Date Night: Kennesaw Mountain

So I know we’ve already talked about Kennesaw Mountain on behalf of Forced Family Fun, but I didn’t go with my family — I went for a fun (not forced!) date night with my boyfriend.

We got there about 5:00 p.m. and, despite the imminent sun set, decided we’d climb all the way to the top.

One of my favorite things about hiking Kennesaw Mountain is that you can choose how much of a workout you want it to be. We jogged the simpler terrain, hopped from rock to rock, climbed a couple of trees, and walked hand-in-hand when we were too tired for anymore of that.

We passed some hardcore hikers, casual walkers, boy scouts, and teenagers along the way. We even saw some grown men playing with remote-control cars. (Like six of them, all just standing there playing with remote-control cars on a mountainside. Grown men! I kind of wanted to hang out with them.) What I loved most was that each of these people took the time to smile and acknowledge us – it was a contagious friendliness.

We sat down for a breather on a boulder with a perfect view of Atlanta some twenty miles away. It was such a nice getaway being way up high somewhere between the suburbs and the city. A necessary break from the hustle and bustle of everyday suburban traffic, noise, and boredom (yeah, I said it!).

We got to the top just in time to watch the sun disappear over the western horizon.

The park offers a bus service at the top that will take you back down to the bottom, but we didn’t even consider it. We stumbled our way back down as the sky gradually got darker. My boyfriend kept bringing up Civil War ghosts (since 5,350 souls were put to rest there during the battle for Atlanta in 1864), and what would happen if we just so happened to come across one. I didn’t get scared until it got really dark and I remembered the Blair Witch Project.

But we made it down alive! And good thing, because now I can tell you that Kennesaw Mountain is a fun and free way to spend quality time with your S.O. Just bring some water, a good pair of sneakers, and maybe a remote-control car, if you’re into that.

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