Come Hell or Hiawassee (or Helen)

EDIT: I meant to post this yesterday morning (Sat. Feb 28),but it didn't go through so I'm trying today.

Aww Helen Georgia.  Or alpine Helen,  as they seem to call it.  Or alpine heaven, as it feels. Today we descended about a thousand feet down Blue Mountain to Unicoi gap. We were hoping to catch a hitch or shuttle into Hiawassee for a night in a hotel. The guidebook said Hiawassee was to the left, but a car parked at the gap full of GPS wielding tourists assured us it was the other way. So we started down the road with the hitch thumb up and a truck pulled over for us pretty quickly.  We asked if he was going to Hiawassee and he said that Hiawassee was the other way.  So I asked if he was going to Helen, and then decided we should just go to Helen. We climbed in the back of his pick up and rode about 9 miles into town. Now we're in Helen sharing a bed at the Helendorf Inn,  which is especially lovely at $50 for the night.

We met a cool veteran and veteran through hiker named Josh down at the local bar/ pizza place who gave us some good advice for the trail, and his number if we need an emergency contact. He had some great life advice too, including the gem,  "I would have been a cowboy if I could find a horse big enough for my ass. Then I did, but she was divorce-able". The pizza was good.  They didn't serve us beer.

Helen is gorgeous. The town is modelled after a Bavarian village. There is a quaint town square and music and ample trash receptacles. Very nice for one day, but I wouldn't want to live here. Tomorrow when we're pried from our hotel room we will ascend Tray mountain, assuming we get a good hitch to the gap.