The Bucket List Journey

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The most common response I’ve received to my travel photos and stories over the years has always been, “You should be a travel writer!” The second most common, however, has always been a request to see what exactly is on a 600+ item bucket list. I’ve never published it before, and I don’t plan to publish it in its entirety now (there are a few things on it that aren’t travel related and I would prefer to keep them private for the time being) but I will list the ones that I have checked off, along with the relevant blog posts where applicable, and I’ll update it as we go along. Fair enough?

Checked Off Adventures

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Take a Train Ride across Canada
- Completed: June/July 2016
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Visit the Scottish Highlands
- Completed: November 2015
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Take an African photo safari
- Completed: May 2010, Uganda
Swim with dolphins
- Completed: January 26, 2016 in Cozumel, Mexico
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Ride in a hot air balloon
- Completed: March 2009, Bagan, Burma
Take a cruise
- Completed: Several times over!
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Spend the summer living in a beach house
- Note: The summer turned into almost five years, and I still miss that house!
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Watch the launch of the Space Shuttle
- Note: I had VIP access to the launch of Discovery on April 5, 2010, the last night launch. I may have cried. A lot.
Be an extra in a film
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Send a message in a bottle
- Note: I got caught in a riptide and nearly died doing it. Someone in Fiji better find that damn bottle is all I’m saying.
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Shower in a waterfall
- Completed: May 30, 2011 in Cloudland Canyon, Georgia. So. Freaking. Cold. But my commitment to the bucket list is unwavering!
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Visit the World Trade Center memorial
- Completed: October 4, 2015- Don’t look for a blog post about this any time soon. I was so overwhelmed I had to leave almost immediately.
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Get a tattoo
- Check. Check. Check. Check. Check. Check. Check. Check…
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See a musical on Broadway
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Climb Mayan ruins
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Learn to ride a horse
Live in a beach house
- Note: Damn, even early on there were duplicates on the list!
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Sail down the Nile
- Completed: May 2010, and I nearly died. Good times.
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Visit Stonehenge
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Get a college degree
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Go to Disney World
- Note: See what a sheltered child I was? I was in my 20s before I could check this one off!
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Ride a cable car in San Francisco
- Completed: October 18, 2009
Visit Alcatraz
- Completed: October 18, 2009- take the night tour!
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Eat alligator
- Spoiler alert: it’s gross
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Explore a tropical rain forest
- Completed: May 2010 Kibale Forest and Bwindi, Uganda
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Spend the night at the Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast
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Watch silverback gorillas in the wild
- Completed: May 2010 Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, Uganda- my #1, all-time, most amazing travel experience ever
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Visit Mt. Rushmore
- Completed: September 2016
Visit the Crazy Horse Monument
- Completed: September 2016
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Visit ancient Greek & Roman ruins
- Completed: March 2012, London; February & September 2013, Athens
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Watch bald eagles in the wild
Eat cheesecake at Junior’s in Brooklyn
- Completed: October 5, 2015
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Touch a whale
- Completed: April 18, 2009
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See a herd of bison on the American plains
- Completed: September 24, 2016 Custer State Park, South Dakota. Happy birthday to me!
See the Rosetta Stone in the British Museum
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Eat beignets at the Cafe du Monde in New Orleans
- Note: Too many times to count, but I never get tired of them!
Hear wolves howl
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Visit The Hermitage, Home of Andrew Jackson
- Completed: March 2017
Walk the Enchanted Trail near Chattanooga, Tennessee
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Listen to jazz and blues in Memphis
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Buy a painting from a starving artist
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Tour Magnolia Plantation in South Carolina
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Take a carriage ride through St. Augustine
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Visit the Acropolis (February 14, 2013)
Hunt for antiques at the West London Fair
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Visit Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello (October 22, 2010)
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See the ancient bronze statue of the Delphic Charioteer in Greece (February and September 2013- once wasn’t enough! This thing is breathtaking)
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Eat cheesesteak in Philadelphia (July 3, 2015- Jim’s Steaks on South Street. Legendary.)
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Have afternoon tea at the London Ritz.
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Tour the Okefenokee swamp by boat (January 21, 2016)
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Walk the entire Freedom Trail to visit the landmarks of the American Revolution (September 17, 2010)
Explore a bat cave (May 23, 2011- Carlsbad Caverns)
Buy a book in San Francisco’s City Lights Bookstore (October 17, 2009- “American Chinatown” by Bonnie Tsui)
Visit all 54 African countries (OK I’m still working on this one- Uganda and Rwanda down, 52 to go!)
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See the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery
Travel the Road to Mandalay (March 2009)
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Drive a tank! (June 25, 2010 in Kasota, Minnesota. This got me a mention on CNN Money, and was dope as hell.)
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See a blue iguana in the wild (Mexico, Burma, and Uganda. Who knew there were so many of them?)
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Hear Big Ben chime.
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Visit Gillette Castle in East Haddam, Connecticut (September 19, 2010)
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Visit the grave of Benjamin Franklin in Christ Church Burial Ground, Philadelphia
Eat a 6″ sandwich at Primanti Brothers in Pittsburgh
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Visit the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, VA.
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Search for gems at Crater of Diamonds, Murfreesboro, Arkansas (March 2017)
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Visit Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage in Nashville, Tennessee (March 2017)
Pizzeria Uno, Chicago (and why I get free pizza for life)
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Little Bighorn Battlefield, Montana (September 23, 2016)
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Explore Badlands National Park, South Dakota (September 25, 2016)
Mt. Rushmore & the Crazy Horse Monument (oops, another duplicate. It happens!)
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Buy a souvenir magnet at Wall Drug in Wall, SD (September 25, 2016)
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Hear a concert at Denver’s Red Rocks Amphitheater (September 26, 2016)
Explore Carlsbad Caverns in Carlsbad, New Mexico (May 23, 2011)
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Find the best Chinese food in San Francisco’s Chinatown (October 17, 2009- City View Dim Sum was my final choice!)
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Watch orcas off the coast of British Columbia (July 4, 2016- second only to seeing wild mountain gorillas in Uganda on the Highlights of My Life list!)
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Stand on the Equator (May 2010, Uganda)
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Ride in a helicopter (September 18, 2010- Boston)
Visit Gettysburg (October 23, 2010)
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Explore ancient temples in Indonesia
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Ride the St. Kitts Scenic Railway
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Go back to Greece (sometimes I love a country so much I put it back on the list even after I’ve been there. Sue me.)
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Visit the tomb of St. Luke in Thiva, Greece
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Visit Thessaloniki
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Borobudur Temple Compound, Indonesia
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Explore Gilmerton Cove, a series of underground passageways beneath Edinburgh (November 13, 2015)
Take Murphy Ann to visit her ancestral homeland at Mount Vernon (March 2017)
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~~Marry Eric (December 31, 2015)~~ Oops. Live and learn!
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