I wasn't originally planning on coming to Helena. Up until just two days ago, I had a hotel booked in Great Falls, MT. Then there ended up being a whole debacle with Orbitz (I am still waiting on a call from a manager) and I needed to book another hotel. I ended up pivoting to Helena, truthfully because of the price. I also was excited to visit another state capital as Cheyenne left such a good impression.
The city is surrounded by mountains, a truly beautiful juxtaposition. My hotel is walking distance from seemingly most of Helena, right down the street from the cute shopping district on "Last Chance Gulch". The shaded pedestrian only main street has fun hipster stores and places to get coffee and froyo. I can't tell if this is populated by tourists or locals, but either way an afternoon could be spent window shopping or people watching. The hillyness of the city reminds me of home too much. I would think I have walked a lot only to find that I have barely made a dent in my steps for the day. Though there are parts of town that are hiller than others, there are certainly very flat parts of town as well. Streets try to be parallel but it's hard with the different neighborhoods and terrain in the way.
I have been surprised by the number of unhoused people. Perhaps more here than any of my stops before. Perhaps it is a testament to the location of my hotel, or the parts of town I walked, but I saw people sleeping on the street, in their cars, on park benches. Even still, I would strongly suggest people to visit the city as it is remarkably beautiful and quite adorable with their downtown walking district.
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