Caroling-for-Veterans Hike from Mason Mill Park to and inside the nearby VA Hospital

EVENT PLAN:   Much nicer weather is expected tomorrow (Saturday), with sunny blue skies and warming quickly into the mid- to high-40s.  Please pardon the late notice, but I hope you can join us for this festive midday "caroling-as-we-stroll" outing and VA Hospital visit, esp. if you enjoy singing!  I'll provide holiday song booklets for everyone and accompaniment with my guitar - plus a few tambourines and pairs of reindeer-antler bobbers.  (This outing has been specially planned to immediately follow Lyndsay Newton's "Mason Mill Mix-Up" hike that will end at about 10:00 AM at the same spot where we'll be gathering.)
  As a veteran and occasional VA patient myself, I've enjoyed visiting hospitalized veterans with my guitar at Christmastime over the past several years and singing some of their favorite holiday songs with them (as in the photo above).  This will the first time I've recruited fellow AOCers to participate.  I can assure you that your presence and good cheer will be heartwarming and much appreciated by the veterans and their VA Medical Center support personnel!
  We'll gather a few minutes before 10:15 AM just inside the Mason Mill Park entrance, beside the stone restroom building and kids' playground that adjoin the free parking lot - see detailed Directions below.  After introductions we'd like to begin the event on time at 10:15.
  We can rehearse some of our "holiday favorites" along the way as we walk together to the VA Hospital (about 15 minutes each way) via the PATH Foundation's new high boardwalk connector and its sidewalk & trail extensions (which also now connect conveniently to Emory's Lullwater Park).  While at the hospital we'll visit a couple of dozen convalescing veterans in their rooms, ask them for "requests" and encourage them to sing along with us.  We'll target arriving back at our cars at Mason Mill Park by 12:30 Noon.  If you need to "split" early from the group that's OK, but be sure to let me know if and when you do so.  It should be easy to direct you back to the parking lot.

MORE ABOUT the MASON MILL/ VA HOSPITAL AREA PARKS & TRAILS:  The huge network of shady hiking & biking trails in the Emory University and Atlanta VA Medical Center vicinity have always been just a stone's throw away from the equally numerous trails on the other side of Clairmont Road at Mason Mill Park, Medlock Park and Ira Melton Park.  Now with the opening of the PATH connector they all safely and conveniently interconnect.

FOR a COLOR MAP of the SOUTH PEACHTREE CREEK "PATH" TRAIL and how it interconnects Mason Mill Park with the VA Medical Ctr, Emory's Lullwater Park, and other DeKalb County green space, click this link: https://pathfoundation.org/trails/south-peachtree-creek-trail/

CLICK THESE LINKS for recent PHOTOS and articles about how the new PATH-style trails are making Emory and the VA Hospital area safer and more accessible for pedestrians and cyclists: http://news.emory.edu/stories/2017/08/er_path_extension/campus.html
https://pathfoundation.org/atlanta-regional-trails/south-peachtree-creek-trail-connections/
https://pathfoundation.org/2018/04/s-peachtree-creek-trail-at-emorys-clairmont-campus-opening-soon/
https://pathfoundation.org/2017/11/emory-connection/

FROM the I-85 CLAIRMONT ROAD EXIT in NE METRO ATLANTA to our MASON MILL PARK Meetup Spot:   (For a zoomable color MAP and satellite view of this spot and its vicinity click the square blue & green "Event Location" icon near the top of this article.)

1. From the I-85 "Clairmont Road" Exit (Exit #91) in NE Atlanta take Clairmont Rd southward (toward Decatur) about 2.3 miles to the traffic light at McConnell Drive.  (This is the next light south of the big Clairmont/ North Druid Hills intersection.  If you reach the huge VA Hospital you've gone a couple of blocks too far!)

2. Turn Left onto McConnell Drive, go just 0.1 mile, and turn Right at the stop sign to stay on McConnell. (Note the small "Mason Mill" directional sign here.)

3. Then turn Left almost immediately at the "Mason Mill Park" entrance sign into the large free parking lot.  We'll gather by the stone Restroom building near the Park entrance, adjoining the kids' playground.

GPS & Maps.Google.com USERS:  Feel free to augment my above verbal directions by entering as your Destination Address these concise Lat/Lon coordinates for our meetup spot, being sure to include the comma & minus sign:  33.8080, -84.3066

Free Event with Free Parking!