One of the great joys of living a life of FIRE (Financial Independence/Retire Early) is not having to be anywhere. I don’t have to be at work at 8am. I don’t have meetings. I don’t have to be in front of my keyboard for 8 hours per day.
I appreciate my freedom more than most because I have a very hard time sitting still. At home, I have to get out of the house multiple times per day or else I start to go crazy. And I like to hit the road too.
This summer, I spent 41 days traveling including Maine, Vermont, New York City and Scotland. Last month took me to San Diego and Dallas. And last week, I was on the move again.
I had been to Seattle once and it was time to get back. A friend (D) recently moved there, so I had a place to stay. Off I went.
Cars no More
I flew in on Friday night. Since D was in the market for a car, we went to the Seattle auto show. I’ve been a lifelong car fanatic, but at the show, I noticed that my enthusiasm has started to fade. Seeing all of the pretty new cars didn’t move me like it had in years past.
However, it was still neat seeing the new Acura NSX. It looked great in person. Except for that front end. That front end is not great:
On Saturday, we took the ferry over to the Olympic Peninsula:
We headed for Olympic National Park where we hiked around for the next two days:
On Sunday night, I met up with the Millennial Boss at a local brewery. The greatest joy of blogging is that if you work at it long enough, you’ll establish a network of friends all over the world. It’s been a while since I’ve taken a vacation and not met up with another blogger or reader.
Walking Fool
My friend had to work on Monday, so I was on my own. Another one of the great joys of having almost infinite time is that you find yourself doing things you would never have done with a job. When you have to work, your time is just too valuable. Without a job, sometimes I just wander around aimlessly. That’s exactly what I did on this day, walking 7 miles before heading back to the airport to catch my flight.
Next?
I already have a full schedule for the next 12 months:
- December: Las Vegas to visit relatives.
2018
- January: Camp FI in Gainesville
- March (spring break): undecided
- May: Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting in Omaha
- June: Wisconsin (or the U.K.)
- July: San Diego and Utah
- August: Philadelphia and New York City
- September: Orlando
- October: Secret trip! More details soon.
And farther down the road, when the kids are out of the home, I see Mrs. 1500 and I traveling even more extensively. I think it would be fun to hike the Appalachian Trail, backup around Europe and take an RV around North America.
In the meantime, I hope our paths cross either here in my home state of Colorado or on the road somewhere. First round is on me.
After a hike.
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Olympic National Park looks awesome. We love to hike too. So far our favorite is RMNP, but so many other amazing spaces out there.
Make sure you free up a few days for the Twin Cities this summer. The North Stars would love to host you for an epic happy hour.
RMNP! I can see it out my office window! Next time you’re in the Rocky Mountain state, stop by. And yeah, Minnesota again summer of 2018!
That first pic of Olympic National Park is gorgeous! It’s exactly how I remember it – cold, damp, overcast, foggy, and just blissful!
Accidental Fire recently posted…My Spreadsheet Is Family And I Love Her
The pictures from Olympic National Park are stunning! I’m glad you had a great time in Seattle! That is one of the cities I hope to visit someday. I think I would really enjoy the Pacific Northwest 🙂
Mrs. Adventure Rich recently posted…Confessions of a FIRE Blogger: We Don’t have a FI Number or Date
Wow…Seattle and Olympic National Park looks great! Its been fun reading about your travels this year. Someday I’ll have to make my way out to the west coast. In any case, happy to see you and the family are coming back to the east coast next summer! I’ll get the pizza ready 🙂
Looks beautiful, but I hope you guys were warm enough hiking around up there!
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Yep, a raincoat is the key. Or a garbage bag with a head-hole in it.
This makes me miss living in Seattle! I wish I would have hiked MORE when I lived there for 8 years!
Tonya@Budget and the Beach recently posted…October Rewind: Pumpkins Behaving Badly
In the mid-80s I did a week long backpacking trip in Olympic NP. I was 15 and lost 12lbs that week (115 down to 103) because my uncle didn’t realize how much a teenage boy eats. I also didn’t sleep much because of his stories about tribes of female sasquatches that liked to abduct teenage boys. Thank god I had my walkman and Smiths tapes to keep me sane. Looking back it was a great trip, kind of in the way tragedy + time = comedy.
15 pounds in a week! Yikes. At least the Sasquatch didn’t get you!
Hey, cool! I’ve been to a bunch of those places!
Glad you enjoyed your trip out here to the PNW Mr. 1500! Unfortunately this time of year the weather is pretty rotten! We get tons of wind and rain during the fall and winter. Spring is a little better, but summer is by far the best season to visit.
Enjoy your travels!
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Enjoy Seattle. It’s not raining today. Heh heh heh. I gotta go clean out the gutter and blow the leaves this Saturday. That’s not fun at all.
Man, you guys are traveling a lot. Sounds like fun.
I hope you plan on the Bay Area sometime soon. If you need a place to crash, mi casa es su casa, as long as you don’t object to large amounts of dog fur getting on everything.
Mrs. BITA recently posted…If I Can Do It, So Can You: A Financial Full Monty
Mrs. BITA! I will be in the Bay Area sooner than later and I’ll definitely take you up on your offer. Also, the same goes for you; next time you’re in Colorado, we’d love to have you stay with us.
Consider backpacking in the Alps at some point. Truly breathtaking… and because you can hike from hut to hut, you get a hot meal and a cold beverage at the end of each day!
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how my kids affect FIRE. Though we’re fairly mobile right now (all kids are <4 years) in a few years they'll start building real relationships. Then high school comes around and that starts to impact their adult life.
I imagine you're in the middle of all that too with your kids. How do you balance all the traveling with the kids?
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Wow, Seattle looks beautiful! Will definitely have to add that to our list. Wife and I will be checking out New York City for the first time in April, we’re excited!
Speaking of cars, anyone see the Tesla Roadster 2 unveil? Beautiful piece of machinery+technology, and only $200,000! ?
Looks like a really fun trip! And quite the traveling schedule.
“Seeing all of the pretty new cars didn’t move me like it had in years past.” Ha, I’m not even FI and suffer the same “issue”! Always been going to car shows and really enjoying it, but it has fade over the last couple of years since we are looking to become FI. Glad to read I’m not the only one 🙂
I think going to the car show proves that your frugal Jedi training must be complete. You don’t need more, you have enough, even if you bought something somewhat unnecessary before, you purchased your NSX in a mindful way. So many things in our society (car shows are a perfect example) feed the idea that it’s never enough. Good on you for going into your own personal valley of the shadow of financial death and coming out the other side even stronger than you went in.
If you are ever out to see the Frugalwoods or other northeasters and would like to hit the trails of NH let me know. We can do a mountaintop meetup.
“If you are ever out to see the Frugalwoods or other northeasters and would like to hit the trails of NH let me know. We can do a mountaintop meetup.”
This would be awesome! Let’s do it! Summer 2018!
You’ve officially been to more cool places than me (and I live in Seattle). Maybe after we FIRE we can take a tour in our own backyard.
I’m so jealous you get to go Berkshire Hathaway’s party in May. Wowowowow ?