Pensions, Beaches and Green Tea: Happy Birthday Buddha

In order to perfectly round out the month of May, the Harrington's were thrilled to come face to face with a three-day weekend. Monday, May 28th of 2012 happened to coincide with the lunar date dictating Buddha's birthday (or arrival on earth) and allowed many residents of South Korea to enjoy an extra day of sleeping in and/or exploring the peninsula. The Harrington's made the most out of the weekend by celebrating, barbecuing, camping and exploring.

Saturday got off to a slow start with Melissa putting the finishing touches on a cover letter and resume for a dream job and Mike gathering the necessary items for a successful weekend which included tents, sleeping bags, home-made root-beer and home-brewed cider and beers.

With their tasks accomplished and fully yearning for a get-away, the couple loaded up the car and headed just south of town to Jang-tae san a recreational forest boasting a Sky Tower and Tree-top Tower walkway. However, the forest wasn't the sole purpose of the Harrington's outing, rather the couple was heading off to a Pension where they would spend the evening and the following morning celebrating Ryan's (one of Mike's soccer buddies) birthday. The afternoon and evening were filled with barbecued duck, pork, beef, a few veggies, more than a few pitchers of beer and bottles of makgoli, birthday cake, food offerings to and from Korean families at the same pension, a roaring campfire and numerous drinking games.

Morning came all too soon for some of those celebrating, including the Harrington's who struggled to sleep on the hard, heated floors of the pension. Regardless, the crew cleaned up their site, grabbed some orange juice, soaked up some morning sun along the river and went their separate ways with most returning to Daejeon while M'n'M made their way into the recreational forest and further South to the coastal city of Yulpo. 

As mentioned earlier, Jangtae-san boasts a Sky Tower and Tree-top walkway which provided the Harrington's a pleasant start to the day but were nothing entirely impressive or worth ranting about.

A Private Anniversary of Sorts: Daecheong Lake, Daejeon

Having enjoyed their anniversary in the company of students, new friends and established friends, the Harrington's deemed it necessary and acceptable to set an evening aside for themselves. The couple loaded up the car with their faithful side-kick Lady Annyeong and a picnic dinner before making their way outside of Daejeon to Daecheong Lake.

The two enjoyed a simple pesto pasta, hard boiled eggs and home-made ginger ale on the lake shore before taking some time to explore this particular nook of the lake and capture a few 'family photos' while the lighting was perfect. The exploration of the lake shore not only offered serene scenery and opportune photo shots, exploration also included a healthy dose of adventure, particularly for the Lady and the Mrs.

Assuming walking along the edge of the lake would provide the easiest route to meet up with the man for continued exploration Melissa soon found herself carrying a dog and facing a tree that effectively prevented her from continuing along the lake shore. Hardly phased, Melissa opted to go around the tree and continue on...however, in a country such as Korea where the forest floors and mountains are actually quite thick with vegetation, this proved a difficult and formidable task. Within minutes, angry vines were lashing out at both Lady and Melissa, preventing the ascension to higher ground. When vines weren't grabbing clothes and hair, cobwebs were in the waiting ready to stick to increasingly sweaty skin. A close look at one of these webs inhabitants resulted in a shriek and quick escape back to the lake shore where the Lady and the Mrs. chose to back track completely before finally arriving in the presence of their beloved Man.

Together, as a family, free from vines and spiders in their hair, the trio explored some safer ground, captured a few family photos (that's correct, the photos are post vine wrestling!) and made their way into town to enjoy an evening of video games (for Mike) and wine-sipping (for Melissa) with a couple of friends.

And so began the fifth year of marriage.