Take two...

“A friend is someone who knows all about you 

and still loves you.” 

― Elbert Hubbard

     This past weekend I was able to re-do my original horrible visit to Seoraksan National Park.  This time I did not almost die going on a 6 hour hike with no food or water.  This time I meandered, ate amazing food, and had good chats with friends.  This time was what a weekend getaway was supposed to be like.  

I have been so lucky with the friends I have made since being in Korea.  I cannot imagine this pack being broken up in a couple of months! We started the day at 5:45 AM, Sally wanted to avoid traffic.  As much as I hate early mornings, watching the sun rise as we drove through the mountains was worth it.

 These are the ladies; Beth, Rachael, and Sally.  Beth was my co-worker and Sally used to work at my school and her boyfriend, Joshua, still works there with me.  Rachael works at a school in a city about 30 minutes away from me.

We had a blast going through hairpin turns with the windows rolled down and music blaring.

I'm quickly falling in love with seeing mountains everyday.  The mountains will definitely be missed when I return home.

Our first stop was at Naksansa Temple.  We were about three days too late for the cherry blossoms but the temple on a bluff above the sea was gorgeous.  The day was so nice I even got a little sunburned.

Everything in Korea must be a cartoon, even monks.  

So ringing the bell is supposed to be good luck, so I paid my 1,000 won ($1) and this is what happened:

Turns out bells are really loud. And yes i do know how ridiculous my outfit looks but the forecast said it was supposed to rain so I dressed in comfy car clothes.

I love the bright colored lanterns!

We then decided to get some "tea."  The orange stuff was pumpkin puree with ice, the dark brown was currant tea with apple chunks.  In one of the cups was an entire ginger root smashed into a cup of water and the other cup was a liquid no one could identify.  

After our "tea" we got back in the car and drove to Sokcho and had a picnic lunch on the beach.

Just in case you were wondering, the ocean is freezing in April.

Dried stingray anyone?

While Rachael and Beth were napping, Sally and I found the cutest coffee shop! 

The woman who ran it was adorable and told Sally that she was an outcast with Koreans because they did not like her decorating style.  We thought it was the cutest thing ever!

The owner's sister lives and runs an antique shop in Germany so everything from the furniture to the windows and doors were imported from her sister's shop.

This photo was a "I was told to smile and look but then Sally was weird and now it looks like I hate her" look.

Our hotel was also amazing! We had a giant jacuzzi bathtub! I would love to take a bath with that view every day!

We got the family suite so there was one bedroom and then this cute loft with another bed. Yes, that is Rachael working out with a kettle bell.  This girl is everything I strive to be when it comes to exercise.

We even had a living room and kitchen.  

And we got breakfast delivered to our room!

And to complete the most amazing place I ever stayed at, they had cute puppies to cuddle with!

Sunday morning we went to the national park.  Because the weather  forecast called for rain, there were not many people in the park which was perfect for us.

One of the beautiful things about not being able to read Korean is that I can ignore signs that probably tell me not to climb on the rocks.

Sally was able to yell over the roaring water to a Korean couple on a rock down river from us to get them to take our picture.

On the drive home Sunday night, I looked out the window and caught a glimpse of the backside of Ulsan Bawi.  This was the rock that I climbed on my first visit to Seoraksan, when I almost died.  Giving me this beautiful view after such an amazing weekend, it was almost as if the park was saying, "see? It was totally worth it."