surfing

yes, we went surfing! yay!
our adventure started at 3:30 am saturday morning when the alarm went off. so sleepy. the car was already all packed, so we just got up, ate some breakfast and hit the road. it was actually quite nice, since there were very few cars on the road. we bought a good road map, and didn't get lost at all! :)
about halfway through the drive, luke and i switched because i was getting tired and couldn't drive anymore. the scenery was actually really cool. there were some rad tunnels, VERY long. and everything was really green and pretty.
we finally hit this town called Donghae and then went south from there (north is baaaaad, remember!) and went along the coast to find the waves. all along the coast there are these HUGE fences with these barbed wires along the top. no bueno!so, for the first few stops we could only look at the waves from afar. i guess it was left over from the war or something, because there was all this camo painted stuff too. very weird. and all these rocks were stuck into the fence along the way, we couldn't figure out what for.
we drove along and found a few spots, not deciding where to go, and finally, when we got about as far south as we wanted to go, we decided that a place that we saw about 3rd in our adventure was the best one to try. so, we headed back north.
we had heard rumors about the korean military not being too pleased with surfers, so when we got htere we moved as fast as we could to get our wetsuits on and get the boards ready. the air temp was pretty cold and it was a little windy, but surprisingly the water temp wasn't too bad. it was about the same as santa cruz in the winter so we were kinda used to it. the waves weren't that great, but hey, they were waves. the water was way shallow and then immediately got deep, and there was a sand bar out a ways that i will speak more about later. so, we caught some waves and were having fun. luke was doing great, as usual. it took a little bit to get back used to surfing, but he got it way faster than i did. :) and then some bigger waves started coming in. so, i decided that i'm going to try to get one, but only the foam part of it, which is usually a litle nicer than the actual wave. so, here i go, i'm ready, and, i swear, the wave doubled in size right before it hit me and it pummeled me into the water. well, remember the sand bar i told you about... i collided my head into it. seriously, where the sand bar hits it is only about 3 feet deep. good thing it was soft, because i hit it pretty hard and it drug my head along it. nice. so, i got a headache from that. right as i was recovering from the mayhem, i saw them...... the korean military guys coming our way. oh no!!!! were we in trouble, would we be told to leave???? they blew their whistles, and of course luke was thinking that if he was being kicked out then at least he would catch a wave on the way in. they blew their whistles about 5 zillion times at him, it was actually quite funny. so, when we got to them, they started speaking korean, shich of course we don't understand. eventually they drew a pictue in the sand and pointed to this little bar sticking out and we understood that we couldn't be on one side of the bar, we had to stay towards to other side. so, we weren't in trouble after all! :) we moved down the beach, but my head was hurting from the sand collision, so luke went out again and i stayed in and video taped him and took some pictures. the wind picked up more and the waves were getting choppier, so we eventually left. luke did really great though. he rode his longboard and his shortboard. even though the waves weren't that great, it made us happy just to be able to surf. :) while we were out there, people kept driving by and just staring at us. they probably hadn't ever seen surfers on their beach before. some waved and said hi, but i think most were just amazed. it was funny. when we were changing at the car, we got some very strange looks. haha.
we originally had planned on staying overnight and surfing again sunday, but we both had headaches adn were pretty pooped, so we decided to make the drive back. it really wasn't that bad on the way there, so we figured we could make it. the only problem..... gas. (in the car, haha) when we fill up on base, it is only about $1.95 a gallon, but out on the economy, they go by liters (i hate liters) and its about $1.50 a liter. so, when we were done filling up, it ended up costing us.... are you ready...... you really should sit down for this......... $65!!!!!!! OMG! i almost freaked out! but now i know that we can get a map from the military gas station here on post of all the military stations along the way so we can fill up there. i will never pay that much again! we also went through 2 toll booths, for a total of about $18 round trip. not too bad, we can handle that. :)
we got home around 5:30 pm. we did hit some traffic on the way back, but not too bad.
all in all, it was a good trip. it would have been nice to find better waves, but the waves we found were alright. we are so looking forward to hawaii at christmas time. real waves, warm water. ahhhh, the good life! :)