The Adventures of Team Daniels: The Griswolds Korean Ski Vacation

Deokyu Mountain, Muju, is under two hours from Sacheon, so we decided to take advantage of the kids' day off of school to check it out.

The kiddos have only been "skiing" once. It wasn't skiing on a mountain because it was in Kansas. In addition, Zeke made it up that montain/hill 2 or 3 times, and Daisy and Eli didn't make it off the bunny slope.

Because the coronavirus started to take off like wildfire this week, we couldn't decide if we should go or stay in. We struggled with it for several days and decided late Thursday to go Friday. We were too late to arrange ski lessons so we decided to wing it.

The first sight of snow was exciting and had everyone wanting to play in it.

After getting everything rented, we were ready to hit the slopes!

We practiced with the 3 kids and our friend Susie on a slight incline by the lift.

Then we did it. We all got on the lift. Zeke, Susie and I got on first and got off without one spill. I was impressed! I watched Daisy and Eli get off with the Pops. Daisy did great and Eli almost did not fall. He popped back up and got back on his feet though.

I was trying to herd the cats at the top of the hill to get a group pic since we were all together. Lijee had already fallen about 3 times and I could not keep everyone in a group.

Daisy asked Daddy if she could go, and that is exactly what she did.

That girl went balls to the wall straight down the hill. I yelled, "Daisy, go side to side!" to no avail. She was gone. I made sure Abe had Eli and then I started after her and chased her down the entire way. Part of me was proud that she made it to the bottom without falling. More of me was hoping she would fall because that girl was building up a lot of speed and she was going to have to stop one way or another!

At the bottom there was a very large opening, probably more than 200 meters across. There was a short mesh fence near the lift probably 20 meters or less. In front of that was a small sign less than 1 meter wide.

You can guess what's coming. I was watching Daisy's little teal coat speed down the mountain, with her arms and poles flying up in the air, heading straight for the sign. One second she was up and going super fast; next there was a blur of skis and poles and signs and Daisy finally skidded to a stop as she hit the mesh fence.

Of course she was in tears when I caught up. I think most of it was fear. But she said she hurt her shin. Zekers showed up and we had a good laugh. Then I asked him to help me put the sign back in the ground. Check out what it said:

When we read the sign, Zeke and I laughed and laughed. Daisy wasn't sure if she was laughing or crying. I think it was a bit of both.

We waited around, but the Pops wasn't showing up. I told Zeke and Daisy to wait on me and I would go up again to find him. The minute I got off the lift I found them. It had been at least 20 minutes or more at this point since we all got off the lift together, and Eli had made it maybe 50 meters down the hill. Abe was patiently helping him. I wasn't sure how long the 'patiently' part would hold on, so I told him to go help Susie, who was tangled in the side fence about 150 meters away.

Bless Eli's heart. He would go about 5 feet and fall. He couldn't get up so he would pop off both skis. It felt like it took 10 minutes to get the skis back on. Then he would go another 5 feet and fall. No kidding. Wash, rinse, repeat. After about 3 times of this Zeke called. He said the ski patrol was there and wanted to take Daisy to the infirmary. I told him to tell them to wait on Abe, because he would be there any second.

I'm not sure how many attempts Eli took, but we moved about another 20 meters down the hill and Zeke called a second time, wandering where I was. I was like, I can't leave Eli up here alone, tell them to wait on your father. Even though Eli was a trooper and kept getting back on that horse, I finally told him to take off the skis and walk down because I needed to get down there to see if the Korean ski patrol had hauled Daisy off.

Finally we rounded a bend and I could see the snow mobile and several people were around Daisy so they hadn't taken her anywhere just yet. I showed Eli where they were and told him to keep walking and meet me there. I carried his skis and skied down to the crash site.

When I arrived I was surprised that Abe was not there yet. The ski patrol had Daisy loaded on the snow mobile and had a stint on her leg. They were intent on taking her with them. We all had our phones out and were trying using Google translate to try to communicate when I heard someone swish up next to me. To my astonishment it was a ski patrol who was carrying Eli like a baby. He had seen Eli walking down and asked where Mom was. When Eli pointed to us the guy just picked him up and skied down with Eli right on his hip. It was a good tension breaker as we all laughed at them. I only wish I had been watching and could have take a picture. It was a funny sight indeed.

Finally I spotted Abe and Susie slowly working their way down. It still took forever for him to join us.

After Abe discussed through broken English and a translation app, we decided they could take Daisy to the infirmary.

The ladies in the infirmary gave her some pain-killer spray and an ace bandage wrap. I left Daisy in the care of Daddy and the infirmary, along with Eli, and I took Zeke and Susie back to the slopes.

This is the Pops carrying the Daiser to the car after he brought her out to meet us. She couldn't put any weight on her leg.

Lijee had fun playing in what little snow was left over. He made several snowmen, but only one tiny guy didn't get knocked over.

Zekers joined him when we were done skiing.

That was about it for our Griswold-ish shenanigans. Except for when Susie got taken out by a snowboarder. Hard. And when Daisy got a bloody nose.

I gave awards for the day in the car ride home. Eli got the most persistent for getting up every time he went down, which was a lot. Susie got the bravest for trying a hard hill twice. Zeke got the best skier award. Daddy got the 'take one for the team' award. I just got to enjoy the beautiful afternoon skiing.