The last of February...a trip to Snow Mountain, Day 3

Day 3 of our trip was a day of relaxing exploration of the resort and of Stone Mountain Park. We again started off with the too-good-to-be-true breakfast buffet.

Then, the kids went down to the pool area where the life-sized chess and checker boards had been beckoning them the entire trip.

Once they were satisfied that they'd played enough, we all got ready and headed out to explore the park. We began with a photo op just outside the entrance to the resort, where a nice passerby took our family photo so we could all be in a picture!

 

 

Danny also got to show off his muscles for the camera. Then we drove a little ways and got out of the car and walked toward to historic covered bridge.

 

 

 

 

We then went to the old mill, where water still turns the wheel, but I don't think any grains are ground. the scenery was beautiful, and while we had to dodge a wedding photographer and his subjects, we got some really good shots.

The next stop was the quarry museum where, on the other side of the mountain, they've set up exhibits to show the quarry as it operated up until the 1970s.

At the next stop in the afternoon, George got a few decent shots, but it started to rain pretty heavily, so we decided to again venture just outside the park.

But before we left, George had to snap a shot of his arch nemesis, the bane of his existence, the thorn in his side,... (you get the picture). Each morning at 6:15 or so, this creature and his cohorts would fly just outside our hotel window and give us a wake-up call that only nature can provide.

There is no mistaking that "Honk!"  Next, we ventured out to the Metro Diner, a Greek-owned establishment serving traditional Mediterranean dishes as well as classic diner fare.

Oh, how I wish we had one in Tallahassee. The food was heavenly. We stuffed ourselves, and then headed back to the park (even though we almost didn't make it back across the highway!) to relax for our last night at the hotel. George and I even got some time to ourselves at the hotel lounge, playing pool and watching The A-Team for an hour or so. In all, it was a wonderful day.

The last of February...a trip to Snow Mountain, Day 2

On day 2 of our trip we began our day with the ridiculously good breakfast buffet (the hotel has a package including breakfast - worth it, as it is a little pricey per person) and then off to our reservation at Stone/Snow Mountain!

 

If you've never been to Stone Mountain, it is the state park in Georgia where workers carved likenesses of confederate leaders Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis, and Stonewall Jackson into the side of a huge rock originally used as a stone quarry. During the summer, the park puts on an amazing Southern-themed laser light show on the carving side of the mountain. In the winter, though, they transform the park into a huge tubing hill facing the mountain. You make your reservation for a two-hour tubing session (the earlier in the day, the better and you need to make them far in advance of your trip to ensure you can get a time) and then the conveyor belt takes you up to the top over and over until your time is up. Here are a few shots from our tubing experience.

After tubing, there is a snow play area where kids can throw snowballs (at designated targets - they discourage snowball fights) and build snowmen. We had a great time playing around in the snow.

Now I know my northern friends will balk at the idea of playing in man-made snow, but hey - we're Floridians. We take what we can get!  After playing, we rode in the skylift (yes, George got me on it, but I was looking down the whole way up!) up to the top of the mountain to explore  and enjoy the view at the top.

It was a beautiful day for it, and by the time we got back down, the park was near closing. On a recommendation from our hotel, we went to a local German restaurant and bakery, the Village Corner, just outside the park.

The German food was absolutely delicious, and if you can deal with mediocre service (being from Tallahassee, we felt right at home unfortunately), we highly recommend the place. After eating, we were so tired, and sunburnt if you can't tell from the pictures, that we went straight to bed. What an awesome day!!!

The last of February...a trip to Snow Mountain, Day 1

So, remember when I said I'd post about our trip later? Well, it turned out to be much later, as I've been so busy, it's been hard to know whether to scratch my nose or...what, TMI? Well, anyway, I'm finally going to close out February with a couple of posts about our trip to Stone Mountain, Georgia...or "Snow Mountain" as they like to call it in winter. George and Megan celebrated their birthdays together this year by asking for a trip to Snow Mountain in early February. As I had to reserve the dates far before Christmas, the anticipation was killing us up until the day we left (the 8th). Our first night there (we stayed at the Marriot Evergreen Resort,

and I highly recommend this resort for a very relaxing stay), we ate dinner at the hotel restaurant's seafood buffet. The food was excellent, so good in fact that the kids had to take pictures.

 

Looks delicious doesn't it? After eating, the kids went for a swim in the heated indoor pool. It was an awesome first day of an aweome weekend!  

Fun field trip with Paw paw

In February, Danny's school took the third graders to the Jacksonville Zoo. Paw paw met him there and had fun all day with my boy and his buds. Danny had an "awesome" time, and still hasn't stopped talking about it! Here are some shots from the day, including one of "Steve," his new stuffed snake.

Thanks, Paw paw! I had a blast!