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Road Trip

Writer's picture: Valerie Valerie

After two months the travel restrictions were lifted, and we were allowed to head out of town for the weekend! We loaded up the Subaru and drove to a beach town called Sokcho. It was about 4 hours away through at least 20 tunnels.


Tim and I played rock, paper, scissors on our way out the door to determine who got to drive and who's on kitchen patrol in the backseat feeding the girls breakfast. I won, and Tim wedged into the back. I'm covered in oatmeal most days of the week. This was starting to feel like vacation already. If you haven’t spent much time around Tim and me, then you should know this is how we decide any major chore that neither of us is keen on. Diaper duty, trash duty, and who gets up in the middle of the night to find Rosie’s tiny pacifier that she’s dropped through her crib rails, affectionally known as “Li’l Wubbie”.

The route included a lot of long tunnels. These were a huge highlight for Rose. They had music and neon lights throughout them. It felt a little trippy to me, like driving on Rainbow Road in Mario Cart. About two hours into our drive we stop for lunch outside of PyeongChang, home to the 2018 Winter Olympics. There are Olympic character cartoon statues everywhere. A lot of the restaurants are packed and we find a chicken place that feels a little hole in the wall-ish but there's open seats. I’m unsure about staying but a Korean woman wearing an apron makes her way out of the kitchen. And our toddler has already taken off her shoes - so we’re staying.


We settle into a table and I’m a little skeptical about the food. I tell myself not to worry, there’s a bag of sour cream and onion chips back in the car. After a confusing back and forth about whether there is a restroom, whether I have a key, and whether I’ve brought my own tissue paper, we start to order. (I realize I need to learn some more Korean. Especially, thank you. So, to relay my gratitude I often continually bob my head. I'm sure I look ridiculous.) There's a poster menu with photos and I point to the least spicy looking chicken option. When you come to a fried chicken place in Korea, that’s what you're having. They don't have a menu with a Cobb salad and a Philly cheesesteak too.


The traditional small sides called banchan are brought out and next an entire fried chicken on a platter comes out. It’s a lot of chicken and a lot of bones. I have a hard time digging into this - I hate bones in my food. Tim then proceeds to de-bone pieces of meat for his thirty-three year old wife and his two year old daughter. I realize how well Tim knows me. And then to my delight the Korean chef brings out a platter of French fries, they are the best fries I’ve had since we got here. Rose and I are in heaven. Rosie doesn't seem to notice any differences between dining here and in America. Her biggest concern is whether Lambpop--Olive's stuffie--has enough to eat. With Lambpop's help we finish almost everything, Rosie even eats some of the pickled radish banchan dish. The four of us leave happy and full and on our way to the beach.







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bmckittrick2000
Oct 06, 2020

Hi Valerie, Love your blog and so happy to see that you and the family are getting out and about. As you know I loved hiking in Korea and hope to do some with you whenever I can travel again!!!!

I had great trips to Taeanhean Park and also Byeonsanbando Park - both along the west coast.

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