Bucket List Part II: What’s Next?

My last post outlined some of the amazing things that I finally got to do that I’d wanted to do for a long time, like seeing alpine wildflower meadows and getting a tattoo. I’ve also fulfilled some of my big life-long ones in years past, like seeing the Neuschwanstein Castle and Maya ruins and rafting over Class IV rapids when I was younger, and writing a novel several years ago (I didn’t say it was a good one, but it exists!).

Then there are all the things I’d never thought to put on any sort of Bucket List (before that movie came out, we just called them “Things I want to do before I die”), but would have put on any such list if I’d known about them. For example, I’d have never thought of exploring the Buddha caves, Darulamon Palace ruins, or the shops on Chicken Street, until I lived in Afghanistan. Or body-surfing in the South China Sea when I lived in China. Then there are the local ones, like digging for thundereggs (geodes) with my friend Tracy when I visited her in Central Oregon. I love these amazing surprises!

For me, adventures in life need to meet a nice balance of things-to-look-forward-to and things-to-be-surprised-by. So of course, I have plenty of things still to look forward to. But I also hope to be surprised by the abundance of amazing experiences in this great world. As I said in my last post, this year I’ll be taking it easier on the wallet when it comes time to travel, and may try to work this summer. But I still hope to explore a good bit. One idea for vacation time is to go to Southern/Central Oregon and hike Crack-in-the-Ground and Fort Rock, and maybe the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument before our current federal administration succeeds in downsizing it. (Not trying to make a political statement or anything, but I love my national park system, and I haven’t been to that one yet, although I’ve driven right by it!). For now, I’ll be content with hiking and biking around my current city on the sunny days we keep getting once a weekend. It’s beautiful here!

So what’s left on my Bucket List? Seems like I’ve done it all, right? Well, this great big world still has plenty for me to look forward to. And if I don’t get to them all (or even any of them), well, I’m having fun right where I am, so that’s all right, too. Here are some things on my list, though, just for posterity!

World things to see/do: Machu Picchu in Peru, Petra in Jordan (you’ve seen it in an Indiana Jones film), Plitvice Lakes National Park in Croatia (lakes spilling out into other lakes via waterfalls!), the Eiffel Tower, the Taj Mahal, Ankgor Wat, hiking at Grand Canyon and Banff/Jasper and the Alps, seeing the fjords in Norway and the Northern Lights anywhere up that high in latitudes, hiking to the top of Kilamanjaro, seeing the thundering waterfalls of Iguazu Falls in Argentina/Brazil and Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe/Zambia, hiking in Noel Kempf Mercado in Bolivia, and of course visit friends in London and New Zealand (with possible stopovers in Australia and Papua New Guinea?). So yeah, I have plenty of adventures to daydream about!

West Coast things to do besides the ones I’ve already mentioned (so a bit more likely than the last paragraph): Raft the Rogue River, hike in the Wallowas and in Mt. Rainier National Park and up the side of Mt. St. Helens (yeah, the one that blew its top the year my brother was born), see the Owyhee river valley and the Rome Pillars, hike Castle Crags State Park, visit Lassen Volcanic National Park (any place with a spot called “Bumpass Hell” has got to be interesting), go hang-gliding somewhere, see Hells Canyon, drive the Aufderheide Memorial Drive in the fall (I tried this year but part of it was closed due to wildfires) and all the way around Crater Lake, and take in the rest of the waterfalls in Oregon that I haven’t seen yet, which is surprisingly still quite a few. Maybe rock climb at Smith Rock again (I’ve done it before but it’s been 20 years) or do the water-hike through Oneonta Gorge again (with a waterproof camera this time). Keep riding my bike all around my hometown, even though I’ve done all the river bikepath now. And of course I’d like to write another book. And maybe take up a martial art. So I have plenty of things to do around here to keep me busy!

What about you? What things, far and near, are on your bucket list? Or your Old/Boring/Thirty list as my friend Caitlin calls it, to which I take mock offense since I am well over 30 and hopefully not remotely boring. I aspire to be like my former boss/principal Karen and her husband Tim, who are older than me in regular years, but are young at heart and are out-adventuring me all the time. I think Tim sky-dived not long ago, somewhere in Western Asia. That’s one thing that’s not on my list, but I’d happily do if the opportunity came up. You never know. It could be fun! Please post comments below with your fun ideas!