Life List
“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all” ~ Helen Keller
This is not a list of accomplishments, it’s list of things I’ve said to myself, “I really want to…” It’s been around in some form or other since I’ve been in high school. Spiral bound notebooks, slips of paper, my faulty memory, an unrecoverable file on an old, crashed hard drive; all hold pieces of what once was “Things to do before I turn 30″ which evolved into “Things to do before I turn 40″ before I finally decided to go with the classic title of “Life List.”
Stop back to see what I add and what I accomplish.
[Last updated: November 21, 2011]
Things to Learn:
- Learn how to whistle with my fingers.
- Learn how to play guitar.
- Learn how to rock climb.
- Learn sign language.
- Learn to use chopsticks. (Use them well, that is.)
- Learn SLR photography. (Although… still learning.)
- Learn how to ride a unicycle.
- Learn yoga.
- Learn to double dutch jump rope.
- Learn to play backgammon.
Things to Accomplish/Experience:
- Compete in a mountain bike race.
- Backpack part of the Appalachian Trail. (Certainly setting the bar middling here, I know.)
- Hike the Grand Canyon, to the bottom and back up.
- Take a ride through the Everglades on one of those big-propeller air boats
- Dance with Matt.
- Jump off of the cliff at Rick’s in Jamaica.
- See an Eagles concert.
- See a Weezer Concert. [Summer 2011]
- Take an overnight train trip. (The train they call the City of New Orleans, perhaps?)
- Climb to the top of the big pyramid at Chichen Itza.
- Eat at Ma Yu Ching’s Bucket Chicken House. (Since 1153!)
- Meet President Clinton.
- See a stage of the Tour de France in person.
- Take a cross-country road trip with my kids.
- See a moose in the wild.
- Ride a zipline.
- See a solar eclipse.
- Own a classic Chanel suit.
- See the Aurora Borealis
Places to Visit/See:
- National Parks:
- Yellowstone National Park
- Grand Teton National Park
- Grand Canyon National Park
- Mesa Verde National Park
- Rocky Mountain National Park
- Great Smokey Mountain National Park
- Acadia National Park (I’ve been to Mount Desert Island several times, just never made it into the park.)
- Shenandoah National Park
- England:
- Katherine of Aragon’s grave
- Stonehenge
- Hever Castle
- National Portrait Gallery
- Hampton Court
- Globe Theatre (I know…it’s a reconstruction. I still want to see a play in it.)
- Greenwich
- Tower of London
- Scotland
- Hadrian’s Wall
- Edinburgh Castle
- Ireland
- Puerto Rico
- U.S. Virgin Islands
- China
- Great Wall of China
- The Forbidden City
- Italy
- Florence
- Venice
- Greece
- Las Vegas
- Machu Picchu
Visit all 50 States:
- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas (Well, I did drive briefly across the border into Texas once after taking a wrong turn in Texarkana)
- Utah
- Vermont
- Virginia
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
Things once on my list that will never happen now:
- Meet Jimmy Stewart.
- See a Grateful Dead concert.
