Road Trips with Chip: March (2)

to continue the March road trips… CHERRY BLOSSOMS!

Jinhae, Changwon, and Miryang

Early spring means cherry blossom season! And cherry blossom season is very short, generally only 2 weeks from a tree’s first blossom.

My two friends, M and MD, joined me for a trip south to Jinhae. This is a city famous for its annual cherry blossom festivals.

Everyone warned me that traffic would be horrendous in Jinhae. I booked our hotel in Changwon, as everything affordable and closer to Jinhae had already been booked up. Our hotel room was huge, suitable for 3 people, and located in the middle of the downtown area.

After breakfast on Saturday morning, we headed to Jinhae, prepared for nightmare traffic and bountiful blossoms. Well, we had neither. Due to the cold temperatures throughout March, the cherry blossoms, albeit blooming, were still new and not peaking. We still had beautiful views, but not quite what we’d envisioned. We were lucky, however, that hardly anyone was around.

Jinahe:

We went to all the main cherry blossom viewing sites, and walked along the Romance Bridge stream. At this point, I realized I hadn’t brought out Belle for modeling. I pulled her out of my purse, placed her on a column, and prepared to take a picture.. when a gust of wind took Belle away and she fell into the stream. Belle was swept away, and I only hope a little girl has found her and has made her a fun addition to her toy collection. I definitely cried, feeling helpless for losing her, and silly for being so emotional over an object when there are people all over the world fighting for their lives.

We spent the evening people watching and listening to a singing competition, before returning to our hotel. Sunday was a relaxing, meandering drive back to Daegu. We stopped in Miryang, which was quite a delightful detour. We experienced the nightmare of Cheongdo-Gachang-Daegu traffic, but otherwise had an easy drive.

Miryang:

Soon up, April & May road trips!