Stone Mountain Ga. 2011 Highland Games

Stone Mtn, Ga Oct 2011

We had a mini family reunion At Stone Mountain. (Our 2nd annual). Me and Patti/Ron and Nang/Brandon, Jodie, and Cameron/Veronika, Dan and Adeline/ Brandon’s Father in law Rufus and his wife Susan.

Thursday 10/13/11
Patti and I left Fairborn Thursday afternoon at 2 pm. We had all our gear loaded into the Camry. We had leased a RV motor home and would pick it up the next day 6 miles from the park near Atlanta. Patti and I drove for 5 hours and spent the night just north of Knoxville at a Holiday Inn.

Friday 10/14/11
The next morning we enjoyed our complimentary breakfast- complimentary being one of my favorite things, and we were on our way by 9 am.

We arrived at our RV rental place in Tucker, GA on the west side of Atlanta about 12:30 pm. We could not check into the park until 2:00 pm so Patti and I got lunch at a little local Mexican place. After lunch we went to ‘Great Escapes’ to get the RV. It was a 27’ Class A, about 11 years old. The manager gave us a 45 minute ‘how to’ walk around. Patti followed me in the Camry and we drove the 6 miles to the campground. The drive there was easy. I was still a little nervous driving the rig.

We got to the campground fine. I got a tad cranky when I found out they had double booked my lake view site that was next to Ron’s site. The other ‘bookee’ got there before me. I made my reservation in June and confirmed it a week prior to the trip. All was good till I got there.

We ended up with a large site, not on the water but it was large enough for 2 rigs and it was a full hook up. Ron moved over and onto our site. Technically we were not supposed to put 2 RVs on one site. But I think they knew by now that ‘Clan Little’ was a cranky clan.

Patti and I made chili for the entire group for Friday night. I know- chili, and sitting around the campfire later… Blazing saddles ‘Little’ style. We did have a campfire that night and socialized and had smores and toasted marshmallows and talked… and laughed.

Saturday 10/15/11
We had a community cooking area. The next morning Patti and I had fried potatoes, bacon and fried eggs. Ron fixed omelets and potatoes for his family. I love the smell of camp cooking. Both RVs had stoves but it is more fun to cook outdoors. I have propane 2 burner stove that I used.

After breakfast clean up we took the campground shuttle bus to the other side of the park to go to the Highland games. We got there in time for the opening ceremonies. The opening ceremonies consisted of a combined mass band made up of 300 pipers and 200 drummers. The music was awesome. It sent a chill to my bones and watered my eyes.

We walked around for a bit and saw all the different family clan tents and exhibits. There was a guy holding a 50 pound mace and challenging others to hold it for a count of ten. I saw a Navy guy do it and he did ok getting wobbly about 7 seconds. I asked they guy if my Soldier Nephew (Brandon) could try it. Brandon made it look easy. I decided not to try it and did not embarrass myself or the USAF.

I got a couple of corn dogs for lunch from a food vendor. I am fairly certain corn dogs are a traditional Scottish food. I bought Patti a Scottish hooded sweatshirt and I got a t-shirt that said, “Scotch: Making white men dance since 1494”.

That night we cooked steaks on the grill and had baked potatoes (Microwaves in the RVs came in handy for the taters). ‘Camp Little’ was a little smaller tonight. Veronika and her family had to leave because her husband had to work Sunday and Jody and Cameron had left for home earlier as well.

Sleeping in the RV beat the heck out of a tent. We had a queen sized bed, fridge w/freezer, and bathroom w/shower. We were near a camp shower and bathroom but the bathroom in the RV was convenient for those middle of the nights when nature called.

Sunday 10/16/11

I cooked French toast and sausage, and Brandon made breakfast sandwiches. Around Noon, Rufus, his wife Susan and Brandon left. This left just me and Patti and Ron and Nang. I am not sure why folks kept leaving- The chili had already worked its way through Ron.

In the afternoon the four of us took a drive around the park. We found a covered bridge that was very pretty (you can see it in Nang’s Facebook album).

Sadly, we did a few chores to break camp then grilled pork chops for dinner and had some more baked potatoes. We ate a little early because we had decided to go to a story teller tour at the plantation at the park. It was fun. The story tellers were very good and the stories were post civil war era with some ghost and humor mixed together.

No campfire tonight. Ron did visit for a bit and chatted with us in our RV.

Monday 10/16/11
Time to go. Transferred all the gear from the RV to the car and cleaned it for turn in. We said our good byes with Ron and Nang and left camp around 9 am. Again, Patti was following in the Camry as I drove the RV.

Leaving the park and entering the highway we had to merge from the right during late morning Atlanta traffic, cross 3 lanes and exit left in about ¼ mile. On a fun scale that rated below having a tooth pulled. But, we made it through and across the traffic. Got the RV gassed up and then turned back in.

An 8 ½ hour drive home with a lunch stop at Shoneys.