Outdoors

“I’ve played enough Minecraft to know where diamonds are,” my 19-year-old cousin says as we schlep across acres of muddy furrows with our rented bucket, sieves, and shovels. Although I’m highly skeptical of the real-world applications of Minecraft, there’s no sense in arguing when he points out a small rivulet of water trickling through the muck.

With brilliant columns of light pouring through two keyhole entrances, it’s no wonder Alabama’s Stephens Gap Callahan Cave Preserve makes an appearance on many a bucket list. After a short but rocky hike to the entrance, visitors may descend into the 143-foot-deep cavern via the walk-down path (which is steep and can be wet and slippery—sturdy shoes, helmets, and headlamps are highly recommended).

There’s a big hunk of granite along the Chattahoochee River, about twenty-five feet off the water, just downstream from Charlie’s Island where tubers and kayakers beach themselves for lunch.

On September 20 from 9 a.m. to noon, neighborhoods in Southwest Atlanta will host iSWAT Development Day, a collection of speeches and bus tours through the area that highlight redevelopment initiatives in an effort to attract chefs, restaurateurs, and grocers. Participants will meet at 884 Murphy Avenue.

I am lost in the wilderness. Not “lost” in the desperate sense. My phone still shows 5G in case I need to drop a pin, and two bars if I want to make a call. (Does this thing have a compass, too?) And I know where I am: somewhere on a wooded ridgeline in the Cherokee National Forest near Shady Valley, Tennessee, not far from the North Carolina and Virginia borders.

Encountering vibrant murals throughout intown neighborhoods has been a happy surprise in recent years. But to really understand the magnitude of the Living Walls project that pairs local and international artists with brick and concrete canvases, set out on a quest to find as many 
as you can.

In the shadow of beaux arts skyscrapers, Woodruff Park is the city’s historic heart. If you haven’t strolled through it for years, you’ll be surprised by its vitality.

West Virginia is doling out $12,000 and free outdoor adventures to remote workers willing to move there for two years. Meet some of the folks who’ve gone for it. 

The annual book fest makes me so proud to be an Atlantan. A quarter of a million folks come together over Labor Day weekend for the AJC Decatur Book Festival to hear from renowned authors—and enjoy local musicians, craft beers, cooking demos, a children’s parade, poetry slams.