For Peep's sake, have a Happy Easter!

April 17, 2022

Georgia bike day

Did you know that Easter is the only time you can put all of your eggs in one basket? Yup - it's true!

My option for exercise today was to walk up to the top of Stone Mountain to attend the Easter sunrise service or do another bike ride. The pictures on the news from the top of the mountain looked nice but the attendees looked like they were bundled up.

It's a bit over a mile hike to the top and I imagine it would be fairly strenuous. I think that most of the people at the top - there were hundreds - took the cable car up. When we were at the Sky Ride the other day, we saw that they have the option for you to ride the cable car to the top and walk down, or vice versa. Guess which one I'd pick?!

Don's still favoring his foot and it appeared that if the weather gurus were correct in their prediction, then I would have about a 3 hour window in the middle of the day to ride. After that the rain would return.

My legs felt sufficiently recovered to do another loop around the park. But first I had to help Don reposition the trailer on our site to get it more level. That was a job as it required us to rehitch it up to the truck and move all of our hoses, cords and chocks. But it worked and now we don't feel like we're walking downhill between the kitchen and bedroom!

I left him to finish resetting up camp and took off a bit after 11 am. The sun was out, and although in the 60's, it felt much warmer and I soon took off my rain jacket (which I brought with me just in case). I had been afraid that the traffic on the roads would be high with the crowd of people returning from the service, but they had left earlier so it was fine.

Lots of people were out picnicing, walking, running and cycling on this pretty day. A pace line of road riders passed me several times doing multiple loops. I even saw a trike today! He was going the other direction and I think didn't have e-assist since he was going very slowly up the hill. We gave each other a thumbs up and "good job" at the top of the climb.

An interesting fact I learned the other day was that the park was used for several venues in the 1996 Olympics - tennis, archery and track cycling. The Olympic torch was even transported to the top of the mountain via the cable car ride. And I thought this was just another ho hum state park to camp at!

For today's ride, I had decided to take a loop completely around the mountain which I hadn't done before. But first I rode past the Sky Ride, Grist Mill and Covered Bridge before stopping to look at the quarry exhibit.

It was an interesting site with lots of displays covering the history of granite quarrying at the park which started in 1845 and ended in 1978. I learned that the granite was used virtually in every state in the US, as well as the locks for the Panama Canal and steps to the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo. Even Colorado buildings have used the stone.

A railway spur was added to the mountain in 1869 which transported workers to the quarry as well as stone to be shipped out. Laborers were skilled stone cutters from many countries including England, Wales, Scotland, Sweden, Norway, and Italy. It looked like it was a hard job moving those huge blocks of granite.

The exhibit area also had signs about the flowers and wildlife in the park. There weren't any other people around, and it made for a nice peaceful spot to eat my protein bar and banana.

Back on the road, I followed it around the backside of the mountain. This section was new to me but it still had many climbs. I really appreciated that the park had made this road a one-way with separate cycling and pedestrian lanes. That way I had lots of room to wobble my way up the hills! But I stayed in control and never fell over today!

Once I circled the mountain, I reconnected to the road that went around the lake to the campground. Just a few more hills and I was home.

It was about 2 pm and I was happy that I had beaten the rain. Even though I was tired, I really felt stronger on this ride. So maybe all of this hill climbing is helping my legs! But I sure won't complain about flat rides in the future.

Don had reset up our patio, and I spent the rest of the day relaxing and watching the antics of the birds and squirrels. But I was surprised when I looked up to see one acrobatic squirrel in the open feeder tray. I think it must have jumped from a nearby tree which was about 8 ft. away from the pole! Crazy! I know several of you would like a video of them climbing on the slinky but they don't all do it. So catching one in the act is quite hard.

I think the weather guys totally missed the boat today as we only got a few sprinkles in the evening. It looks like dry and warmer weather for the rest of our stay here. So I'm crossing my fingers that Don will be able to bike/dance soon!

Our campsite in Stone Mountain Park is deep in the pines.

There are 2 18-hole golf courses at Stone Mountain Park. The Stonemont Course was designed in 1969 by Robert Trent Jones Sr. and runs along the sides of the hills. It is more challenging than the Lakemont Course which follows the shores of the lake. I liked the little covered bridge on the lake course which mimics the historic one I saw on the other side of the lake.

There is exposed granite all over the park. You only see 1/3 of the mountain above ground and it's estimated that nearly 7 miles extends below the surface.

I stopped at the quarry exhibit today and caught the scenic train as it went over the bridge. If we bought an attraction pass, we could ride this train in open-air cars as it circles the mountain. It is pulled by locomotives from the 1940's. The pass is a little expensive for us.

This cut section of granite was at the exhibit. Notice that it weights 66,000 lbs!

The Stone Mountain Quarry site. The granite was cut in ledges from the face of the mountain.

They had a display listing where the granite has been used. Here is Colorado.

I found this flower on the ground in the campground but don't know what kind of tree it came from?

Look what these folks brought in their RV - a wicker couch and a hammock swing!

Not much sunset color in the sky this evening but it's a good view of the mountain and this friendly goose. I haven't seen any other type of waterfowl other than Canadian Geese.

Today's ride: 11 miles (18 km)
Total: 900 miles (1,448 km)

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