Wandering Money Pig - A journey of early retirement and FIRE (financial independence retire early)

  Joshua Tree National Park, CA Growing up on the East Coast of the United States, the state of California , all the way on the West Coast, always held a mystical and magical qualities about the place.  Maybe it was the popular culture and media that turned us on to the California mindset, from the beach culture of Venice Beach , the surfing culture ala The Beach Boys , or to the filming location for hundreds of television and movies, but whatever it was, I was certainly sold on the idea. I mean, who could resist Disneyland , the “ happiest place on Earth ”, Santa Monica (or any number of famous beaches), or many wonderful, world famous national parks like Yosemite or Redwoods ?  I grew up enamored of the state, just like many of my friends, who wanted to either visit or move to the state… Joshua Tree National Park,  was one of those magical and mystical places in the state of California that I always dreamed of visiting someday.   And luckily, my wife and I were able to do just that

  London Bridge, Lake Havasu, AZ Growing up, I had heard of Lake Havasu City in Arizona, from watching MTV (Music Television) and various travel related shows that featured the city.  It was, and still is, a popular spring break destination for hormone-rich youngsters out to let loose for few days. The thought of visiting the city never crossed my mind, as I didn’t think I would visit the city that was way out on the west coast, away from all the usual touristy places like Grand Canyon National Park , Los Angeles , Las Vegas , etc.  I honestly didn’t think we would go out of our way to visit the city unless we were close enough to it to visit it.   When my wife and I were visiting the nearby Laughlin in southern Nevada, I knew the time was right to finally visit Lake Havasu City as it would only be about 60 miles away.  On the second day of our stay in Laughlin, we decided to do a day trip to the city to check it out! We left our hotel ( Avi Resort ) in Laughlin, took the Needles Hi

  Avi Resort, Nevada During my wife and myself’s preparation for our 2 1/2 month cross country road trip going from North Carolina to California, we had planned on stopping by at Los Angeles to see my wife’s friend and her family.  That plan, unfortunately, did not work out as we had completely forgotten about the fact that we were spending time in Las Vegas, full of millions of visiting tourists. We didn’t want to transmit any number of communicable diseases, especially Covid-19 to her unsuspecting son.  We briefly thought about getting ourselves tested, but we decided against it, as it was a last minute thing.   So, as is our usual motto, we “hoped for the best, but prepared for the worst”, or we “went with the flow…”. We ended up needing to book a 2 night stay anywhere south of Las Vegas to anywhere near San Diego, as that would be our next destination. We searched high and low to find a suitable lodging near Las Vegas , San Diego , and/or near Joshua Tree National Park.   I had sea

  Bellagio, Las Vegas Steve Wynn:  “Las Vegas is sort of like how God would do it if he had money.” My very first trip to the city of Las Vegas was in November 2001 for COMDEX (Computer Dealers Exhibition), an expo trade show held at the Las Vegas Convention Center .  The company I was working for at the time had rented a booth at the show, and they requested that I go to the trade show to represent the company. I had reserved a 5 night stay at Bally’s Hotel  on the Las Vegas Strip and I remember eating a hearty lunch at one of the hotel’s restaurants the first day.  I had a turkey burger for lunch, then checked in afterwards to see that my room had a gorgeous view of the Las Vegas Strip . Looking at the Strip with all those glittering neon lights, glitzy hotels, and the amped up Las Vegas Boulevard (aka the Strip), I was totally blown away.  It reminded me so much of New York City , the “ city that never sleeps ”, where I grew up. The city’s energy, vigor, and upscale hotels really