East Sea Trip

Doing this blog now reminds me of why I stopped for a while.  Wow--what a time sucker!  Still, worth it.   After spending the entire 'winter break' working my butt off to get out three publications, we took a trip to the eastern seasboard just to pretend for a moment that we had a break as a family.  Dahin was off to Australia with her choir, so it was just the boys, Jack, the dogs, and me off for our little adventure.  Tashi  loves being in the country, even when he's tied up outside a little eatery on the way.

A gorgeous view of Mt. Seorak--we got plenty of this view as we were stuck behind a massive wreck for a while just outside of Sokcho, our seaside destination.

At the beach, the boys and Ginger discover their wild sides--Tashi, not so much because he is too insane and undisciplined to trust off leash in an open area like this.   So, he got the long leash treatment, but had fun anyway.

The beach was litered with some fireworks remains (something I will explain below), but the beach is so, so clean this time of year compared to the mess it becomes in the summer.

 Searching for, and finding, treasures on the beach (Ginger just ate hers, while the boys stored their's in their pockets). 

Ginger and Oliver and Ronan all got slammed with some waves at one point--which meant a quick trip to E-mart for some shoes and an extra pair of pants each for the boys.  Yeah, that was fun.  This beach side looks tame, but on the other side of the pier it was pure ocean and wild with some massive waves. 

 A bit of an irony about Sokcho is that the market in the center of the town is now famous for fried, gooey seasoned chicken.  Not, not fish; chicken.  People were literally lined up waiting to buys this stuff and since we had headed to the market specifically to buy this chicken, we waited in line, too.  Truth is, it was worth it.  The best chicken I have ever had; I swear.  We chose two flavors: fried and the fried with a soy/honey/pepper/peanut sauce on it.  So, so yummy.  That with sodas for Jack and the boys and a couple of beers for me (yes, that is Ronan opening one for me--it's his duty, according to Ronan) and some kimbap and ddeokbokki and it was the perfect vacation meal. 

 Oliver strikes a pose on the bed in our room with a semi-view (of the parking lot, but that's about as good as it gets in the Hyundai condos--not near the beach)

 Afterwards, we took the dogs back to the beach for some fireworks. I can't remember if this is something people do at the beach at night in the US, but they sure as heck do it here. It's like required. So, we purchased some sparklers and roman candles and the boys had a blast with fireworks on the beach. The dogs got some chicken that I had taken off bone (and removed the fried parts) so they didn't mind the sparkly noisemakers at all.  And, yes, we cleaned up after ourselves (unlike some other people).  Note the shiny silver soccer shoes--the cheapest option available at E-mart post ocean dunking.

The next morning we headed to McD's for breakfast (Korea has changed so much in recent years; this bkfst at McD's thing was non-existent just a few years ago) and then faced a 'typhoon' (according to Oliver) at the beach so the dogs could romp some more and we could get our last shot of beach before the drive home.  The wind was blowing so hard the boys (and  I) thought we were going to get picked up.  Snow/ice was literally pelting us as it was mixing with sand stirred up by the wind.  It was intense. 

We didn't last long on the beach.  We drove around Sockcho for a little while to look at the snow-covered scenery before deciding we should try another spot in Gangneung (near Sockcho) where coffee--that's right, coffee--has become the highlight. Apparently, Gangneung has now become famous for it's roasted coffee and there is even a coffee museum. We tried another windy beach before heading to a whole stip of independed roasters (and a few chains thrown in for competition) and chose one place for coffee and hot cocoa. It was good. They roast their coffee on-side, like most of the other places in Gangneung. But, I don't get how this little seaside town became the center of the coffee world in Korea. Just wierd.

Then, as the boys sang 'Jingle Bells' over and over again in the car, we braved the freeway, only to discover the road to Seoul had been blocked off due to heavy snow.  We hung around Gangneung for a little while longer and then after a while tried again, and again, and on the third try we discovered the freeway had been sort of cleared and we headed home.  The first bit was scary, honestly, as cars were slipping and sliding all over the place.  Apparently, chains are not required in this kind of weather.  They should be, especially for cars with front-wheel drive (right?  I always get that backward), but we kept going.  It took us 12 hours to get home since we had some clear spots, then snow, then traffic, etc along the way.  The dogs were so happy to get out of the car at the end and so were we.  Maybe next time we can stay a little longer.