College Guide - Top 5 (4)
Newbie See & Dos
STARLIGHT SIX DRIVE-IN
An evening at Starlight is best enjoyed on a small sofa in the back of a pickup truck. If a couch-truck combo is unavailable, lawn chairs or in-car viewing are more than suitable. And unlike at those lame indoor movie theaters, you don’t have to sneak in food or drink. Starlight shows current-release films, but breaks out the campy cult classics on special occasions such as September’s Drive-Invasion. $7. Mon.-Thurs., 8:15 p.m.; Fri.-Sat., 6:30 p.m.; Sun. 7:30 p.m. 2000 Moreland Ave. 404-627-5786. www.starlightdrivein.com.
MICHAEL C. CARLOS MUSEUM
Skip the High and give Carlos a try. Emory University’s Michael C. Carlos Museum has the Southeast’s finest collection of art and artifacts from the ancient world. The Carlos is probably best-known for its spectacular collection of Egyptian mummies and sarcophagi, but it also has top-notch Greek, Mesopotamian and Roman collections. Be sure to have a look at the 2,000-year-old bust of Roman Emperor Tiberius. His nose is chipped, but his hair is perfect. A Caesar cut, of course. Free-$7. Tues.-Sat., 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sun., noon-5 p.m. 571 S. Kilgo Circle. 404-727-4282. www.carlos.emory.edu.
STONE MOUNTAIN’S LASERSHOW SPECTACULAR
What’s better than picnicking in front of a giant Confederate monument carved into a granite mountain where, in 1915, the second KKK was founded? Doing it with lasers and country music. On most Saturday nights (and nightly during the summer) Stone Mountain Park celebrates sunset with a laser show at the Memorial Lawn. Highlights include Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson “rising again,” as well as fireworks. It’s decades of Georgia’s red-stateness compressed into 40 minutes. $8. Times and dates vary. Exit 39-B, U.S. 78. 770-498-5690. www.stonemountainpark.com.
WESTVIEW CEMETERY
Sure, the Oakland Cemetery resides in a trendier neighborhood and contains Margaret Mitchell, but the Westside’s much-larger Westview Cemetery is a true history buff’s delight. It’s nearly as old as Oakland (est. 1884), a lot bigger (600 total acres), and an Atlanta postmortem Who’s Who with grave sites for William B. Hartsfield, Henry Grady, Asa Candler and Robert Woodruff. If you’re a plan-ahead kind of person, there are still plenty of plots available. Free. Open daily, 8:30 a.m-5:30 p.m. 1680 Westview Drive. 404-755-6611. www.westviewcemetery.com.
OKTOBERFEST IN HELEN
In the late 1960s, civic leaders in White County’s Helen, Ga., decided the best way to turn their depressed mountain town’s economy around was to transform it into an ersatz Bavarian village. Shockingly, the plan worked. Tourists flock to Helen year-round to enjoy vaguely German food (Edelweiss German Restaurant), vaguely German leisure activities (Bavarian Mountain Mini Golf) and not even remotely German biker-gear shops (Das Ist Leather — and no, I didn’t make that up). The annual highlight is, of course, Oktoberfest. In true fake-German fashion, it lasts three months. Sept. 13-Nov. 4. Free-$9. Mon.-Fri., 6 p.m.; Sat.-Sun., 1 p.m. Festhall, 911 Edelweiss Strasse. 706-865-0074. www.helenchamber.com.