112 comments

MMM Gatherings! San Francisco and Portland

brewThe Mustache family is on the move for the next week or so, visiting the West coast for a variety of festivities. To make more of an adventure of it, we decided to take the California Zephyr train out of Denver and wind our way through the full splendor of the Rockies instead of just flying over top of them as usual. We’ve booked a room in the sleeper car and everything.

So I figured hey, if we’re going to be in these great cities anyway, why not set aside a night or two to get together with some of the many Mustachians who live there? After all, hanging out in real life is really what it’s all about – all this relentless upgrading of our finances is really just to set the stage for spending more time with people you like.

So with the help of a friend who lives there, we figured out a great bayside place to watch the sun go down at the end of this work week:

Friday, May 23rd at Heron’s Head Park in San Francisco

herons_head
Time: 5PM – 8PM+

How to Find Everyone:  Heron’s Head Park is in the southeast section of the City, where Cargo Way dead-ends in Jennings Street. The address is 32 Jennings. We’ll be at the picnic tables on the east side of the Eco Center. The Speakeasy Brewery is right nearby, so depending on weather or thirst, the party may adjourn there at some point.

Biking there: Highly encouraged! There is a tradition of riding bikes to these meetups, and then we proudly take pictures of the respectable Netherlands-style jumble of bikes not normally found in this country.

From points north, take the bike lane on Illinois Street (which parallels Third Street) rather than battling the cars on Third Street. For those biking from the west, take Cesar Chavez to Illinois (and Illinois to Cargo Way), because Cesar Chavez has a bike lane and at some points a separated bikeway. And for those coming from points south, look up Mendell Street as an alternative to Third Street. There is also the Bay Trail/5 bike route from SoMa, or the 60/68 bike route from the Mission

Bus Access: Take the 19 Polk to Evans Ave. and Jennings St., or the 44 O’Shaughnessy to Middlepoint Ave before Evans Ave. Then walk one block down Jennings St. to the EcoCenter’s parking lot. Or you can take the T line to 3rd & Evans Ave and walk east on Evans to Jennings St. Take a left and walk one block down to the EcoCenter’s parking lot.

Car Drivers: There is also plenty of parking in the region.

Special Request: A couple of female readers from the area wrote me to request that lots of eligible attractive single men come out. Given the readership of this blog, it seems probable.

Last Minute Announcements: You can stay apprised of these by keeping an eye on my Twitter feed that day.

After that, the MMM family is taking off for a few nights of hiking and touring in the Redwood forests further North. Then the wife and son fly back home, and I move on to Portland for this:

The Three Blog Night:

Thursday, May 29th at Sellwood Park in Portland

5PM – 8PM

sellwoodpark

We’ve booked Picnic Sites B, C, and D

This should be an extra fun shindig because I was able to entice two Portland friends to invite their own crews as well:  Tyler Tervooren the Advanced Riskology guy, and J. D. Roth, the Get Rich Slowly founder.

Rather than re-creating all the details here, I can just share this handy invitation that JD has crafted just for the event. He also thought up the name and did all the site booking and thus deserves all credit for this party:

Three Blog Night on jdroth.com

And the same suggestion for this night applies: last minute announcements (or if you need to get in touch with me) – see Twitter.

These should be a fun couple of evenings. There is no formal structure* – no speeches, no catering, bring along some food for the grills if you like and BYOB.  Just informal meet-and-greets to celebrate my favorite time of year and joy of people meeting each other. At past events, I have seen friendships, relationships, mountain bike rides, and small business ventures form, so bring your business cards along if you like!

From there, I get to finish my trip by carpooling to Seattle for Camp Mustache, and then heading home. If all this excitement has not destroyed me, there will also be a third, final, and yet-to-be announced meetup right here in Longmont, Colorado sometime after I return in early June.

What do you think? Will I see you there?

 

Notes:

Trains are fun. We only got the one-way ticket this time, but you can plan longer adventure vacations using the Amtrak rail passes available here: http://www.amtrak.com/rail-passes

Heron’s Head Park in San Francisco was described as one of one of SFGate’s favorite hidden parks.

*And just so you are not disappointed, I do not currently have the Giant Mustache from the publicity picture. I’ll be attending in my “mild-mannered engineer who occasionally types some shit into the computer” disguise.

 

 

  • The Smaller Dollar May 20, 2014, 7:58 am

    Sounds like a fantastic time, kinda like a reddit meetup but for frugal badasses! If you’re ever in Texas there would be a lot of interest for a gathering I would think!

    Reply
  • midwest girlstache May 20, 2014, 11:32 am

    awww! So Sad! I live in Iowa but I am going to Portland a week later and would have loved to attend! Hit me up if you decide to hike longer or hang around Portland!

    Reply
  • sanjosemom May 20, 2014, 3:01 pm

    I’m bring my husband and nine year old son to join the party in SF from San Jose. Can’t wait to meet the awesome MMM family and community.

    Reply
  • Chris May 20, 2014, 6:49 pm

    I’ll be there for the SF meet up on Fri! Looking forward to meeting everyone!

    Reply
  • EscapeVelocity2020 May 20, 2014, 9:19 pm

    It does bother me a bit that we have not had any good ER advice from MMM lately. Maybe I am someone who has been around too long, and should just move along, but this blog seems to be more about ‘how to spend lots of money to save in the future’ as opposed to the really great posts about ‘I’ll face punch your non-bike owning ass’. Or, I go on vacation – and bring a tent, so there is a reason why I am still on vacation and you are only spending 2 weeks per year in a luxury hotel, dumbass. I guess I’m just too lazy to quit my job and try to do the hard work that MMM used to do, but I make respectable money for a reasonable amount of work and really appreciate bloggers when they wake up others to this awareness that MMM used-to. How to do expensive shit yourself, still enjoy life with small expenditures; totally on-board. Cardio benefit from biking, also acceptable, but overly dangerous where I live. Ride your bike in Houston with angry motorists, well, it’s a regional weaknesses of Mustachianism, but overall the philosophy is sound. So let’s let go of the softball posts where there isn’t much for the ‘average Joe’ to gain.

    Reply
    • Monica May 21, 2014, 11:19 am

      “I guess I’m just too lazy to quit my job and try to do the hard work that MMM used to do, but I make respectable money for a reasonable amount of work and really appreciate bloggers when they wake up others to this awareness that MMM used-to.” This sounds like you want others to embrace a life you don’t want to embrace yourself… lol. (Sounds like a great job, btw.)

      MMM’s journey and story to FI/ER was necessarily singular. To do it more than once, would require him to face financial untenability and have to journey over again. MMM did a great job posting about his experience and sharing with the blog-iverse. (And, really, across all FI/ERE/RE stories I’ve read, the principles are fairly simple.) Also, great job in moving beyond that discussion organically into other matters. Way to stay real!

      I appreciate the many facets of this blog as it provides a much rounder discussion of living FI than the others I’ve read which tend towards more of a one dimensional experience.

      Being a ‘regular Joe-sephine’ as it were, one of the things I value most about this blog is getting glimpses of what the after-you-quit FI life looks and feels like. Being able to visualize that life and place myself into realistic this-is-what-I’d-do (or could do!) scenarios has provided an authentic sensory experience and has helped me bolster my efforts in that I begin to see this is a real alternative to the grind I’m currently in. I’m guessing that embracing what post-grind, FI freedom looks and feels like will be a pivotal point in making my own transition a success. To that end, MMM and his blog have inspired me to take risks in my own life that I was otherwise rather shy to do. One example (of many), let go of an unnecessarily large cash stache and put it to work in the market.

      At any rate, MMM, thank you for opening up about what’s real in the ‘after’ life and letting us come along for the ride. It’s been invaluable to me (and a whole lotta fun).

      Cheers… (now drink the damn Kool-Aid!)

      Reply
      • EscapeVelocity2020 May 21, 2014, 2:15 pm

        Thanks for taking the time to reply, not entirely sure where I was trying to go, other than a little nostalgia. MMM used to really challenge my thinking and introduce new ideas (like carpentourism, and the subsequent analysis on his cost of vacay vs. a typical luxury visitor). Not too long ago, MMM threw out something about having some ‘more extreme’ posts, but wasn’t sure if he’d publish. Guess that’s what I’m challenging him to do… Anyway, I figured my comment is far enough down that I could let loose a bit, I’ll keep drinking the Kool-Aid; just bummed that I’m making it myself, MMM makes it better than I do :)

        Reply
  • Nathan Friedly May 21, 2014, 1:13 pm

    Good choice! When my wife and I lived in SF, we took the California Zephyr to Illinois for Christmas one year, and it was absolutely fantastic! It made us never want to travel by plane again!

    The food was amazing, the service was top-notch, and the company was grand. Instead of waiting in line to get our luggage and ourselves x-rayed (or whatever), they loaded my bag for me and let me just walk onto the train when I was ready. It was an absolutely wonderful experience.

    I do recommend getting a private room if you’re going to be on the train for more than a day. The coach chairs aren’t bad, but they also aren’t a bed.

    Reply
    • Howie May 23, 2014, 2:38 pm

      Hmmmmmm….sounds like it’s a bit on the luxurious side………;-)

      Reply
  • Mo May 21, 2014, 1:25 pm

    Maui please!

    Believe me, we need the help here.

    – Mo

    Reply
  • stellamarina May 21, 2014, 3:38 pm

    The amtrak trip between Denver and the Utah border is one of the most beautiful in the world. I spent the whole day in the observation car as you can see it so much better.

    Reply
  • Matt May 21, 2014, 6:15 pm

    Will you ever come to NYC?

    Reply
  • Sarah May 22, 2014, 10:11 am

    What a great NW tour. It sounds like you have a full schedule, but I would recommend a stop in Eugene. The train stops here and we would love to host you. Thanks for all the great information.

    Reply
    • Matt S May 27, 2014, 3:56 pm

      +1 for Eugene (and the more Mustachian Springfield). Of course, if you stop by here, you will want to stay and may never make it up to Portland!

      Reply
  • Howie May 22, 2014, 1:23 pm

    I would love to join in on the Mustachian festivities. Sadly, I have to be at work. Oh….the shame of it all! : (

    Reply
  • Shane May 22, 2014, 3:24 pm

    In for SF!

    Reply
  • Colin May 22, 2014, 6:16 pm

    Do we have to bring our own food? Will there be a grill going? Is it potluck?

    I’m super excited to come out to the SF meetup, just want more details.

    Reply
    • Mr. Money Mustache May 23, 2014, 8:08 am

      Hi Colin! Yes to the grills, and yes to bring some food if you plan to be hungry . I think it would be great if people make the event a bit more festive to bringing food and drink along. We’re just not organized enough to do anything official, due to the unpredictable attendance size of things like this.

      Reply
      • sobezen May 23, 2014, 10:49 am

        Looking forward to meeting everyone in the first SF MMM meeting!

        Reply
      • RapMasterD May 23, 2014, 9:00 pm

        I think by the time I left there were at least 125 people if not more. Nice throw down, and it was great to meet you briefly. Ummm….you’re lining up to get some pretty good press coverage with that MarketWatch crew showing up.

        Reply
  • ac May 23, 2014, 8:51 am

    Random train tip – one side of the train (i believe the north side – but its been a few years since i did this) has MUCH better views out the window through colorado. one side sees gorgeous glenwood canyon etc and the other side is about 5ft from the rockface for that stretch. If only going one way its worth it to try to figure out which side your sleeper is on and get it on the cool side :)

    -ac

    Reply
  • sobezen May 23, 2014, 2:15 pm

    Definitely plan on going and will try to bring something yummy to share. Looking forward to meeting other Mustachians! Cheers! :)

    Reply
  • Sara G. May 24, 2014, 10:37 am

    We had a great time at the SF meetup, and met awesome people from all over the Bay Area!

    Reply
  • Mathias May 24, 2014, 4:09 pm

    theres now a google group for bay area mustachians https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/bay-area-mustachians as well as a Google Plus Community https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/109606181421765828312

    Reply
  • Brent May 28, 2014, 5:35 pm

    I came across this website about 2 months ago and I love it. I’ve taken some of your advice and I’m starting to reap the benefits. I now find myself asking “what would mustache millionaire do in this situation?” Which brings me to my question. I happened to stumble upon this link (below) when I was reading an article about Google’s driver-less cars:
    http://www.eliomotors.com/?gclid=CjgKEAjwkpacBRCNlprWw-u-nBwSJACwHiw-wn8YFAS_fFoqUf4Xp_7afjaCaJ_XwLaa-UBXfhjpJPD_BwE

    There is a new car called Elio that is supposed to come out in 2015. It’s a two seater that gets 84 mi/gal. I know that you think only idiots and Bill Gates buy new vehicles, but this one only costs $6,800. Thoughts?

    Reply
    • Joe (yolfer) May 28, 2014, 10:29 pm

      Hi Brent, welcome to MMM world!

      I have a 2-seater that gets 85-90 mi/gal. And it cost me a fraction of the Elio. It’s a 125cc scooter.

      Unless you’re disabled or live in an insane climate, a scooter will probably give you much more value and joy than an Elio.

      Check out: http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2011/08/19/guest-posting-get-rich-with-scooters/

      Reply
      • Brent June 3, 2014, 10:12 am

        But what do you do when it’s < 40F outside?

        Reply
        • Joe (yolfer) June 3, 2014, 4:54 pm

          Dress in layers and accept the fact that sometimes you get cold when you’re being a wintertime badass.

          I like to picture myself as a modern Gandolf riding up to save the day on the back of his trusty steed, through any weather.

          Reply
  • Karen May 29, 2014, 11:26 am

    Planning to show up for the Portland Event tonight! Was super excited to see this so certainly won’t miss it. Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
  • FuR May 29, 2014, 4:13 pm

    Phew. So glad I happened to check the site today, I’ll show up tonight!
    *goes off to subscribe to email updates*

    Reply
  • RetireAbroadAt35 May 29, 2014, 5:08 pm

    Annoyingly enough, I’m an MMM fan, a forum/blog follower, who happens to be in Portland today but who can’t make the meetup because my wretched corporate job is requiring me to work this evening, in order to close out a deal we’re bidding on. Son of a … !!?#@#!?

    Reply

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