Piedmont Park: Encore Evening Hike + Optional free Atlanta Symphony Concert

Our big friendly group of AOC hikers & music lovers had a ball together in Piedmont Park last week.  By popular demand we're pleased to be able to offer another AOC hike + outdoor Atlanta Symphony concert this week. Thursday evening's weather is looking good:  Should be about 80 degrees, partly cloudy with only about a 25% chance of isolated showers.

Hope you can join us for this leisurely 3-mile hike through historic Piedmont Park, with a big bonus afterward! - a rare free outdoor ASO concert on the beautiful "Promenade" (in the newly developed part of the Park below the Atlanta Botanical Garden).  We've found the perfect spot for enjoying the music (7:30 - 9:30 PM) on the hill beside the lawn.  It has great view of the stage and excellent acoustics.  No problem that we don't have advance-reserved printed tickets for formal free seating on the lawn!

We'll gather for the hike at 6:00 PM on the sidewalk at the corner of Elmwood Drive & Monroe Drive (please follow my precise Directions below).  Free parallel parking will be available along Elmwood just east of Monroe.  Feel free to park elsewhere if you prefer but PLEASE BE ON TIME, allowing for Atlanta's insane rush-hour traffic.

On our 90-minute leisurely paced hike we'll explore the "wilder side" of Piedmont Park and visit lesser-known areas including the "Six Springs Wetlands" and some of the lovely heavily wooded pathways that adjoin the Atlanta Botanical Garden.

If you can plan to stay with us for the concert you're sure to enjoy our beloved Music Director Robert Spano conducting the Atlanta Symphony in a delightful program of American music. It will include Gershwin's An American in Paris, excerpts from Bernstein's Candide and West Side Story, John Williams' Star Wars soundtrack music - also of course a foot-stomping Sousa march finale!

Feel free to split from the group at any time if you like, provided you let me know you're splitting.  I can easily direct you back to our Elmwood meetup spot.

MORE about PIEDMONT PARK:  More then 125 years old, it first became world famous in 1895 as the site of Atlanta's "Cotton States & International Exposition."  Volunteer members of the Piedmont Park Conservancy deserve much credit for the Park's dramatic improvements and excellent maintenance in recent years. The thriving Atlanta Botanical Garden in the NW corner of the Park has also benefited the Park's popularity and reputation.  Check out http://piedmontpark.org/ for more information.  For a nice online Color Map of the 200+ acre park, click on this link: http://piedmontpark.org/visit/Park_Map_07-11-print.pdf

DIRECTIONS to CORNER of ELMWOOD DRIVE & MONROE DR, assuming you're PROCEEDING SOUTHWARD via INTERSTATE I-75 or I-85 toward DOWNTOWN ATLANTA:  (For a map of this meetup spot click on the Blue & Green "LOCATION" icon near the top of this article.)

1. As you near the I-75/ I-85 interchange (which is ~2 miles north of downtown Atlanta) get into the second lane from the right side of the Interstate.
2. Avoid exiting onto the other Interstate, but as you pass the interchange bear right toward I-75 Exit #84 and exit there (for "17th St, 14th St and 10th St").
3.  Then bear leftward along the access road (a.k.a."Techwood Drive") for about 0.3 mile to the traffic light at 10^th Street (bypassing 17^th St and 14^th St en route).
4. Turn Left onto 10th Street and go 1.3 miles eastward to the traffic light at Monroe Drive (crossing Peachtree St, Piedmont Rd, etc. en route).
5. Turn Left onto Monroe Drive and go just 0.2 mile northward to Elmwood Drive, (The "Elmwood" street sign is slightly blocked by trees, but note the traffic light 1 block ahead at "Park Drive" - the east-side entrance street into the Park.)
6. Turn Right onto Elmwood Drive (eastward off Monroe) where we should be able to find free parallel parking along the street in this nice residential neighborhood. Then walk back westward to the shady Elmwood/ Monroe corner where we'll meet between 5:45 and  6:00 on the sidewalk for the hike.

LAT/LON COORDINATES of ELMWOOD DRIVE "MEETUP CORNER" (GPS or Google Maps users can input this as your "Destination" to augment the above directions):  33.7847,-84.3676
The street address at this corner is 601 Elmwood Dr NE, Atlanta, GA 30306

Free event, with free entrance into the Park, free Concert Viewing, and free (suggested) parallel Parking along Elmwood Drive.