2011 was a pretty fantastic year. From a few frozen months in Portland to some lazy days in Southern Oregon to Coachella and visiting great friends in southern California in April, to a return to Seoul in June, it has been a pretty action-packed time.
I’ve looked back and picked a picture from each month; a picture that in some way encapsulated that time. Without further ado:
January 2011
We celebrated Rachel’s birthday at the Bye-and-Bye, a vegan restaurant and great bar. Afterward, we hung out with local musician Kent Smith and listened to some live tunes.
February 2011
February saw a free party from Yelp, where we ate and drank for free all night. This photo reveals one of the night’s discoveries; shaking your head really quickly whilst taking a picture.
March 2011
March was my birthday month, and I chose one of my favorite spots in the world. A bar with dozens of beers on tap (see the LED board) with my favorite Mexican restaurant next door.
April 2011
The fourth month had many highlights, including a trip to Bend, Southern Oregon hiking, family time, and Coachella. But looking back, Munchkin and microbrews with friends was an absolute highlight.
May 2011
May was a gloomy, farewell month. Walking through Portland food carts on a rainy day was a pretty apt bookend for our USA existence.
June 2011
June saw a new job in a familiar city. I was quickly impressed by how picturesque my area was.
July 2011
The floods were the story of the summer. On one of the few days that was rain-free, we hiked Cheonggyesan to start building our Korean hiking muscles. It was brutal and fun. And hot.
August 2011
August was a hot steamy hot month full of heat. One of the highlights of Seoul in general is going out into a neon jungle and not emerging until the sun comes up. This was our first return to Heywa and Suyu and we had a nice hike on Bukhansan the next day.
September 2011
September was a month of hikes and the air began to clear. We saw a lot of Seoul from the mountains, and this one from Achasan is one of my favorites.
October 2011
October was maybe the best month in Korea; hiking, biking, and so much more. It’s a pity not to have a hiking picture here, but Halloween was pretty unforgettable. Hi-ya!
November 2011
We’ve had a lot of good trips to Seoraksan, but this time we had friends with us and saw some new areas of the park.
December 2011
December was full of fun, but it’s hard to go past an abandoned Alice in Wonderland theme park.
That shaking head game is so fun, it never gets old.
That flood-y picture is crazy–it looks like an intentional waterfall!
It never gets old, but I haven’t done much of it since that night. We’ll have to remember to revisit it.
The floods here, while nothing like the ones in Thailand, were pretty full-on. There are still businesses closed from getting too much flood damage. If the river had come up much higher, we would have been evacuated.
October 2011 is quite special. Little Miss Piggy?
Yup, that’s right. And Miss Piggy was quite a hit in South Korea, let me tell you.