the bucket list

I’ve been spending a lot of time lately checking things off of a non-existent bucket list, so it seems like a good time to get one started. Like all good list makers, I’m including items I’ve already checked off. There’s no shame in that.

These are in no particular order, and the list is subject to change:

— Visit all 50 states

✓  Ride a Harley-Davidson

— See wild horses with manes and tails blowing in the wind

— Drive or ride Highway 101 from Los Angeles to Tumwater, WA

— Watch bears catching salmon in Alaska

— Never get caught twerking on video (so far, so good)

— Go snorkeling in Hawaii

— Dance at my kids’ weddings

— Go to Sturgis (yes, once)

— Write a book

— Win Powerball and do something amazing with the money

— Get my writing published, versus writing for clients

✓ Kiss the Blarney Stone

✓ Visit a castle

— See the fall foliage in New England

— Tour Italy

— Create a family tree of both sides of our family for the kids

✓ Take an overnight motorcycle trip

— Ride to Jackson, Grand Tetons, Cody and Laramie

— Go to a dude ranch

✓ Try haggis (I had no desire to do so until presented with the opportunity after several glasses of wine and some scotch, but, since I did, I think it’s worth noting here.)

— Visit Monet’s garden

— Spend a week (or two) relaxing on the beach on a tropical island

— Spoil my grandchildren

✓ Walk the Royal Mile in Edinburgh

— Retire and travel the country in an RV

— See the Parthenon

— Stay at the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise

— Keep these knees

✓ See the Culloden battlefield site

— Convince my kids to dress up like Raggedy Ann(a) and Andy (How on earth did I fail to do this while I was still in control of Halloween costumes?)

— Read “Fountainhead” and “Atlas Shrugged,” preferably in that order

— Learn some ASL

— Celebrate our 50^th anniversary surrounded by friends and family

Stay tuned as I check these off and add more along the way, with plenty of tales from the empty nest.

© 2014 Mandy Gauldin