Day Trip From Atlanta Area

A School bus graveyard, car museum, and a zoo!

If you’re looking for something fun to do in a day near the Atlanta, GA area with or without kids, this day trip would be an awesome day. You could even extend this trip into a weekend trip if you like and visit Helen, GA as well.

You can either start at the Zoo or start at the School Bus Graveyard and make a full circle with the car museum in Clarkesville, GA as your middle destination. Clarkesville is a neat little town with plenty of places to choose from to eat which makes it the perfect mid-day stop.

Our first stop was the School Bus Graveyard which is located right off Hwy 23 in Alto, GA. The School Bus Graveyard is pretty much a junkyard you can walk around for $10 per person and a signed waiver.

A lot of the buses are covered with art and it’s a great place to take some really neat pictures. You can easily spend an hour or more walking around and taking pictures. With the exception of the office, the graveyard is open every day. The office is open 8 to 4 Monday through Friday.

Our next stop was Miles Through Time Automotive Museum.

Miles Through Time Automotive Museum is located in an old textile mill and inside Vintage Garage Antiques.  There’s also a bowling alley, restaurant/bar, and walking trail.

The museum is home to planes, a train, and automobiles as well as historical artifacts, vintage pedal cars, bicycles, and 5,000 model cars. There is also a town built out of reclaimed materials and rough-cut wood.

To access the museum you’ll enter through Vintage Garage Antiques which enables the museum to be open 7 days a week from 10 to 5.

Head towards the back-left of the old mill and you’ll see the big teal doors and the old VW Beetle in the tower.

Our 3rd stop of the day was the North Georgia Wildlife Park.

The North Georgia Wildlife Park is only open Friday through Sunday so that is something you’re going to want to keep in mind in case your day trip plans fall on a weekday.

The Zoo is broken up into multiple experiences.  There is a guided tour of the zoo, a drive-through experience, a petting zoo, and multiple other hands-on experiences.

When you visit the North Georgia Wildlife Park just be aware that each experience has its own fee. Make sure you visit their website to verify the cost and what you want to do during your visit.

One of the cool things about this trip is that you won’t go back home the same way you started.  

Enjoy some of the other photos from our trip in the gallery below.  There is also a map that shows the full circle from the heart of Atlanta.  If you take this trip make sure to tag and share on social media.