Arabia Mountain pt. 1 - the oddness

My husband and I both had the day off from work Wednesday, and it was beautiful out, so we decided to finally go visit Arabia Mountain. The nature preserve that surrounds Arabia is only about 20 minutes from downtown Atlanta, but we had never been there before! It is similar to the (in)famous Stone Mountain - minus the Civil War relief sculpture, crowds, laser show, and theme park pageantry. Actually, I suppose that the only way it is like Stone Mountain at all is that it too is a granite outcrop.

I get really inspired when I break my routine and take little trips like this. Especially when it's to such a strange, special place.

It is really an impressive concept to try and grasp that when you're out Arabia - you're actually walking on one gigantic rock! The quiet of the park also really adds to the mystique. We didn't see a single other person when we were exploring! (Of course - we were there on a Wednesday during the middle of the day - weekends are probably more eventful).

My friend Leuwam put it perfectly when she commented that walking on Arabia is like walking on the moon. It even has "craters" that make it feel rather moon-like that, for the most part, are filled with water or odd little plants.

These little man-made masoned stacks of stone marked the trail up the mountain for hikers to follow. They also left some feeling with me of the supernatural. Phenomenon like crop circles and Stonehenge came into my mind, even though I know there is a park ranger somewhere who can take credit for this. It's still fun to imagine the fantastic - even when you know what you are thinking it isn't real!