Cherry blossom season is about a week behind us now, and all the beautiful flowers have found their way to the gutters, streams and streets of South Korea. Fortunately for us foreign folk, the travel group “Enjoy Korea” hosted a Jinhae cherry blossom trip so that us waygookians could take advantage of the blooms before the rains set in. As it so happens, the cherry blossoms are not only a beautiful sight to behold, they also provide excited (and antsy after being stuck in traffic for 3 hours and Transporter 3) tourists with the chance to take ALLLLLL the pictures (and I do mean all of them, every one ever in existence). As much as other Kat may have made fun of me for my incessant camera clicking, we were left with a few good shots of the day that hopefully give you an idea of just how gorgeous, popular and crowded the cherry blossoms and Jinhae festival are. Without further ado, I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves this time (minus the odd caption here and there of course, how can a former English lit. major pass up an opportunity to put words on a page?).

One of the many balloon stations dotted around the festival.

Trying to ignore the roasting pig by us as we wait for our pajun and bibimbap.

Said roasting pig that Kat cringed to look at

Nothing is too exotic or over the top for SK. And yes, I partook.

Cherry blossom and forsythia lined staircase; made up of 365 steps: 1 for each day of the year.

Looking down from the base of the 1-year stairs at a small section of the festival

Couples LOVE to match in SK, it’s their way of showing that they’re together. This outfit must mean it’s true love.

Made it to the top faster than the folk waiting in the 3 hour line for a 3 min gondola ride up.

Luckily, it only rained for about 20 min…and most of that time we were enjoying the view from the shelter of the observation tower!

Kat and I proudly showing our new couple status…and thinking, where are all the men??

View from the observatory at the top of the 1-year stairs

Cherry blossoms stretched out in every direction, and as far as the eye could see

even the shrubbery is cute in SK

This intersection had about 5 horse drawn carriages just blocking the roads..and no one cared.

Location of the victory memorial parade

Disappointed after his “spin the wheel” turn didn’t win him any free goodies

By far the busiest, and prettiest spot at the festival

No picture was safe from the selfies of others

Short Kat and I took our relationship to the next level…caricatures! We definitely got some stares from the real couples there.

We got the cotton candy purely for the pictures

But of course we ended up eating the bigger than our heads sugary goodness after we took the pictures.

A sailor on lave enjoys the blossoms with his sweetheart nearby

These umbrellas were put up in a small section of the river, because why not?

It was a superhero parade; she must have been all tuckered out because her own Dad-hero was indulgently getting her energy boosting ice cream.

A makeshift stall set up on the street to sell the best treats: complete with a JD, red wine and margarita line up.