2012- The Year in Review

This year we have a lot to be thankful for. This year we finally realized a dream that had been in the making for over 5 years. That dream never had a clear and concise picture to it, but the main elements were freedom and adventure. I can honestly say this has been the most memorable year of my life and I am really happy that I got to spend it with my best friend. Over the twelve months we have made leaps on our understanding of each other, ourselves and the world. I feel that I have grown as a person. We have wondered if we will look back on this year years from now and say "remember that amazing year?". I actually kind of hope we don't. I hope next year will be just as exciting and that we will continue our adventures with the same sense of freedom and excitement as we have this year.

I sat down to reminisce about what all we have done this year and where we have been. I'm pretty happy with all we have accomplished this year. I hope you have enjoyed following along! Here in a few words is what we've been up to this year:

• We quit our jobs and spent the whole last year unemployed, or funemployed as Skyler likes to call it. I plan to write a separate entry on what that's been like, but in a few words- not like we expected. Better!

Hiking at Big Bend National Park, TX

• We sold everything we owned except for two boxes of clothes and a scattering of mementos. It was very liberating to sell so many of our possessions, I can't say I've missed any of them since. We learned a few lessons along the way, like thinking twice before we buy anything again.

White Sands National Park

• We bought a truck. Neither Skyler nor I ever thought that we would one day be owners of a HUGE Ford F250. And then one day we decided to go on this silly adventure and all of a sudden we were in the market for the biggest truck we could find. We sold our little Honda Accord and swapped it for the gas guzzling Fiona (what we called our F250). 

Hiking at Zion National Park

• We bought a travel trailer and lived in it for most of the year. Before setting off on the road, neither of us had ever spent a night in a travel trailer. We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into and it was somewhat intimidating at first, but soon it just felt like home. 

Sand dunes on Pismo Beach, CA

• In February we set off on what became a 9 month long road trip around 33 states. We added nine new states to our list of states we've been to. Now we've been to 45 states all together. We have Alaska, Hawaii, North Dakota, Nebraska, and Iowa left on the list. 

Columbia River Gorge between Oregon and Washington

• We bought a National Parks Pass and added many new National Parks, Monuments, Seashores, Lakeshores, Grasslands and Forests to our list of places we've been. Some of our favorites were White Sands National Monument, Badlands National Park, Zion National Park and Petrified Forest National Park. 

Badlands National Park

• We boondocked (found free parking for our truck and travel trailer for the night) for the very first time in Oklahoma City. We called up a local church and asked if we could park in their parking lot for a few nights. They said no problem and that was our very first go at boondocking. In 2012 we boondocked 47 times in Wal-Mart parking lots, church parking lots, casino parking lots, down National Forest roads and just on the side of the street. I wrote some thoughts on boondocking here.

Niagara Falls

• We also expanded our Couchsurfing experience. In 2012 we were lucky enough to meet Brett in Fredericksburg, TX that let us CouchSurf with him for over 30 days straight! Throughout the remainder of the year we Couchsurfed 63 times total, and met some very cool people. 

Mt. St. Helens in Washington

• In 2012 we discovered where we want to live next- Portland, Oregon. It was a completely unexpected choice for us, we originally thought that it would be somewhere in California, but after visiting Portland we fell head over heels for the city and its surroundings. We're not sure exactly when the move will happen, but we hope it will be sometime in the next year!

And even though this year I didn't beat my goal of running more miles than I did last year (I'm not even sure I ran more than 500 miles this year, let alone set any new personal records in running), I am completely happy with the goals we did achieve this year. Thank you 2012 for being such an EPIC year for us!

I wish everyone a very Happy New Year. I wish you health, contentment, sunny days, new achievements, new adventures and new friends! I'll leave you with my favorite quote, which I think is appropriate for tomorrow:

Today is the first day of the rest of your life!

Go live it!

Happy New Year,

M.