Arriving in Helen

An email popped up this week from our local library with some astonishing news. They are no longer charging fines for late returns. Seriously? I wonder how they will feel about books that you left behind on your vacation and will never be able to return?  Good grief, I've done it again, although somehow I got away with the book that I'd left in the rain at Deerwoode. Darn lucky is what I was. No more library books on trips for me.

Of course I did not know that I'd left a book behind until we were a few hundred miles from Unicoi State Park and Lodge, our destination in Helen, GA. I'd heard about how cute the town of Helen was for ages and the fact that it is is the third most visited place in Georgia only sealed my desire to see it for ourselves. It is certainly a place with a lot of tourists that's for sure. It is also sort of weird in our opinion.

But what the heck, let's have a look-see and you can decide for yourself. 

The fact that it is fall in the South really added a lot to this hastily planned trip.

It was warmer than we'd hoped for but better that than colder for these Floridians! If you've not been to Helen, here's a little glimpse of the town.

As is the case with most tourist towns, food, drink and shopping are the main attractions. We went into only a couple of shops, bought very little besides a hostess gift for Michelle as she and David are hosting a Halloween party tonight. Well, Bruce did the transaction, and as we left the shop with him carrying this bag which looked so out of place to me. I began laughing and seriously, I could hardly stop. I even got him to pose for me.

Adding to the weirdness was the fact that said gift was not very big and looked quite lonely in that bag with no tissue paper to be found. Very strange, but it fits with the theme of Helen in our opinion. 

We came across a big fence with locks people have left behind and in a nod to that, we came across this at a little shop.

In a testament to the large volume of tourists that visit the town this was but one portion of the tags with visitors names.

More of the town...

We did enjoy the art center where there were local artists displayed.

For us the main attraction, after having perused the little town, would be the nearby  Anna Ruby Falls.

But first we had to get to our lodging, a few miles outside of town.

Because it is leaf season and I'd only just thought to go see what we could see, when I found Unicoi State Park and Lodge I thought it would be perfect for our needs. We registered and got the keys to our room which had a nice little balcony just outside our door. It felt like we were in a tree house!

The truth of the matter is that it is a little tired there and the website was somewhat misleading because we had to get back in the car to see the lake which was indeed lovely but not nearly as accessible as I'd imagined.

The leaves were just beginning their magical annual transformation. Seriously, isn't it like magic? Some places it was better than others as in this view on the other side of the lake.

We had a very amusing dinner situation in the lodge which promised dinner available at the onsite restaurant. The other guests must have already known that it was terrible because there was but one party in a huge dining room. Originally the hostess told us the buffet would be $18.00, even though, she claimed it was not the full deal because of a lack of kitchen staff, a common theme on this trip. Before we eat though, the atrium looks pretty cool.

So anyway, we gave in and returned to the restaurant because we did not want to go back to town. By this time she had lowered the price to $14 a person. There was a pan of watery spaghetti noodles,  tomato sauce with giant chunks of tomatoes, another overflowing pan of undercooked broccoli, and yet another ugly pasta dish to choose from. All bad choices. While we were doing our best to eat it, the hostess came returned to tell us that she'd talked to her manager and they were lowering the price to $5 a person! Although we were grateful, all we really wanted was a good dinner! 

I'll be back to continue the narrative in a few days time. For this trip the posts will be shorter and more frequent because there is a lot to see. Now it is time to wash my hair before the party tonight. Although we don't much like dressing up, we do look forward to those who do!!

your friend,

Gail