Kim's Thoughts
Just a few thoughts I feel worthy of jotting down!
My 2017 Adventure Bucket List
Each year, about this time – like most people, I think about my goals for the coming year. I don’t do “resolutions”, cause, like most people, I don’t tend to keep them.
Yep……this is how most of my “resolutions” go! So, I avoid using that word……oh, sure, I do always think about how I plan to try and be healthier and add more joy to my life, but those can take on a lot of different meanings and are a constant, not really something I resolve to do in a particular calendar year. Instead, I focus on my adventure bucket list and my big bucket list…..which tend to intermingle most years! These are huge lists that can not possibly be achieved in totality in any given year. They are also ever changing and ever growing. Throughout the years I check some things off, add some things, only set targets that I’d like to try to do sooner rather than later…..unless it is something that HAS to be completed in a given time frame or it has to drop off the list. I am under no delusion that either of these lists will EVER be completely achieved and go away……someday I will die and the lists will still be floating out there in LaLa Land somewhere, but my only REAL goal – resolution, if you will – is to ensure there are no regrets about the things that DON’T get done because I will know I did everything I possibly could get done!
Most years I do manage to put a significant dent in the few I actually list here to try to prioritize for that year. Last year, almost nothing on my target list got done! Life got in the way……but, I did have several really cool opportunities come up that checked a bunch of stuff off the main lists and allowed me to do things I didn’t even know I wanted to do, so weren’t even on any lists! Woo Hoo!
So, this year, I have already evaluated and refocused how I spend my charitable time, which will help me get back on track to have time to do local volunteering in areas that make me happy and bring satisfaction in some key areas of interest for me. That was a great start and felt really good! I also have two trips planned – one fully booked and one still in the planning stages. So, I am well on my way to have a great Adventure year in 2017! And….I never minimize the importance and significant impact the wonderful little adventures – near or far – that pop up throughout the year!
So……here are the things I am targeting from my Adventure Bucket List for 2017-ish – my “sooner rather than later” items – some have been on there a while and are being prioritized, some are newly added:
- Color in at least FOUR more states on my “states I have visited” map
- Two will be colored in on my already booked trip
- Trip to Washington, DC
- This is in the planning stages, so chances are good it will get done
- Visit Niagara on the Lake
- Visit Lily Dale, NY
- Visit Chittenango, NY
- Visit NYC in December
- Visit Skaneateles, NY during their Dickens Christmas
- Drive the Seaway Trail and see as many Lake Ontario lighthouses as possible
And, here are some things I’m prioritizing on my Big Bucket List – bigger items that I hope to complete within the next 5 years-ish:
- Transatlantic Cruise with ports in Ireland, England, or other parts of Europe
- Color in ALL the states I have not yet visited – currently 13 (14 if you count DC) and soon to be 11 (after my booked trip and the trip to DC)
- Mediterranean Cruise
- Trip to Graceland
Let’s see how far I get this year…….and what other grand adventures I may get an opportunity to knock off (or add to) my lists!
Happy Adventuring……
Kim's Thoughts 
…and what pray tell is in Chittenango?
It is a cool little town just off Rt 20 about where Cazenovia is – not far from where you would turn south to go to Cooperstown. They have a pretty waterfall – Chittenango Falls – and it is the birthplace of L. Frank Baum – the creator of the Wizard of Oz stories. They have an All Things Oz museum and do a big Oz-Stravaganza every year – this year it is June 2-4 and really embrace the Oz theme throughout their town. I stopped at the falls on my way through to Cooperstown a few years ago, but wasn’t aware of the town at the time. I have since heard about it and have wanted to go back to see the rest ever since. This year just may be my year to do it! 🙂
…oh, and I forgot, they also have a boxing museum there. Right up your alley.