My Life's To-Do List

Recently I've come across several sites dedicated to lifelong bucket lists.  I've thought many times throughout the years about the things I would have on my own bucket list.  I finally decided to compile a fairly thorough list of my own life's to-do's (though the list is still very subject to update/revision/addition with more time to contemplate).

These are in no particular order.

Travel

• Visit all 50 of the United States (42 down, 8 to go!)
• Visit all 7 continents (5 down, 2 to go!)
• Fill an entire passport with stamps
• Visit the South Pacific (Fiji, Tahiti, Bora Bora, etc.) and stay in an overwater bungalow

Bora Bora

• Take a New Year's Eve cruise that crosses the international dateline and celebrate the new year twice in one "day"
• Stand on the equator
• Visit Sicily
• Swim with sharks in South Africa
• Climb Mt. Kilimanjaro
• Visit the Serengeti and experience the Great Migration

Serengeti National Park

• Visit New Zealand
• Take a road trip from BC to BC (Baja California to British Columbia or vice versa)
• Visit Yellowstone National Park
• Visit the Taj Mahal
• Visit the pyramids
• Visit Angkor Wat





Angkor Wat

• Visit the UAE
• Visit Seychelles
• Visit the Galapagos
• Stay in a castle
• Stay in an ice hotel

Ice hotel in Jukkasjärvi, Sweden

• Celebrate St. Patrick's Day in Ireland
• Go to Oktoberfest
• Go to Carnival in Brazil
• Go to Mardi Gras in New Orleans
• Ride the Orient Express
• Ride the Bernina Express
• Ride the Trans-Siberian Railway

Trans-Siberian Railway

• Experience a summer solstice in a place where the sun truly doesn't set
• Study abroad
• Ski the Alps
• Run with the bulls in Pamplona
• Visit Machu Picchu
• See the Terracotta Warriors in Xian

Terracotta Warriors

• Visit all inhabited Hawaiian islands (3 down, at least 4 to go)
• Enjoy a weekend of true debauchery in Las Vegas - buffets, upscale restaurants, casinos, shows, shopping, spas, etc.
• Visit Jerusalem and the Holy Land monuments
• Visit the Panama Canal
• Visit Stonehenge
• Experience arctic wildlife in its natural habitat

Emperor penguins

Running

• Complete a marathon (hopefully this October!)
• Run a sub 4-hour marathon (hey, a woman can dream)
• Run an international race (preferably a marathon) - I have a whole separate other list of races on my race wish list
• Run a Disney Race (preferably the Disney Marathon or the Wine and Dine Half Marathon)
• Earn a Disney Coast to Coast medal

Disney Coast to Coast medals

Sportsfan

• Go to a Stanley Cup victory game (preferably played by either my beloved Blackhawks or Penguins, but not both at the same time)
• Get on the kiss cam at a major sporting event
• Hold the Stanley Cup
• Drive or ride on a Zamboni
• Try on NHL goalie attire and stop a few pucks

2010 Chicago Blackhawks Convention

• Go to the Super Bowl
• Watch a Steelers game at Heinz Field
• Watch a Bears game at Soldier Field (NOTE: Even though these items are in no particular order, it is by Adam's request that the Steelers game was listed before the Bears game)
• Go to the Summer and Winter Olympics

2010 Olympics Opening Ceremony - Vancouver

Activities

• Be an extra in a movie or music video
• Learn to drive a stick shift
• Go skydiving
• Learn how to sail
• Travel in a yacht
• Witness an eclipse

Solar eclipse

• Learn how to do an overhand serve in volleyball
• Go hanggliding
• Learn to scuba dive
• Do the splits
• Go storm chasing
• Get a pilot's license



Penguin pilot

• Be recognized as an expert in something
• Go on a true shopping spree
• Know my family tree
• Ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange
• Go windsurfing 

Windsurfing

• Ride in a submarine
• Visit the Titanic shipwreck
• Drive a motorcycle
• Drive a convertible
• Experience an earthquake
• Experience zero gravity

Parabolic flight - zero gravity

Food

• Take a local cooking class in a country that has strong culinary traditions
• Attend a taping of Iron Chef America
• Participate in a cooking competition
• Grow my own fruits/vegetables/herbs
• Stomp on grapes for wine

I Love Lucy

Thing To Say (I need to give these more thought)

• "You can't fire me.  I quit!"
• "Quick!  Follow that car!"

Life-List Activities That I've Been Fortunate To Have Already Accomplished

• Travel overseas alone
• Get married on the beach
• See the curvature of the earth
• Visit the Vatican
• Visit the Colosseum
• Gamble at Monte Carlo, Monaco
• Visit the Grand Canyon
• Go white water rafting






White water rafting in Mendoza, Argentina with Vanitha

• Preside over an organization
• Serve as an advisor for an organization
• Do improv in front of a live audience
• Visit China
• Visit Russia
• Snorkel the Great Barrier Reef
• Meet a koala in Australia 





A koala at the Featherdale Wildlife Park near Sydney, Australia

• Learn to surf
• Eat street food like a native in Thailand
• Soak in a hot spring
• Take a mud bath
• Walk the Great Wall of China
• Skate on NHL ice
• Get on the scoreboard at a professional sporting event
• Go ziplining
• See a live volcano

Mount Kilauea, Volcanos National Park in Hawaii



• Enjoy public speaking (ongoing, but 7+ years of Toastmasters and 3 sets of improv classes have helped)
• Learn to cook (also ongoing, but several cooking classes and years of watching the Food Network have helped)