Hazy Sunset from Gwanaksan

I'm HUGE in Korea (Part XVI)

So, after a very large meal of Sanchae Bibimbap at Seoraksan Park this past weekend, we had a little contest:

Who Looks More Pregnant?

Meet The Contestants:

Victoria "I-really-am-3-months-pregnant" Solomon

Austin "I'm-HUGE-in-Korea" Kaufmann

Ian "Look-into-my-eyes" Nichols:

And the winner is...

... Austin "I'm-HUGE-in-Korea" Kaufmann, with Ian earning an Honorable Mention for Best Love Trail.

Sorry, Victoria, try again next month!

[For the rest in the "I'm HUGE in Korea" series, click here.]

I'm HUGE in Korea (Part XI)

This time, I'm simultaneously HUGE from two angles:

[For the rest in the "I'm HUGE in Korea" series, click here.]

Seoraksan, Once Again

Victoria and I have been to Seoraksan two times before, once with the hiking club and once with Victoria's mom and aunt.  For this our third venture to Seoraksan, we were joined by our pals Ian and Brigitte:

The requisite Seoraksan bear photo.

We had the most picture perfect weather imaginable, sunny and warm during the day, crisp and cool in the evenings.  The autumn colors were beginning to appear in the valleys, and the tops of the mountains were bathed in red:

From our hotel inside the park

Many great photo ops this weekend:

Aawwwww!

Autumn is peak season in the park, and with such great weather it was no surprise that the trails were jam-packed with hikers and climbers:

And you thought Seoul traffic was bad!

Click to see the climbers on top.

We had to catch the bus back to Seoul from Sokcho, so we spent a little time on the beach and then got some great food:

Grilled clams, oysters, mussels, etc.  

Hard-boiled quail eggs.

Group photo from Sokcho Beach:

Gig in Songdo at David's

 The gig is at What's David's in Songdo
 Friday, Oct. 8, at 9:00 pm

Directions  |  Map  |  Photo

Update:  The gig was fun.  Thanks to my li'l bro' Lane who trekked all the way down from North-east Seoul just to make it:

PS:  Nice sketchy 'stache!

Camping with the Mountain Bikers

As you may remember, this past spring, Victoria and went on a camping trip to the Daejeon area with a big group of mountain bikers.  Well, recently, the same group had another camping event, and I was able to join them again.   Victoria, still battling jet lag from having just returned from the States, wasn't able to join us.  Here are some pics from the weekend.

We camped on the sandy beach of a river,
which turned out to be fortuitous as the sand helped
drain away the 10cm of rain we got.

Between hiking, biking, and kayaking runs, there was
plenty of time to chill out back at camp.

The McGinnises

Al's famous swamp beans, stewed in collard greens

Stan and I decided to hike the local mountain:
Nogosan.

This beautiful, large owl flew right across our path
and alighted in a nearby tree.  Amazing creature.

View of our camp site from the top of Nogosan.

A few people brought inflatable kayaks.
Great fun, even in the rain. 

The food was delish.

As usual, we busted out the instruments,
though rain prevented us from gathering
around a campfire this time.