Spend the holidays in someone else’s home
Location: Grant Mansion
Date taken: Dec. 15, 2013
Atlanta boasts several home and loft tours throughout the year, but Grant Park’s is one of the few that combines a tour with the holidays. If you love in-town neighborhoods, historic houses and holiday decorations, then add the Candlelight Tour of Homes to your December to-do list. You’ll see modern upgrades and creative remodels to homes that have been standing for more than a century. You’ll get a feel for Grant Park now — and then, including who was Lemuel P. Grant and why was golf legend Bobby Jones born in his home.
Scare a scarecrow
Location: Atlanta Botanical Gardens
Date taken: October 3, 2014
Fall is the season for pumpkins, apples, golden leaves and amazing weather. At the Atlanta Botanical Gardens, it’s also the season for Scarecrows in the Garden. Local businesses and organizations show their creativity in transforming this farm figure into an urban dweller. Stroll the gardens in the fall and you’ll get an extra dose of art along the paths — some scary, some playful and a few wonderfully classic.
Find your sacred space
Location: Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Annunciation
Date taken: October 5, 2013
Atlanta has long been known for its place along the South’s Bible Belt. While many churches have left Atlanta’s downtown in favor of the suburbs, many still hold a prominent place in the urban landscape, including Martin Luther King Jr.’s Ebenezer Baptist Church. But other faith traditions also have a presence in the metro area — from the tiny First Existentialist Congregation in Candler Park to the Buddhist Drepung Loseling Monastery in Brookhaven to the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir Atlanta in Lilburn, the world’s largest Hindu temple outside of India. No matter your faith, there’s likely a sacred space for you here.
Get lost in a corn field
Location: Uncle Shuck’s Corn Maze
Date taken: October 12, 2013
Once you enter the giant (yes, more than 4 miles of paths) corn maze at Uncle Shuck’s, you mind be tempted to pull out your smartphone compass. But really, where’s the fun in that? Wander around, hit the checkpoints, check out the views from the raised platforms, get lost and have fun next to corn stalks growing 12 feet tall. Uncle Shuck’s is just one of many corn mazes dotting the North Georgia landscape in the fall. You can find haunted corn mazes, trivia corn mazes, kids corn mazes (made from berry bushes) and all sorts of fall activities (hay rides, funnel cakes, pony rides, etc.).
Show your pride in a parade
Location: Atlanta Pride Parade
Date taken: October 13, 2013
It is easily the longest (about 2.5 hours) and most elaborate parade in Atlanta each year. Thousands of people line the streets for the Atlanta Pride Parade — one of the highlights of the annual Pride festival. Local businesses, politicians, corporations, places of worship, community groups, nonprofits and more create elaborate floats, don costumes and wave rainbow flags in support of equality for the LGBTQ community. It is, all at the same time, celebratory and emotional.
Eat an apple a day
Location: Mack Aaron’s Apple House
Date taken: October 12, 2013
Cooking apples. Eating apples. Dried apples. Apple pies. Apple cider. Apple donuts. Apple slushies. Apple butter. Do you prefer a Jonagold? Mutsu? Honeycrisp? September Wonder? Rome Beauty? Pink Lady? Take a short day trip north to Ellijay, Ga., and you’ll find as many apples and apple goodies as you can carry home. October is the prime time for traveling to apple country, primarily because the Georgia Apple Festival is held that month. So, if you go, get an early start and know that the apple houses with kids’ activities (hay rides, apple picking, petting zoos, pig races, etc.) are the most jam-packed. Looking for a quieter, more relaxed and personal apple shopping experience — try one of the smaller houses.
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