Post FI FLife Explore

Explore

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Explore

Vision Board Explore

I feel like I am on board the starship Enterprise. For you Star Trek geeks like me, Star Trek represents exploration, learning about new cultures, trying new things that I have not done before and experimenting along the way. Star Trek could be a metaphor for a FI lifestyle. 

We have been exploring various different ways of traveling to see what is a good fit over the last few months, okay actually this entire year. We have not encountered any tribbles yet, but yellowjackets while you are camping sure seem like they are everywhere. 

My vision board included the word “Explore” and this is post explores a few of our camping mini-experiment adventures.

"Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before."

Star Trek

Explore More

Here is the beginning of my travel posts as we began to build out our travel schedule this year. The idea was to do mini-experiments on different types of travel, from your traditional vacation, to road tripping, camping, visiting family,  to international travel and backpacking. 

Gypsy Life

Sunset Campground Post FI LifeOur latest trips have been centered around camping. I have been calling us “homeless” and my Mom is calling me a gypsy. Gypsy is probably a better word, but technically we do not have a home to go back to for the next few months, as we have rented our condo out through the end of November this year, so we are exploring the road. 

Scott loves camping! Okay, I think he really just loves making fires. He has three or four camping stoves and all the car camping gear you can imagine. He has been collecting lint balls from the dryer, cardboard from toilet paper and paper towels, small sticks, acorns, tissue boxes, and anything flammable so that he can burn it while we are camping. So, we decided to incorporate in our travel mini-experiments a few camping trips. 

Sequoias - Go BIG or go home!

Sunset Campgrounds Post FI LifeSequoia Post FI Life ExploreWe decided to head up to Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks and camp a few nights there. Do some hiking and drive around seeing the giant sequoias.  We landed at a great campsite in the Park, Sunset Campground, and the campground delivered on its name. We saw the most stunning sunsets I have ever seen in my life, really better than Santorini’s famed sunsets. Amazing!

Hiking through this stunning landscape and being in nature was grounding and worth the effort. We need to fine tune our car camping equipment, but definitely want to camp more and see the National Parks. An advantage of being FI is that you can go mid-week and get a reservation at a campground! 

Oregon Adventure

Triangle LakeWe then spent some time in Oregon at a family lake cottage for a week. Not exactly camping, but close. This is our annual trip in August to spend time relaxing at the lake and spending time with family. We did some training hikes for the planned hike in October of the Camino de Santiago. What we did learn is that I am way out of shape! We have been practicing with weight in our backpacks and hope it is enough. 

We decided to head down the Oregon coast on our drive back to California, which was stunning scenery. We then camped again outside of Eureka, CA. We kept it simple with cooking, but made a few more S’mores in before I tossed the rest of the marshmallows. I love roasting marshmallows and eating S’mores while camping, it is just part of the experience.Sequoia Post FI Life

Our next adventure during our drive was going along the Avenue of the Giants and the redwoods in Northern California. These are coastal sequoias and are way taller! You feel puny standing next to them. This is a stunning drive and will be back again maybe next year to camp under the redwoods.

Explore New Worlds

I know you are thinking what is the tie in with Star Trek and camping? Good question. I think our camping mini-experiment was really a way for us to explore strange new worlds, a world outside of our city life and plug back into simple, basic things. 

We sought out new life and new civilizations. This might be a stretch, but we were fortunate to see a black bear (not in our campground thankfully!), snakes, deer, yellow jackets, osprey, heron, elk, and tribbles (joking).

We boldly went where no man has gone before. Okay, that might not be exactly true, but when you are walking below the giant sequoias, you really feel like no one has walked in these forests of beauty.

Call to Action: Explore

Definitely need to keep camping as part of our travel adventures and keep exploring. Camping in a tent, curled up in a sleeping bag while it’s raining is such a calming experience. Yes, it is dirty, inconvenient, cold, work, etc. but it is also grounding and fun. I hope you get a chance to explore strange new worlds on your next travel adventure. 

Jen

Jen

I started this blog to journal about my Post FI Life and help me process my transition from working in Corporate America for almost 30 years. I am on a journey to find happiness, joy and fulfillment. And to have a little fun along the way.

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Explore! I feel like I am on board the starship Enterprise. For you Star Trek geeks like me, Star Trek represents exploration, learning about new cultures, trying new things that I have not done before and experimenting along the way. Star Trek could be a metaphor for a FI lifestyle.

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