Review: Stone Mountain Park & the Pumpkin Festival

I scheduled another field trip for the Straightforward Cousin to Stone Mountain Park on October 1st. We ended up taking the whole crew down to Atlanta with us for Homeschool Day at the park. They were offering an amazing deal to homeschool students--$17.50 for the Adventure Pass. Considering the normal cost of going there and getting the Adventure Pass, this was quite the opportunity. We were also in luck (or so I thought) since it was also the first day of the Pumpkin Festival .

We piled everyone into the Straightforward family car and headed towards Atlanta. First amazing fact--NO BATHROOM BREAKS! Can you believe it? I was shocked. We arrive earlier than expected and the Straightforward Baby decides he is starving (this ended up being a great thing since this gave us plenty of time to do what we needed before lunch). Not a soul is parked around us, so I sit in the front seat to "feed" the baby. As soon as I do, this van pulls up out of nowhere and parks on my side of the car. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? And of course, the dad is driving and pulls up facing me. Not only that, but two brothers also get out of the car ON MY SIDE. Out of the hundreds of parking spots that were around, they chose to park right next to me. Go figure.

Anyway, we decided to check out the Pumpkin Festival first (after the official 1st visit to the very nice restrooms and my 1st official freak out--thinking I had left my camera memory card at home). Stone Mountain--are you kidding me? You can't throw about 75 pumpkins on the ground for sale and call it a festival. Ok, so I am exaggerating just a bit. There were about 50 pumpkins on the ground (at $7.00 a pop). There were also some strategically placed large plastic pumpkins and some cute pumpkin people around the park as well. However, when I hear pumpkin festival, I am thinking all things pumpkin. I expected huge real pumpkins, pumpkin treats, and demonstrations with pumpkins (I am not sure what I thought they would do with the pumpkins, but they are always demonstrating things there, so why not?)

After all our pumpkin dreams had been smashed, (Straightforward Son was still looking for a real pumpkin patch) we headed towards the tramway to the top of the mountain. This is always

a fun trip for me. Something about being on a huge rock with a beautiful blue sky surrounding me is invigorating. Of course, the Straight Son was fighting the trip up on the little car dangling by a thread. However, once we got in and the conductor mentioned popcorn, he brightened right away and entertained everyone for the rest of the trip up. It was the perfect day to be on that rock. There were pools of water from the rain that had fallen the day before and the look of it made you feel like you were on the moon. It was incredible.

After the purchase of some Scooby Snacks (I won't even bother telling you how much that cost) and a trip down on the tramway, we headed towards the plantation. No one explained that we would

have to hike there, but we finally made our way to where it was located. We saw some beautiful old homes and gardens. Several wonderful workers dressed in antebellum clothes were walking around and were so kind to us and the kids. We even got to try tomatoes right off the vine from their garden! They were very good! The best part was the animal area where the kids had to fight off the goats as they tried to eat their clothes. It was hilarious!

We ate a picnic lunch outside the park, then went back to try Sky Hike. I am not one for heights, but this looked like it would be entertaining. The Straightforward Cousin has a huge fear of heights, but he agreed to go with me and the Straightforward Dad. As we slowly made our way across the network of ropes, ladders and boards, the Straightforward Boys spent their time with my aunt and uncle going through the mini Sky Hike. (Ok, so the Straightforward Baby wasn't doing any climbing, but he was having a blast watching his brother!) It's interesting how your fear of heights doesn't seem so bad when you know you are attached to metal and you are trying to figure out how to get across things without making a total idiot of yourself in front of a ton of people.

After Sky Hike, we split up and headed in different directions. My group headed to mini-golf while the other group headed to the museum. Mini-golf was a total bust. We were behind a group of eight people (yeah, so much for the rule of groups of four) and it truly seemed like they were playing every hole twice. Keeping the Straightforward Son from teeing off while other groups were waiting was a challenge, but we still had fun. We quit early to make the last train ride. Ahhhhh.....riding in the fall breeze around a huge rock was nice. It was so nice that the Straightforward Son drifted off to sleep in the seat. Luckily, we caught him before any damage was done.

All in all it was a great trip. I encourage anyone who homeschools to take advantage of this offer next year. We really learned a lot and the workers were incredibly friendly and helpful. Just don't expect a whole lot of pumpkin festivities (or pumpkin juggling--now that would have been a demonstration) while you are there!