I found my old Bucket List, which I created maybe 10 years ago. I'm adding it to our blog here so that we can continue to check things off of it. I don't know how much more I'll be crossing off though, besides the food items. I don't see a lot of foreign travel in my future. Oh well.
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Here's my BIG list of interesting experiences I'd like to
have in my lifetime. I don't imagine I will get to all of it or even most of
it. In fact, some of it I don't even know if I will ever want to do (ie... Run
a marathon.) But it's nice to dream and will be fun to keep track of over the
years. I compiled the list from 'bucket lists' I found on the internet, so my list
includes stuff I've done as well as stuff I'd like to do. If I've done it,
there's an asterisk by it and a short description. If I haven't done it yet,
there's just a dash. Here it is:
-Attend a major sporting event like the Olympics or the U.S. Open
*Be 100% debt free---2023!
*Be a member of a TV show audience----Cosby Show, with dad, 1988
*Be serenaded by a Venetian gondolier----Venice, 1997, cheesy
*Be someone's mentor---many student teachers
-Bike a Century
-Bungee jump somewhere in the world
*Buy a brand new car----Prius #1 with Warren in 2004, Prius #2 in 2022
*Buy an old house and fix it up----current home, 2008
-Buy a round-the-world air ticket and take off!
*Buy a stranger a meal----McDonalds breakfast meal for scary homeless man in
Cape Town, 2008
*Cage dive with great white sharks----off South Africa coast, 2008
*Call or write my Congress person----incessantly back in my Amnesty
International days (1998-2001)
*Catch Semana Santa in Spain or Guatemala----Sevilla, Spain, 2008
-Check out the bat migration at Carlsbad Caverns
-Climb one of the world’s Seven Summits
-Climb the Sydney Harbour Bridge
-Complete “Life, The Great Challenge” 24,000pc Puzzle
-Cross a country on a bicycle
*Cross a country using only public transportation----Spain, 2008
-Dance or perform on stage (as an adult)
-Dive in a submarine
-Dive the Dead Sea
-Dive the Great Barrier Reef
-Dive to see the seahorse colony in Recife, Brazil
-Dive with a whale shark
-Don't eat fast food for an entire month
*Drive across America---with boyfriend Daniel Phipps in an old convertible
Dodge Dart, summer of 1993
-Drink Goat’s milk
-Eat Abalone (delicacy in certain parts of Latin America)
-Eat Baba ghanoush (Middle Eastern dish)
-Eat Blood pudding
-Eat a black truffle
-Eat Borscht (vegetable soup from Eastern Europe)
*Eat good Calamari----Toledo, Spain, 2008. AMAZING!
*Eat Catfish----with Warren in Georgia, 2005. Not very good.
-Eat Caviar and blini
*Eat Cheese fondue----Swiss chalet in Alps, 1997. Okay.
*Eat Chinese steamed pork buns----China trip, 1998. Not very good.
-Eat Chitterlings or andouillette: intestines of a pig
*Eat Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl at Fisherman' Wharf----family vacation
to San Francisco, 1987. Yum!
-Eat Clotted cream tea
-Eat Crocodile
-Eat Curried goat
-Eat Currywurst: German
-Eat Dulce de leche
-Eat Durian
-Eat Eel (Japanese/Chinese)
-Eat Epoisses (French cows-milk cheese)
-Eat European rabbit/ hare
-Eat Flowers
-Eat Foie gras --liver of a duck or a gooses
-Eat Fresh wild berries
*Eat fried green tomatoes----Jac made with garden tomatoes in 2023
-Eat a fried plantain
*Eat frogs’ legs----family cruise to Mexico, 1990, like chicken
-Eat Fugu: Japanese pufferfish
*Eat Gazpacho soup----many times in Andalusia, Spain, 2008. Yum!
-Eat Gjetost or brunost (Norwegian)
-Eat Goulash
*Eat Guinea Pig----Peru, 1999. Fatty and yummy.
*Eat Gumbo (Louisiana)---Jac made for me many times
-Eat Haggis (Scottish)
-Eat Head cheese
-Eat Horsemeat
*Eat a hot dog from a NYC street cart----with Daniel Phipps, 1993
-Eat jellied eels from a stall in London
-Eat kangaroo meat
-Eat Lapsang souchong (Chinese smoked tea)
-Eat Nettle tea
-Eat off the “tasting menu” at a three-Michelin-star restaurant
-Eat Oxtail (tail of a beef animal)
*Eat Oysters----at Prescott Ridge with Warren and another couple, 2004
*Eat 'Pho', a Vietnamese rice-noodle soup----in Vietnam and Garden Grove's
"Little Saigon" with Dani, 2000
*Eat Poutine (French)---in upstate New York on sisters/mom trip, 2024
-Eat Prickly pear
-Eat Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
-Eat Rose harissa (North African hot red sauce)
-Eat Salted lassi (North Indian drink)
-Eat Sea urchin (“uni” in Japan)
-Eat shark
*Eat snails----Paris, 1997, delicious in garlic butter
*Eat snake----China, in a soup, 1998. All I remember are the annoying scales
(like a boney fish).
-Eat Soft shell crab (when entire crustacean is eaten)
-Eat Spaetzle (dumpling in Germany)
-Eat Steak tartare
-Eat Sweetbreads: thymus glands of lamb, beef, or pork
-Eat Tom yum (Thailand)
-Eat Umeboshi (Japanese pickled food)
*Eat Venison----Swaziland game reserve, 2008.
-Eat Whole insects
-Enjoy an Italian lunch feast in a farmhouse in Tuscany
-Experience a dog sledride
-Experience a sea turtle hatching
-Experience Holi in India
-Experience Mongolia's Naadam Festival
-Experience Siena’s legendary bareback horserace, "Il Palio"
-Experience the Monarch Migration in Mexico (winter)
-Experience the Monkey Buffet Festival in Thailand
-Experience the Rajasthan Camel Fair
-Experience the Serengeti Wildebeest Migration in Tanzania
-Experience the Tibet Litan Horse Festival
-Experience weightlessness
-Finally learn how to meditate
*Find a long-lost friend----Monica Murray, 2008 (plus others via FB)
-Find out something significant that your ancestors did
*Fly an airplane----with Warren, 2003, over Prescott area
*Fly in a helicopter----on honeymoon with Dave in Maui, 1996
*Get a reading from a medium---in AZ after Warren died, 2007 plus in South Africa with friends 2007
*Get passionate about a cause and spend time helping out----my work with IRC (refugee aid)
*Get published----Two articles in Prescott Living magazine
*Get quoted in the newspaper----about IRC's work and volunteering,
"Arizona Republic", 2004
*Go back to school----went back for MA in Geography, then back again for MA
in Education
*Go camping and sleep under the stars----many times with Warren, 2003-2006
-Go deep sea fishing and eat the catch
-Go inside the Great Pyramid
*Go on a cruise----with family to Mexico, Christmas 1990
-Go on a spiritual retreat
-Go rock climbing or abseiling
-Go sailing
-Go to the Smithsonian
-Go to Walden Pond and read Thoreau
-Go up in a hot-air balloon
*Go white water rafting----on a tributary of the Amazon in Ecuador, 1999.
Fun!
*Grow a garden---yeah baby! starting in 2021
-Hang glide
*Have multiple careers----Corporate job (Taco Bell), non-profit (IRC), graphic
design (Wild Blue), teacher, business owner
*Hike the Grand Canyon---with Warren in 2004 (not R2R tho)
-Hold a tarantula or snake (aka ...face my fears!)
-Hover in a blimp
*Island hop in the Greek Isles----Europe trip, 1996.
-Join a caravan in the Sahara
*Kill and prepare an animal for eating----as part of Outdoor Survival class
at BYU, 1994, very sad!
*Learn how to make a national dish----Paella class in Madrid, Spain and
tagine class in Fez, Morocco, both 2008
-Learn to play a musical instrument with some degree of skill
*Learn to speak a foreign language----Spanish in Spain, 2008
-Learn to swim for exercise
-Live in another part of the world for at least 1 year
*Live like a local for a month----Cape Town, South Africa, 2 months while
volunteering at orphanage
*Make something special with your own two hands and give it to someone you
love----Vegetables cross stitch that I gave to Cindy for a wedding present,
1992 (?)
-Milk a cow
*Overlook the Hong Kong bay at night from Victoria Peak----in 1997 during
big China trip, then again in 2006 with Warren
*Paint a picture, no matter how "un-artistic" you are----with Jac as part of Italy country date, 2022
-Parasail
-Partake in a Japanese Tea Ceremony
*Participate in a soulful Christian service----danced in a Cape Town
township service, South Africa, 2007
*Participate in a political demonstration----protests at DNC in LA, 2001.
Dumb!
-Participate in Songkran (Thailand)
*Pay off a mortgage---2022!
*Pet a stingray----while snorkeling in Belize, 1996
-Photograph an endangered species
*Plant a tree----Japanese elm outside my house, 2009
-Raft through the Grand Canyon
-Read a classic tome
-Read a collection of Buddhist sutras or commentary book
-Read a major Hindu text or commentary book
*Read the Bible---in seminary, 1980s
-Read the Koran (Islam) or commentary book
-Read the Talmud (Judaism) or commentary book
-Read the Tao Te Ching (Taoism) or commentary book---2022 on. Love Taoism!
*Rescue a pet----lots of cats, all from shelters, starting with Max and Buddy in 2009
-Ride a camel
*Ride a horse----high school horse riding in Corona, 1987-1989; in
Vilcabamba, Ecuador, 1999
-Ride a steamboat down the Mississippi
-Ride a tandem bike
-Ride a water buffalo or yak
*Ride an elephant----work elephant along the Mekong in Laos, 1998
-Ride the Trans-Siberian Express across Asia
-Rock climbing
-Run a marathon
*See a bear in the wild----with Warren in Waterton Lakes National Park,
Canada. Momma bear and two cubs!, 2006
*See a Broadway show----"Spamalot" during Warren's surprise (for
me) trip to NYC, 2005
*See a crocodile in the wild----Okefenokee Swamp, Georgia, with Warren, 2004
-See a Lunar Eclipse
*See a moose or elk in the wild----chased by a moose in American Fork
Canyon!, with Warren, 2005
*See a mountain lion in the wild----horrible mountain lion encounter in
Canada, 2006
-See a professional soccer match in South America
*See a Solar Eclipse---summer of 2023 with Jac in backyard
*See Gaudi's La Sagrada Familia, Barcelona, Spain----yes but barely, on
whirlwind 1997 Europe trip. Must return and see again for more than 5 minutes!
*See Marrakesh's famous Djemaa El Fna----Morocco trip, 2008
*See Michelangelo’s David in Italy----Europe trip, 1997
*See migrating whales----kayaking with Orcas trip, Vancouver Island, with
Warren, 2006. Also lots in South Africa, 2008.
-See Mount Everest from a distance
-See a great waterfall- Victoria, Niagara, Angel or Iguazu
-See Stonehenge
*See the Dalai Lama in person----at an LA amphitheater, 2000.
*See the dying pits of Fes, Morocco----Morocco trip, 2008
-See the Japanese Snow Monkeys in the Nagano Mountains
*See the Leaning Tower of Pisa----Europe trip, 1997
-See the mountain gorillas of Uganda or Rwanda
-See the Philippine Tarsier in the Phillipines
*See the Pope in person----from a distance during weekly "Papal
Blessing", Vatican City, Europe trip, 1997
-See the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt
*See the Roman Colosseum and Forum----Europe trip, 1997
*See the Sistine Chapel in person----Europe trip, 1997
-See the Statues of Easter Island
-See the Taj Mahal at sunrise
*See a US President in person----George Bush appearance at BYU, went with
Daniel, 1992 (?)
*See wild game on an African safari----Africa trip, 2007
*Select an “important” author I missed in school and read it----classics
spurt in 1999-2000. Gulliver's Travels, Catcher in the Rye...
-Set foot on each of the seven continents
-Sing karaoke
-Sit on a jury
-Skydive
*Sleep with the bears in the Rockies----camping in Glacier National Park,
with Warren, 2006. Total paranoia.
-Soar the sky in a glider plane
*Spend three months getting your body into optimum shape---2019-2021 (and sadly I'm back out of shape again!!!)
*Stand in Times Square----1993 with Daniel, 2000 with Pete and Ken, 2005
with Warren
*Start a business----Wild Blue Studios, with Warren, 2004 / online bookstore in 2011
*Start your own blog----More like five blogs (he, he), starting in 2007 with
Betsy's Travels
*Stay at a Kasbah----Marrakech, Morocco, 2008
-Stay the night in a castle
*Stroll along the Great Wall of China----big China trip, 1998
-Stroll the Tokyo Ginza at night
*Surprise someone in a big way----showed up on parent's doorstep when
supposed to be in Africa (flew home early), 2008
*Survive something that you shouldn’t have survived----solo encounter with
mountain lion in Canada, lasted about 3 minutes, absolutely terrifying!
Also...the death of Warren. Shouldn't have survived that one. More terrifying.
-Swim with dolphins
*Take a cooking class in a foreign country----Moroccan cooking in Marrakech;
paella class in Madrid, Spain, both 2008
-Take an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
*Take an overnight train----several, most memorably the train from Vietnam
to Southern China, when I woke up with a huge cockroach IN my shirt!, 1997
-Teach English in a foreign country
-Teach someone illiterate to read
-Teach yourself an art/craft from scratch
*Touch an iceberg----Jasper National Park, 2006 (with a sick Warren sleeping
in the car)
*Tour Chichen Itza in Mexico----Yucatan Peninsula trip, 1996
*Tour the Alhambra in Spain----Granada, Spain, 2008
-Tour the Lascaux Caves in southwestern France
-Tour the White House
*Travel across the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco----a number of times,
most recently while visiting parents there, 2007
-Travel India by train
*Travel solo----most trips abroad, but totally solo in Spain, 2008
-Travel the Chunnel
-Travel the Nile in Egypt
-Travel up to Christ the Redeemer in Rio
*Treat yourself to a health spa----in Saint George for 35th birthday in
2006, then with Cindy in summer of 2007.
*View Paris from the Eiffel Tower at sunset----Europe trip, can't remember if it was sunset tho, 1997
-Visit a “real” blues bar in Chicago
*Visit a concentration camp----two while on big Europe trip in 1997:
Mathausen (Austria) & Auschwitz (Poland)
-Visit a Giant Panda Reserve in China
-Visit all 50 states
-Visit Botswana's Okavango Delta
-Visit Cluny Abbey
-Visit Ely Cathedral
-Visit the Everglades
-Visit Kiyomizu Temple in Japan
*Visit Macchu Picchu----South America trip, 1998
*Visit Meteor Crater----with Warren, just weeks into dating, 2002
-Visit Munich’s Pinakothek (one of world’s top 10 museums)
-Visit New York at Christmas time
-Visit Petra in Jordan
*Visit St. Peter's Basilica, the Vatican, Rome----Europe trip, 1997
*Visit the Acropolis in Greece----Europe trip, 1997
-Visit the Amazon Rain Forest
-Visit the birthplace of your ancestors [Arkengarthdale, England]
*Visit the British Museum, one of world’s top 10 museums----Europe trip,
1997 (but delirious from lack of sleep--jetlag!)
-Visit the Cairo Citadel
-Visit the Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa
-Visit the Galapagos Islands
-Visit the Hagia Sophia in Turkey
-Visit the Hermitage in Russia (one of world’s top 10 museums)
-Visit the Holy Land
-Visit the Kremlin in Russia
-Visit the Louvre (one of world’s top 10 museums)
*Visit the MOMA in NYC, one of world’s top 10 museums----with Warren on
surprise NYC trip, 2005
-Visit the Ngorongoro Crater (Tanzania)
*Visit the Prado, one of world’s top 10 museums----while studying Spanish in
Madrid, 2008
-Visit the Rijks Museum (Netherlands), one of world’s top museums
-Visit the Sepilok Orang utan Rehabilitation Centre in Sabah
-Visit the source of one of the world’s great rivers
-Visit the Taj Mahal
-Visit the Tate Modern in London, one of world’s top 10 museums
*Visit the top of NYC's three famous big buildings: the Empire State Building,
the World Trade Center, and Rockefeller Center----Empire State with Daniel,
1993; World Trade Center with Pete and Ken, 2000; Rockefeller Center (for
romantic dinner) with Warren, 2005.
*Visit the Vatican Museums, one of world’s top 10 museums----Europe trip,
1997, but too rushed. Must return to do it justice.
-Visit the Zuiderzee Worksin the Netherlands
*Volunteer overseas----twice in South Africa in 2007, at a monkey sanctuary
and an orphanage
-Walk in Jerusalem
-Watch a lightning storm at sea
-Watch a meteor shower---2024 with Jac, Michael and Van at Rockport State Park
*Watch the sun rise----over Haleakula crater in Maui, on honeymoon with
Dave, biked down volcano afterward, not worth getting up so early to see.
-Watch the running of the bulls in Pamplona
-Win first prize in a costume contest