Anniversary Celebration!

Tim and I had lots of fun celebrating our four year anniversary!  On the actual day of our anniversary (Thursday), we had a candlelit dinner at one of our favorite restaurants down the street.  It was romantic and perfect. :)  We also exchanged gifts that we had made for each other.  Tim made me a beautiful chalk pastel picture, and I wrote him a poem entitled, "This Tree" to go with it.  I love Tim's picture!  He is such an artist!

The weekend after our anniversary, we kept the celebrating going by heading to the east coast city of Sokcho!  Sokcho is about 3 hours northeast of Seoul, and (don't tell my mom) is not far from the North Korean border.  It is known for its beautiful beaches and its national park.  Unfortunately, since it is monsoon season right now, we did not get to experience the beaches.  We did, however, get to experience a gorgeous beach-side temple and the pristine national park, both of which were incredible.  

We arrived in Sokcho on Saturday afternoon and checked into an amazing hostel.  The lobby was decorated so artistically and the rooms were very clean and spacious.  Also, the owner of the hostel sat down and gave us tips on what things we should see and how we should get there.  And all for $30 a night.  Can't beat it!

The first thing we saw in Sokcho was the beach-side temple, Naksansa.  It was gorgeous and eerie- looking because it was foggy and a little rainy.  I'd say it was the most beautiful temple we've seen in Korea!

After we explored the temple, we had Korean BBQ for dinner and then walked along the coast of Sokcho at night.  It was so pretty.

The next day, we got up early and headed over to Seoraksan National Park.  It was, most definitely, the most beautiful place I have seen in Korea thus far!  The park is over 40,000 acres of mountains, caves, waterfalls, rivers, temples, and pure beauty.  There were not many people there (which is rare for Korea), so we felt like we were discovering hidden gems of nature.  First, we hiked up to see this gorgeous waterfall.  

Later, we stumbled upon this huge Buddha statue.  

Check out this fog!

Next, we hiked up to a cave where some monks live and worship Buddha.  It was quite the hike!  The sign said 0.6 km, so we thought that it wouldn't be so bad.  But it was 0.6 km straight up, which was more difficult than expected.  :)  I would say that the view at the top was worth it all, but it was so foggy that we couldn't see anything but white at the top!  We had literally climbed into the clouds!

After our hike, we walked along the river and found an area where we could go in the perfectly clear water.  We had a little picnic on a big rock in the middle of the river.  It was paradise!

We had an amazing time in Sokcho exploring and celebrating our anniversary!  We loved it so much that we're already planning a trip to go back there the first weekend of September!  We can't wait to discover more of its beauty!