Stone Mountain in the Fall – Go See the Snow!
As many of you know my family lives in Florida. And while I love everything about my adopted state, I still really miss fall in the midwest even after all of these years in the south. Most years we travel to my sister’s house in Kentucky for Thanksgiving and over the years this has evolved into a mini fall weather treat for us that we all look forward to. While fall has for the most part given way to winter in Ohio where I am from by the time Thanksgiving rolls around, it is still very much fall weather in the deep south when we pass through Georgia and Tennessee from Florida to Kentucky each year.
Two years ago we had to adjust the day we were leaving for Kentucky and I was having a hard time figuring out how we could overnight in the mountains on the way to Kentucky without messing up our arrival time at my sister’s. No matter how I adjusted things we were going to end up spending the night in Atlanta and I was bummed we would miss our usual time in Tennessee like we typically do. My husband and I pulled up the map to decide where to stop for the night and for whatever reason we decided to google Stone Mountain to see if there was anything fun and interesting happening Thanksgiving week. I am so glad that we did! I had never heard about Stone Mountain’s annual Snow Mountain and Stone Mountain Christmas festival and I was able to snag tickets for the day and a room at the Marriott with the most gorgeous view. It was the best way to stop over on our way home for Thanksgiving and my kids got to see “SNOW” and stunning fall foliage all in one place which for Floridian kids is so darn exciting!
HOW TO GET TICKETS
Tickets for Snow Mountain are typically released in the fall. Check out this link for details.
WHERE TO STAY
We stayed at The Stone Mountain Inn by Marriott. Our package included breakfast at the Inn’s gorgeous Mountain View restaurant. The Inn is located within the park and gives you access to beautiful hiking trails and amazing views. There was a roaring fire in the lobby that my kids thought was crazy cool. Again, roaring fireplaces are a bit of a novelty for Floridians! We are pretty easy to impress!
WHAT TO DO
Different ticket packages give you access to different things. We had an all access pass that gave us access to snow tubing and an area of snow where the kids could build snowmen (their first time building a snowman!) as part of the Snow Mountain portion of the pass. We also hiked some and rode had a pass to ride the gondola up the mountain. The leaves were still in full show and the views along many of the paths were incredible. The pass we purchased also gave us access to the Stone Mountain Christmas festival full of lights and Christmas music performances. We even got to see Santa! There were little shops with ornaments and souvenirs and food vendors selling hot meals as well as hot chocolate and coffee.
WHAT TO BRING
Despite growing up in the midwest, I have been a southerner for more than 15 years which means I am a delicate hot house flower these days when it comes to cold temperatures! We all took our ski gear which meant, ski coats, ski pants, hats and gloves and were glad we did. Many heartier folks were in regular jackets and hats but high 40s and an overcast sky meant we were chilly! My advice is to layer and bring more than you need that way you can take layers off if you do not need them.
While I am guessing Snow Mountain and Stone Mountain Christmas are one of those cool things that Atlanta area families look forward to each year, it is definitely worth a visit if you are passing through the Atlanta area in the holiday season. It will definitely be a must do for us this year as we head to Kentucky for Thanksgiving. My kids can’t wait to go tubing again. Have you been to Snow Mountain? If so what did you think?