Georgia on my mind...

Last weekend I got it into my head to take a nice leisurely drive into Georgia...yup I had Georgia on my mind. :D But first I had a few stops to make...

First, to my favorite street in town...Coffee Street and home to my favorite coffee shop (so far) in Greenville, Coffee Underground.

Next it was off to my favorite restaurant I've found (so far) Tommy's Ham House. It may not look like much...but boy can they make a breakfast right! Plus you can't see the biscuits...because I may or may not have already eaten them. :D

Then it was down into Georgia with my ipod full of ridiculously idealistic and romanticized songs about Georgia.

My destination was the Stone Mountain Park, apparently it is Georgia's number one tourist attraction.

Originally the park was built as a memorial for those who died in the Civil War. The carving etched into the side of the mountain depicts from left to right President Davis, General Lee and General Jackson. It stands as the highest relief sculpture in the world, bigger then Mt. Rushmore which took me by surprise.

Around the base of the mountain an entertainment and attraction village as grown up. My favorite was the glass blowing demonstration.

Around the base of the sculpture is a memorial yard with a flag and a brief history of each of the states that seceded from the union as well as quotes from all the generals lining the pathways.

The most interesting part of the park for me was the museum which had three videos and various artifacts. In one of the display cases was the artifacts of a soldier who had died in battle, including the contents of his pockets. In one of his pockets was branch from a tree from a Revolutionary War Battlefield. He wrote in a letter to his wife that he had collected it a souvenir. It struck me as ironic that he had wanted to preserve a piece of history and now had wound up in a musuem of his own, for it was his widow that spearheaded the effort to build Stone Mountain.

I decided to end the day proper, by eating BBQ, yup I had a rough day! :D