. We grabbed the few things we would need for the next couple of days, including our cooler and other food and got settled into our room. 
: I convinced him to take Joshua and eat supper, and he brought me back some fries and a Coke. In the meantime I took some Tylenol and laid down to rest. After a little while I started to feel better, and organized our papers and did a little reading.
They both sounded really interesting, but after much discussion we felt we should save those for another trip - maybe one day we could make a trip just to Atlanta. They offer a CityPass for admission to I think 6 attractions, and that sounded like a good deal. Another reason we passed this time around was the parking situation. Jay said if he knew we could go directly to one place, park, and go in and see it, he would do it. But it looked like parking was going to be a challenge, so perhaps we will "do" Atlanta one day in the future.
We picked out a few things we really wanted to do, and then decided we would see how much time we had left and make a decision at that point as to what else to see. ~Lights out time!
Glad you made it to Atlanta 
Sorry about the headache 
PassPorter Guide Author
Sorry about the headache. 
You get a barcoded wristband when you enter, and type your name and age into the computer. As you pass all the different stations, you can participate in various "challenges". The ones on the first floor were easy - like "put 3 plums in" or something like that. 
Every time you completed a challenge you swiped your wristband across the sensor and they credited your account with a certain number of points. As you go, the challenges get more difficult, like aiming the cannon toward a target, or working together to balance two buckets, etc. Eventually you work your way to the top floor, dump your remaining balls for a few extra points, and slide down the 3-story slide. 
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