On December 22

Joel arrived last night and we stayed in Hiawasee.  This morning we woke up extra early, ate breakfast at the hotel and drove up to Blood Mountain. We parked at the Walasi-Yi store and hiked two miles to the top of Blood Mountain together.  This was the first time that I have retraced a piece of the trail.  I enjoyed having some degree of familiarity with the terrain.  It was a beautiful day.  But when we left the car it was only 19 degrees.  Joel has cold-induced asthma, so it was a struggle for him.  We took it slowly and he never complained. (Though two days later he was still wheezing from the day's cold.)  After we climbed up and down Blood Mountain, thankfully it was warmer by noon, we drove to Helen, GA for lunch, coffee, and to see the town.  Then we started driving toward home again, taking our time and stopping when we wanted to.  It was a fun day.

Joel taking pictures of the ice. We were mesmerized by water flowing under the ice, the trickles visible on top of rocks.

View from Blood Mountain, looking toward Atlanta.  It was clear enough that we could see Atlanta, but my camera didn't pick it up.

Joel and then me standing in front of the Blood Mountain Shelter.

The last view of the mountains, from trail.

In Helen, GA there is a restaurant called "Goats on the Roof".  The whole point of the place is that they have goats in a meadow behind the restaurant that have access to the roof of the porch of the building.  And there is some food and turf on the roof.  I am not sure why.  We did not eat there, but we stopped in just for fun.

All along the highway there were spectacular ice formations, we stopped here to take pictures, but it was so bitterly cold that we didn't stop again.

The view opposite from the ice formation above.

We stopped here to fill the car's gas tank.  And laugh.