CLOSER TO THE SUN

11,249 ft closer to the sun yet surrounded by buttery smooth soft white snow. The day after thanksgiving we took a beautiful drive to Mt. Hood just east of Portland. Driving along these cute little towns on our way I spotted a few places I’ll have to explore on another trip for sure. One that stood out was a brewery we passed just outside the park. I think any day spent on the mountain carving up the snow should be promptly followed with a nice winter brew. Wouldn’t you agree?

As soon as we parked the car you could feel the excitement building. The first day on the mountain after an exhausting summer is so refreshing. I used to hate winter in the PNW because of all the rain, but once I figured out how to snowboard that quickly changed. Rain means snow, and snow means snowboarding. While we had a little issue getting on the mountain due to some friends season passes we borrowed, the guy scanning the cards was nice enough to let us pass. Cassie and I started off slow and steady with a few falls but got into our grove after the second lift up the mountain. At the top of the Mountain the views were beautiful. There was light blue and white mountains off in the distance and sunshine beaming through the clouds. You honestly feel like your in heaven. 

After a few hours of hard work we decided to call it a day. We limped back to our cars sore from the all the fun, piled in and drank our rich hot chocolates and relaxed. A perfect day after eating all that turkey. 

Thanksgiving in Portland

As I sit down to write this post I’m reminded of the fact that I need to not wait to write down my thoughts. This could be a challenge to remember all the things I wanted to say about our short weekend trip to Portland. Maybe taking notes would be the trick? I could always try that over our Christmas break in Tucson.

We started our trip by taking a taxi ride down to the Seattle train station. Everything went as planned and we boarded our train and loaded up our snowboards with ease. While the trip was a little awkward because we had to sit directly across from some other travelers it was a smooth ride. I spent most of my time reading a new book I just downloaded called The Alchemist which I highly recommend. I got about half way through the book and was fully engrossed in this wonderful story. Cassie spent most of her time reading as well or sleeping on me. While on the train I had a few moments to really soak up the beauty of the PNW which always refreshes the soul. I know I had many things to write about everything I saw while sitting on the train but as of right now sitting in my office it’s all a blur. Darn it…  

When we arrived in Portland we only had a few hours to start cranking away on cooking our 10 pounds of mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving dinner. We found a recipe on foodwishes.com and it worked out perfectly. We probably had around 15 people at our dinner and everything was delicious. I’m pretty sure we were around 2 bottles of wine per person, not a bad ratio. After dinner our friend convinced us that we should go to a bar to live up the night. Well, that was a flop. I’m pretty sure there might have only been 4 other people in the bar. In the end while the bar didn’t work out we all had a blast and fell asleep with full bellies.

Done and Done

Two fingers press harder then one! I figured after asking Cassie paycheck after paycheck to give me all of her money, she deserved click the final send payment button with me. The funny thing was once we clicked the button we relized we had to press it again to confirm our final school loan payment. We did it, in record time I might add. It feels a little surreal at the moment but the next time I get paid and I don’t have to send all my money away will be relief. Now for the fun part, saving up again.  

Over the first hurdle

I know this is a little premature, but I’m going to say that my loan should be paid off next week! I know paying off loans really isn’t the most exciting thing in the world but this was no small credit card debt. It was a huge school loan, the interest we’re saving over the next 21 years is ridiculous. This is great for so many reasons which I’ll explain below. 

The first reason is that now Cassie and I are starting our marriage debt free. Isn’t money one of the biggest reasons couples fight? Honestly, we are pretty lucky because this has never been an issue for us, even after 7 years together. We still don’t have joint accounts which is not the easiest to pay for groceries but it works for us. I’ve always figured, why fix something that isn’t broke. I’m sure someday we will consolidate but as of right now the few gripes we have encountered haven’t seemed that bad. 

The second reason: this was the huge hurdle in my head that I had to clear before I could comfortably go travel the world. I just had to know that everything was cleared up and dealt with. I have other friends who don’t seem to have this problem about having debt and traveling, but I did. And now that it’s going to be done, I think our trip will be better because of it. It’s one less thing I have to think about. One less thing that I feel like I’m still dragging along with me. Honestly, I don’t want to drag anything along with me. If it doesn’t fit in my backpack it’s not coming with me. 

While this huge hurdle is cleared we still have another one to jump over, and again this one is a doozy.  Now we have to resave up all our money. Which brings me to how we paid off this loan so quickly. First off, we paid off a huge chunk of my loan with the money we had been saving up over the years. We were going to buy a condo or house in Seattle. Then we decided to pass on that and go travel with the money instead. Then only two months before we were planning on leaving we decided to use it on the loan which left our savings in shambles. To pay off the rest of my loan we cut back on a lot of nice things to have, but as we learned to live without. There definitely things you don’t need. Canceled cable, got rid/lost one of our iphones and never replaced it. Broke the other iphone and just picked up a cheap phone with no mobile internet. Do I really need to check my email anytime of the day? Then we cut back on buying expensive clothes. Diesel jeans - $189, Levi’s at Nordstrom Rack - $39.  Before you know it the savings just start rolling in. The challenge for us was to always send any extra money to the loan. While this was super tough it was worth it. We would get paid and almost 70% of it would go automatically to the loan. This goes for both of our paychecks. Then all of a sudden, we’re here. Only a week out from being debt free. I have to say it’s an awesome feeling!

Now for step two, resaving.

Biking

Since we sold our car, I was a little nervous about biking being the main mode of transportation, especially with winter coming up. But yesterday Eric and I rode our bikes to our friend’s restaurant north of the city. It was about 8 miles to get there, which is no ride to Redhook Brewery (20miles), but I was nervous and couldn’t tell you why… We made it there, had dinner, and made it back to the city with no problems, except for of course our frozen faces and fingers. On the way back, when I was in sight of the city, I realized that nothing can hold me back from traveling. If I could conquer this silly hurtle in my head of riding my bike down dark roads to a place I’ve never been, then what is the difference in traveling to another country for an adventure! Don’t get me wrong, I have wanted to travel for quite some time now, but it always seemed something that would never be here. But now I am ready, and less scared than I was!