Thursday, June 9, 2011

Summer Plans

The school semester is winding down here in the suburbs of Daegu as the temperature rises. We have yet to turn on our air conditioning out of respect for the ghastly electric bill we received last July and August. So far, the evenings and mornings have been cool, which is perfect for sleeping with the windows open. But the time is near, I can sense it.

This summer will be one of many firsts for us. It will be the first time we go back to the United States, but don't visit Arkansas or Oklahoma, the place we will likely call home again in a year. It will be the first time either of us have spent much time in Canada. And it will be my first time to travel 5000 miles for a wedding.
When we found out Josh was getting married, we altered our plans for a European trip (which may have broken the bank) and decided to make the most of a trip to Prince Edward Island, off the Eastern coast of Canada. For all you "Anne of Green Gables" fans, that is where the movie was filmed. It is supposed to be beautiful in the summer and should be a gorgeous wedding.

To get from Korea to PEI, we will travel: from Busan to Tokyo, Tokyo to LA, LA to Seattle, Seattle to Chicago, Chicago to Providence, from which we will drive up the East coast. It will be an immense adventure. Then after the wedding, we'll head back to Seattle for a few errands before embarking on a month-long road trip around Washington, British Columbia, and Oregon. We plan to climb at Vantage, which also happens to be very near the Gorge (outdoor concert venue), so if there are any good shows at that time, we may have to go. Then, on to Skaha in BC. It's supposed to have some of the best sport climbing around. And then on to Squamish. Squamish is a bit mystical in my mind. I have seen several climbing films based in Squamish, but have never been there. I have only been to Canada once for a swim meet, where I got a good view of the Simon Fraser campus and swimming pool, but not much else. So there is newness all around. Also, Squamish is notorious for its trad climbing.

Rebs and I have a love/hate relationship with traditional climbing. I love it and she hates it. Maybe hate is too simple of a word. It scares her. If you're not familiar with "trad", it means placing your own protection (usually into a crack), usually in the form of a cam or nut. If you fall, you hope that the piece of gear you placed catches in the rock. I'm sure my mother will have some "concerns" with this brief description, but there is much more science to it. Yes, there is risk, but it is calculated. And what is life without risk?

After we get the climbing bug out of our system, we will head to the coast in Oregon, where Rebecca grew up taking camping vacations at Manzanita. We'll actually be staying with some extended family at their guest cottage, just to relax and soak up the sun for a bit before getting back into the working life of Korea, and the job of getting rid of 4 years' worth of accumulation.

That's our summer plan and it will be here before we know it. We're really excited, and we might even get a nice camera to document everything along the way. Then hopefully I won't have to type so much because my pictures can do all the talking. ;)