Olympic Snow Villages and Alpacas

We headed to Pyeongchang, host of the 2018 Winter Olympics, back in February. We wanted a little outdoor winter fun before the end of the season. It had been warm recently at home, but we were hoping the mountains would be a bit colder. They weren't, but the Phoenix Resort manufactured enough snow for plenty of snowball fights and still had a few ski slopes open.

Now, if you’ve met me recently, you know I don’t ski. If you met me 10 years ago, you’d think I skied. Much to my husband’s dismay, I hate skiing. When we first met, I joined him for a ski trip over the New Year’s holiday. I hit the slopes with him the whole weekend. It was a bait and hook sort of thing. Now that we are married, I can be found at the lodge having a beer or getting a facial at a nearby spa. Tim feels duped. But, it works out okay for him in the end. Now, I watch the girls while he gets an afternoon to himself to ski. Joke's on me, really.

We booked a condo for the weekend and packed the girls' snow jumpers. The condo we booked was a lot larger than we realized, and it felt like the penthouse suite. The girls had their own room and their own bed to jump on. You forget as an adult how much fun hotel rooms are to kids. The endless supply of tissues, the perfectly sized shampoo bottles, TVs in every room. The girls were happy as clams in mud just by our accommodations. They were given balloons at check-in and ran from room to room with their balloons bouncing behind them.

On Sunday morning we bundled up and headed to the Snow Village. An entire slope dedicated to the little ones. It was more like a winter themed carnival with snow treats, igloos, sledding, table top curling, putt putt holes, and tubing. A dusting of fake snow greeted you upon arrival into the village. They are not nearly as cautious about safety as we are back home. So even though I might have thought our one and two year old were too young to don helmets and hit the tubing lanes - they are good to go here. No height limits, all riders welcome. They even had a merry go round style tubing ride that swung the girls around in the snow. It looked like a carnival ride assembly job for sure. I think Olive slept through both of these sporting events--or she had her eyes closed in fright.

That afternoon Tim hit the slopes, and we then we all headed out for dinner at the hotel. The girls are getting really good at eating out. I’ve started packing white rice for them to eat instead of peanut butter and jellies. This way when it’s all over the restaurant floor around Olive’s highchair, I can at least pretend we ordered it off the menu.

On our way out of town we stopped at an……. alpaca cafe. I saw an ad that read “Aplaca Cafe 1KM” with an arrow. That’s all I need: alpacas, coffee and point me in the right direction. This cafe was alpaca-dorable. I have been to alpaca farms before, and this place packed some serious cuteness. The cafe is home to about 8 happy alpacas.

We got to meet several of the alpacas, our favorites were named Machu and Picchu. We bought packages of food pellets from a vending machine full of alpaca snacks and let them eat out of our hands. I wasn’t sure how the girls would react to them - but they were both in pretty quickly. And it’s safe to say the alpacas were all in on us. The alpacas did momentarily mistake Rosie’s blonde ringlets for hay. Okay, that happened twice, before we decided to put Rosie’s hood up for the rest of the visit. It phased me more than Rosie. Their caregiver explained to us that they don’t see many blonde kids. Olive liked the Alpacas so much she tried to wiggle her way back into their fenced area without us when we were leaving. When we talk about the alpacas now, Rosie will pat her curls down and tell you that they tried to eat her hair.

We left with our own Machu and Picchu stuffed animals, thanks to the giant alpaca themed gift shop at the only exit of the cafe. It was an awesome weekend here in Korea.

Hope to have some visitors out here next Winter!

Love,

Val