Atlanta: History Center, Stone Mountain & MLK Jr. Site

(Okay, back to Atlanta recaps before I forget what we did XD)

The first place we checked out was the Atlanta History Museum.  I'm not a civil war buff, so I thought it'd be good for us to get our historical bearings, so to speak.

Civil war uniform button. 

The museum staff asked if we'd like to go to the Swan House tour.  I had no idea what that was, but I'm gladd we went, it ended up being the coolest part of the museum!

Georgia is SO GREEN. Love it.

 The Swan house is a giant 1920's mansion. No pictures allowed inside, but it was eccentric and over the top and very cool.

back door.

random purple fungus.

How cool would it be to get married here! :P

Fun fact - the Swan house was used in the Hunger Games - Catching Fire movie (the president's mansion):

(source)

In addition to the mansion and Civil War history, the museum also had a section for the Atlanta olympics.

I enjoyed the section complaining about the ugly mascot. Agreed.

This makes me excited for the Olympics soon~

The museum was nice, and the surrounding mansions on the way to the museum was jaw dropping for this Californian girl who barely knows what an acre looks like. :P

The next stop on our tourist circuit was Stone Mountain.  It's basically...a giant rock. With a giant civil war carving on it.  Strange.

It's weird cause it's just a giant rock.  No other mountains or anything nearby.  There's a laser light show at night, which for unknown reasons I find kinda hilarious.  Too bad we didn't stay that long.

Giant lawn at the base of the mountain.

We had a picnic of Brazilian sandwiches we picked up on the way. SO GOOD.  thinly sliced ham with melty cheese between the ham layers. Also crispy potato fries.

After lunch we took a one-way trip on the sky ride to the top of the rock.

It was kinda surreal up there, like a different planet!

We decided to walk down the mountain to save a few bucks.  The picture doesn't really convey it, but it was really steep!

gross gum tree.

pretty purple berries~

The last stop on our cultural/history trek was the Martin Luther King Jr. Historic Site.

Located at his church, actually!

They still have services at a bigger, non-museum church across the street.

There's also a museum about his life, which was very informative.  One of those museums where you leave with a heavier heart and lots of things to think about.

There might have been more too, but some other parts of the historic site were taped off for renovations.

Anyway, long post - but there's a lot of things to see and do in Atlanta!  Next up, the zoo and aquarium!