Stone Mountain Park in December

Stone Mountain Park is an absolute gem of a resource for nature lovers and fitness-minded folks (the big, dumb carving notwithstanding). Yesterday, we took a quick hike around Venable Lake. The air was crisp, though mercifully a lot warmer than it had been the last couple of days. The pond neighboring the lake was mostly covered in ice, which itself sported boot prints made by some enterprising (and hopefully still breathing) souls.

The littles were in rare form, running and climbing, pretending to run into trees as they scampered along. Their laughter probably annoyed the local squirrels, but caused us no small amount of chuckles and puzzled headshakes. The hike wasn’t long, but we had a blast. Also, the mountain was gorgeous in the late afternoon sunshine. I especially loved how the rock was reflected in the calm water of the lake.