Bucket List

It wasn’t until I read a newspaper article some years ago that I learned about bucket lists.  Actually, the article was really “100 places to visit before you die” but you get the idea.  I gobbled up the article making little marks on it (I cut it out to keep and inspire me) of places I wanted to see; things I wanted to do.  The article has long since been packed re-packed and packed packed – then lost but every time I see an article or book about bucket lists or places to visit I am drawn to look and see what they’ve included; what is new if anything.

Some places and things to do are totally not my thing while others have been checked off.  I’ve been to and in the Grand Canyon.  I have ridden a Harley (on the back of not driving).  I came this close to visiting Machu Pichu but chickened out (and I kick myself for it periodically).  You want to talk about insane try New Orleans during Mardi Gras (pass me a beignet and nobody gets hurt) and no! I did not lift my shirt for any beads but I did do a wicked Broadway song karaoke in a bar after a few sours.  London and changing of the guards, yep!  Vegas? Yep!  And trust me on this one, what happens in Vegas eventually shows up online somewhere.  NYC and Times Square for NYE is a one and done thing for us.  Not going to do that much cold and people ever again.

So what is on the list now?   I prefer to think of it not as my “before I expire” list but more so as my I want to do this while I still can list.  Ecologies and governments are in a constant state of flux plus, there does come a time in all of our lives when we just cannot do some things like we used to – at least not without waking up the next morning in a great deal of pain.  You are so not going to see me do a back bend EVER again although I may do a cartwheel.  Wait! Did I just hear my physical therapist snarl at me?  So here is the list……

1.  Visit France – Paris with all it holds and Monet’s garden at Giverny

2. Visit Barcelona and Madrid – for some reason I think I really want to see La Sagrada Familia

3. Visit Australia and ring in the new year (or just visit it)

4. Go deep sea or just ocean fishing

5. Go scuba diving (even though that scares the daylights out of me)

6. Visit Italy – Rome, the Vatican, the Sistine Chapel, take a gondola ride

7. Win a really big slot machine jackpot where they take my picture holding the big cardboard check (I can dream!)

8. Make it to Machu Pichu

9. Visit Cardiff, Wales and see where they film/ed Torchwood and Dr. Who.  I have GOT to stand on that perception filter spot!

10. Take DH to the Grand Canyon and go rafting down the river there. Huh? What? Yikes!

11. Go to the top of the Empire State building and take an awesome photo

12. Take that train across Canada

13. Cruise Alaska

14. Visit Hawaii – see a black sand beach and volcanoes

15. Do a winery tour in California (and in Spain, Australia, and France)

16. See the pyramids in Egypt

17. Photo safari in Africa

18. Hit every diner that has been featured on Food Channels Diners Drive-ins and Dives (so far we have hit 4)

19. Learn how to drive a stick

20. Ride a couple of roller coasters at Cedarpoint (am I nuts?????)

21.  Have a Philly cheese steak at Geno’s and Pat’s and then compare them

22. Have dinner at the oldest existing Legal’s Seafood in Cambridge, Mass.  I blame DH for introducing me to Legal’s and getting me hooked!  Thank you, dear.

23. Eat Dim Sum in Hong Kong

24. Ride a zipline

25. Try on a Herve Leger bandage dress (no comments please! lol)

26. Learn to make my own sushi

27. Have a lobster roll at a little shack on the coast of Maine

28. Go on a spa retreat

29. Try to surf in an ocean where I don’t have to wear a wet suit

30. Visit Easter Island (talk about a photo opp)

31. Wear an bodacious hat to the Kentucky Derby or Ascot.

32. Go to THE comic-con in California (fan girl alert!!!)

33. See the coliseum and the Parthenon (this is more a DH thing than mine but the list is kind of a package deal here)

34. Take a hot air balloon ride

35. See one of the runway shows at NY fashion week! (Oh swoon!)

Some list, huh? But I will be gone for awhile because I am going to be working on one of the things on this list.  Not going to say what until I return and might say even less if I can’t swing it.  But boy oh boy oh boy do I really hope I can pull it off.  So cya later everyone and think about your own “bucket lists”.  It doesn’t have to be anything major or stupendous.  It could be as easy as finally making that recipe you’ve been meaning to forever, finding your best friend from high school on the internet and say hello, or go nuts and climb Mt. Everest.  Your list, your life, now get out there and live it!

Paz