Reblog | From the Sea to the Sky in British Columbia

I wrote part of this blog 2 years ago after Sean and I had completed our anniversary escape to Canada. I was excited to be back home after being overseas, and this trip was so much fun. We were able to explore the city of Vancouver, spent a few nights in a secluded cabin near Mount Currie, and then had an adventure at Whistler. Sean really made this trip special for us, so I wanted to bring it back up. With the whole social distancing going on due to COVID-19, it’s been hard on everyone to stay put.

I know we’re all itching to get back out and exploring, but for the sake of the entire world, we should do the best thing possible for the entire world, and stay home to protect each other until we know what’s really going on. I’m a nurse returning to work soon, so thankfully I haven’t had to deal with the hardships just yet, but I have a lot of friends who are on the front lines, and the marks on their faces don’t lie. Stay home, stay safe. And without further ado, a look from the Sea to the Sky in British Columbia.

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Highway 99 in Canada is known as the Sea to Sky Highway. We took this from Vancouver to Whistler, and I kid you not, the view was absolutely breathtaking. It seemed like after each turn there was a waterfall or a viewing point to stop at.

  We didn't have much time on our hands to make it to every stop, so we chose two different points on the highway. Our first stop was Britannia Beach, which is located next to a mining museum. If time permitted, I would've asked my husband to go inside because it looked very interesting. In the 1800s, they discovered copper here, which led to the development of the Britannia Mining Company.  We parked our car in front of the museum store and then walked across the highway to an old railroad track that leads to the beach. My husband was able to fly our Mavic over the lake to capture the view, vlog to be completed soon. Just being by the water was a nice feeling, even if it wasn't for swimming.

Our second stop was about a 10-minute drive north, to Shannon Falls. Shannon Falls is a 335-meter waterfall, ranking it the 3rd largest waterfall in Squamish, BC. This area is perfect for picnicking on your way up to Whistler because it has a large picnic area with tables and a restroom. The waterfall is very well maintained. There is a walking trail that goes up to the falls.

  On our way back down from Whistler, we stopped at Nairn Falls. This was when we were driving from Mount Currie to Whistler, so it's a bit more north. This was a 1.5-kilometer hike on a hiking trail alongside the Green River. To view the falls, there is a fenced platform that has a combination of rock and wood, which is extremely slippery, so approach it with caution. There's an area where you can view the river, and then a higher area to view the falls. Michael was able to fly the drone here, but we did it with caution because the wind was very strong where the falls were coming down.

  The drive to Whistler was about two hours. The weather was on our side that day because it was clear blue skies and minimum wind chill. I would recommend this drive, and I hope to go back and stop at more of the locations along it.

A Foodies Fantasy in Seoul, Korea

We lead our travel journeys with our stomachs, and then our hearts

  Living in Seoul, knowing that there is over 80,000 restaurants here per the World Cities Culture Forum in 2016, you can only imagine how much time we spend looking for the best ones to eat at.  In our little piece of Seoul, we have managed to find six restaurants that we visit frequently.  I wish I knew where all of the photos were saved so I could show you how good the food looked! But you’ll just have to trust me when I say that I highly recommend these restaurants!

Stacked (Gangnam)

  This place was in such a prime location if you knew where the Yongsan base was in Seoul.  Before Yongsan closed down, this restaurant was located right outside of the walk-in gate by Itaewon. Right before we left Korea, we found out it moved to Gangnam. I was pretty sad because Sean and I ate here and we made it our “go-to” when we wouldn’t know where to eat.  We usually spend roughly about $50 here when we go, and we would get four sets of dumplings, two orders of fried rice, and drinks.  It’s such a steal for good dumplings!

Ichiryu. Photo from ViaMichelin.Co.Uk

Ichiryu (Itaewon)

  44 Jandari-ro 3an-gil, Mapo-gu, Seoul, South Korea | We found this restaurant by luck.  We were exploring the back streets of Itaewon where there is less traffic, and we noticed the Michelin recommended sign on the window.  When we entered, it was just a small bar.  They serve dinner menus here, and it’s three choices of Sapporo style lamb.  We ordered a French rack and lamb chops.  They prepared it for us, and it was absolutely delicious.  It’s a little on the pricier side for the amount of food you get, so we’d recommend saving for the occasion.

BBQ Chicken (Yongsan)

  If you didn’t already know, Koreans are well known for their BBQ and their fried chicken.  BBQ Chicken was a staple food in our household.  We ordered BBQ chicken almost every weekend when Sean came home.  There’s just something about those honey glazed wings and that undeniable crispy freshness the chicken had.  What blew our minds was the chicken would still be crispy (after heating in the oven) the next day! Witchcraft we tell you!  Absolutely mind blowing. 5 out of 5 for fried chicken, and I didn’t even eat fried chicken like that before Korea.

MenyaSandaime (Itaewon)

  24 Hongik-ro 5an-gil, Mapo-gu, Seoul, South Korea | We are forever on the search for the best ramen we can find.  Unfortunately, Sean hasn’t been able to taste ramen in Japan yet, but Menya Sandaime has definitely come very close to hitting home.  This ramen shop is quaint, but the line will go passed the neighboring stores.  The ramen noodles are made in house, the broth is super rich and flavorful. We’d recommend the black garlic ramen since it has such a bold flavor.

Egg Drop (Various locations)

  The versatility of eggs is always inspiring to me.  This small café specializes in egg sandwiches.  The menu isn’t very large, but the items are packed with flavor.  We tried three sandwiches in one visit and they did not disappoint.  We recommend this for a quick on-the-go brunch stop as their containers do well to prevent you from getting sandwich droppings on yourself.  If you’re feeling adventurous, try their delicious egg vanilla latte! It’s egg-citingly delicious, no yoke! 

Maple Tree (Itaewon)

116-1, Itaewon-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul | It would be a shame to leave Korea without finding some amazing Korean BBQ.  We hadn’t realized how small the restaurant was until we went there trying to get a seat.  Our first recommendation would be to call ahead and try and reserve a space.  Once we were in though, the service was extremely fast.  The menu itself is fairly large, and the quality of meat reflects in the price for sure.  It did not seem like a very large portion of food, but with the unlimited sides, I was surprisingly satisfied for the rest of the night.  The aesthetic of the restaurant was very nice as well, seeing as most of it was covered in empty soju bottles!

Hibarin. Photo from imperialpalaceboutiquehotel.com

Hibarin (Itaewon)

  737-25 Hannam-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, South Korea | This is another Japanese restaurant located in Itaewon. We were lucky to find this place after visiting, Vinyl & Plastic, a record store and cafe. This restaurant is located under IP Boutique hotel. It had a very modern aesthetic to it so dining there is very Insta-worthy. The katsu that we ordered was so good! It’s really something you can’t go wrong ordering.

Our first desert adventure: Las Cruces, New Mexico

  It’s safe to say that we are having a pretty hard time adjusting to desert living.  Sean and I have both grown up in places with so many things to do (besides Fort Irwin, and I am grateful to have never been there).  So moving here has kind of put a quick halt to our travel bug.  When we arrived in the middle of August, it was scorching hot.  I was nauseated all of the time, so going out in the sun’s heat was not appealing to us at all.  Now that the weather has cooled down to temperatures we’re fond of, we decided to take a weekend and explore what this area has to offer.

  We made a few mistakes along the way.  Well, one in particular, and that was staying in an Airbnb 45 minutes away from our house.  Sure, it cut some of our drive times in half, but it wasn’t worth it.  The host of the Airbnb was a kind, old man, but the house was not what we were expecting.  I won’t go into too much detail, but an Airbnb in this area is not going to happen in our future anytime soon.

  Anyways ~ we spent most of the time outside of the house so it wasn’t too bad.  On our first day, we went to see what Slot Canyon was all about.  It’s about 1-1.5 miles long, and it’s actually pretty cool.  When we got there, we saw that there was a no trespassing sign, but everything online said that it wasn’t private property and that people still went.  So imagine my pregnant butt climbing a fence (no, it was not that hard, and yes my husband helped me).  The trail veers to the left even though there is a trailhead off to the right.  I don’t know where it would take you if you go off to the right, but it’s probably to the back end of the canyon.  It was fun watching the dogs climb through the canyon.  Sean was highly impressed with Oki’s parkour skills as he jumped from wall to wall.  Okami did her job in pulling me up the big steps.  Maybe if you’re lucky, Sean will find time to piece together our drone video.

  Next, we ventured off to White Sands.  It makes me laugh because Sean pretty much drives to White Sands every day for work, but never has actually seen the park.  It was about an hour away from Slot Canyon.  At the entrance, there’s a gift shop and a small informational area teaching you about White Sands.  You can purchase a round sled for $20, and return it for $5.  If you have a sled, just bring it.  Their sleds don’t work well in the sand.

  To get to the hills, you have to drive.  The entrance fee is $10 per person, but it’s free if you’re active duty military (heyyy!)  The area was surprisingly large.  There are places for you to set up camp, start BBQs, an amphitheater, and of course, the sledding hills.  The dogs were ecstatic when they got into the sand.  I’ve never seen them so happy.  Like I said, the sled didn’t work very well even after being waxed.  The hills were pretty short.  If you wanted a steep hill, it was the hill leading into the parking lot – not fun.  But it was a great place to get some good photos of the dogs, and I’m sure we’ll be back again with the family to take more pictures once our baby boy arrives.

  Overall, the day was pretty fun-filled with short adventures.  Nothing like what the PNW has to offer, or in our recent case, South Korea or Germany.  I guess we’re just going to have to learn to love it for the next few years, or spend the money going to places a little more… interesting.

Trip To Busan | Our escape from the hustle and bustle of Seoul

Back in May, Sean and I decided to take a spontaneous weekend trip to Busan.  Busan is a city located on the southeastern part of the Korean peninsula.  It’s been popularly known for the zombie film Train to Busan, which I still have not seen.  We were going to take the train, but we like traveling with our car since it gives us a little more freedom with where we want to visit.  It’s about a 5-6 hour drive from Seoul, which isn’t bad considering the traffic getting out of Seoul.

  We stayed at Lotte hotel, which wasn’t bad because it was near so much stuff in the city already.  Outside of the hotel was two streets lined with street food carts.  Unfortunately, we didn’t get to try any because by the time we went out, everything was so busy.  We ended up eating Korean BBQ at a place near the hotel, and it was still so delicious.

  Honestly, it’s pretty hard to remember what we actually did in Busan since it’s been so long.  Our first stop was Taejongdae Cliffs. We didn’t spend too much time there because it was extremely hot, and I was no in the attire to climb any type of cliff. We took a walk along the pier, and then moved on with our tour of the city. Most of our morning we spent baking at Haeundae Beach.  It was a little strange for us at first because everyone that was there was covered head to toe.  We were a little hesitant to strip down to our bathing suits because we would be the only ones, but we did it anyways.  Asians are quite the opposite of Americans when it comes to tanning.  They admire porcelain white skin because it shows that you’ve got enough money not to work in the field all day (where you would get dark).  We’re obviously very Americanized Asians, haha.

  After trying to withstand the Korean heat, we packed up our things and went to Gamcheon Culture Village.  It’s a colorful village that sits on top of a hill where everyone goes to see the colorful houses of Busan that overlook the sea.  It was relatively crowded at the time that we went, but not so much where you were constantly bumping into people.  There are a few hidden alleyways that you can go up to get better views from the rooftops of the houses. Then for dinner, we decided to check out their massive fish market! We had absolutely no idea what we were looking for, so we chose a few fish and a live octopus and had it cooked for us. It took me a VERY long time to eat the octopus because it was still squirming on the plate! The crowd around us at the fish market was fun to watch. They ate everything. They ordered so much food, and they had A LOT of soju going around. It’s funny because it’s always groups of old people that go hiking, and then by mid-afternoon, they’re all drunk.

  We were extremely lucky that it didn’t rain on us during the one full day we had there.  Driving there and driving back to Seoul, we were traveling in downpour rain.  It definitely is a trip worth making if you have a free weekend in Korea and want to escape the hustle and bustle of Seoul!

Everland: Korea's Largest Theme Park

  It’s been so nice having warmer weather here in Korea.  I work the night shift so I haven’t grasped the concept of spring blooming until a few days ago when I walked the doggies outside while there was daylight.  This was a special treat for Sean and I. Not only have I been feeling way under the weather, but also because we finally decided to break our routine of café hunting and make our way to Everland! Click here for discounted tickets to Everland!

There’s something for everyone at Everland!

  I heard about Everland for the first time from my realtor when she took her kids there last summer.  At first, I thought it was just a water park, but when I looked it up it was more than that!  Everland has a theme park, a water park, and a zoo!  The admission fee for both Sean and I was cheaper than one Disneyland ticket!  You can get a discounted price by clicking here, saving you almost $15 on the ticket if you buy it online ahead of time!

  During our visit, we went to see the tulips in the European Adventures area of the park, and of course to check out some of the rides that they had to offer.  Every year they host a tulip garden and a rose garden.  If you want to see a large selection of flowers but aren’t willing to make your way all the way to the Taean Tulip Festival then it’s worth it to visit Everland.

Take a gander at that drop on the rollercoaster in the background!

  Everland happens to house the world’s steepest wooden rollercoaster.  It took us all day to make our way through the park to get there, but I can honestly say it was worth the hour wait in line.   It. Was. Intense.  Sean made us ride in the back so we would get the full experience of the drop at full speed and good grief… I feel like I was falling out of my seat.  You only get a seatbelt and another fitted bar across your lap.  You feel like you’re going to fall out on every drop you hit.  For a wooden rollercoaster, it’s definitely a 10/10 for me.

  The next time we visit, we’ll be visiting the water park side of Everland called Caribbean Bay, so make sure you keep a look out for that adventure!

How does it compare to Lotte World?

  I’m not going to lie, I didn’t enjoy Lotte World as much as I thought I would, so that’s probably why I haven’t written a blog about it.  Lotte World is definitely geared more toward younger children.  I’d say that Everland is more family friendly if it comes to having various ages (young children to teenagers) in your family.  I’d say that the park is definitely more aesthetically pleasing to the eye, meaning it’s better kept than Lotte World is.

  Everland is definitely something you’d want to check out during the months that are in between the extreme weather months, so spring and autumn.  Lotte World would be better for going during the extreme weather months since they have indoor attractions as well.

As far as pricing goes, you can get Lotte World tickets for 33,000 won using this link [click], and Everland tickets for 37,000 won using this link [click].

How does it compare to big corporate theme parks like Six Flags and Disney?

  I’d easily compare it to the older Disneyland.  There are definitely enjoyable rides which also include virtual reality rides.  The aesthetic of the park is broken up like it would be in Disneyland, but they’re geared more towards different areas in the world rather than cartoon towns.  Their gift stores showcase characters of the park like Disney would.  As far as Six Flags, there’s definitely no comparison in rides.

Nitty Gritty of the pros and cons of Everland

  It’s affordable ticket prices make enjoying the park so much better.  You’re not having to save up a crazy amount just to take your family out to a theme park.

  The food in the restaurants are absolutely scrumptious, and well-priced.  When we bought a two 19,000 won meals, they were well worth their price.

  There are so many snack bars around the park, that are also very affordable.  It doesn’t cost you $15 for a regular drink that’s mostly ice like it would in the states.

  There’s a zoo in the park where you can pet wild animals.  I mean, come on…

They have different galleries showcased there! We’re unsure of how often it changes, but the one we went to featured an interactive kaleidoscope art piece!

  If you drive there, the parking is free!  There’s a shuttle bus that runs from the parking lot to the entrance of the park as well, so you don’t have to walk back and forth for very long distances.

  The park has a lot of steep inclines, so going up and down with strollers and small children may not be the easiest, but there are gondolas that can take you from different places to the park so you don’t have to walk the entire length of the park if you’re just trying to get to a certain zone.

  Overall, we’d highly recommend this park for families with children, or even if you’re just a couple!