One of the greatest benefits of participating in the April A to Z Blogging Challenge is making connections with others on the worldwide web.
There are so many interesting and talented people in the Blogosphere with whom we can bond and even learn from.
To that end, I am joining my new Swiss friend, Tamara Gerber-Stutz, of Part-time Working Hockey Mom, in her weekly TOP TEN THURSDAY CHALLENGE.
Tamara’s directive:
“Let’s present the top ten items on our bucket list.
Be it things to achieve, experience, learn, travel to, etc.”
HERE WE GO!
It’s a mental list, complete with subheadings: Travel, Concerts, Miscellaneous. At the age of 62, I’ve been fortunate enough to have crossed off several items, including the lifelong number one, Greece, and number two, a return to my German birthplace.
Thanks to a dedicated mission, most concerts have been checked off, except for number one and that’s coming soon!
Most of these are achievable:
1. Visit Venice | 2. Visit Malta | 3. Visit Spain
We’re thinking of combining these three in a cruise, possibly for 2018
4. Visit Egypt
As an ancient history buff, this has been on the list almost as long as Greece.
Sadly, looking less and less likely, at this point.
5. Visit Vancouver and take the Rocky Mountain train tour
We’ve been mulling this over and are checking into the possibility for September.
6. Visit San Francisco, then drive all the way down
the California coast and re-visit San Diego
Made it halfway up and back (San Diego-Santa Maria) in 2010. Spectacular scenery!
I’d like to see San Diego again, strictly as a tourist this time. (Previous visits were family-oriented.)
7. See Metallica live
Number one on the concert bucket list.
It’s finally going to happen on July 16. WOOHOO!
8. Get a Black Lab
Our beloved Dalmatian passed away in May 2007.
I’m surrounded by other people’s dogs (clients) and that’s great, but they’re not mine.
Labs, in general, have wonderful personalities and
the black ones strike me as especially beautiful.
You’d think this would be an easy one to cross off, but hubby is resisting.
Do you think I can wear him down?
9. Visit Australia
Highly unlikely, but never say never.
One helluva long and expensive trip.
10. Buy a winter home in San Diego
Not bloody likely – way too expensive! Nice to dream about, though.
Of course, there are many more items on the list.
If we ever win the lottery, watch out!
What’s on your bucket list?
Can you name ten outstanding items?
How many have you crossed off?
Or maybe you don’t have one? Do tell!
Enjoy the other entries, shown below.
Please write a comment and add your link if you want to join the blogfest:
[open until May 31]
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Dog Mom and (retired) Canine Innkeeper in suburban Toronto, Canada, known as The Doglady. Former corporate workaholic. Writer, photographer, digital creator. Animal lover, music fanatic, inveterate traveller. Eternal hippie/rockchick. History, literature and cinema buff. Hockey and soccer fan. Dedicated night owl. German/Canadian binational, multilingual. Let me entertain you!
46 thoughts on “WHAT’S ON YOUR BUCKET LIST? | #TopTenThursday”
Australia is the dream. Nevertheless, it looks like you have a lot of fun trips on your list. I’d love to explore Vancouver, Spain, and San Francisco. One day, hopefully. Right now I’m planning a trip to Key West. The drive over the 7-mile bridge in the middle of the ocean is on my bucket list. (Plus, I live in the south, so … only a 12-hour drive. ?) Best of luck on your list!
With Love
Key West would be fabulous! I’ve always wanted to go there and check out Ernest Hemingway’s house. Plus, I’ve heard it has a cool, funky, artistic vibe. I’ll be looking forward to your write-up on that, Mandy. 🙂 Thanks for dropping in.
This is such a cool bucket list of travel Debbie..Even i have my own too 🙂 Wonderful read
Thanks for reading my bucket list, Menaka. 🙂 It’s good to have dreams.
Incidentally, I posted MY HAPPY LIST before. I was supposed to add a few stuff to it some time ago, but I have forgotten…
Thanks for coming by, J.Gi. I’ll check out your list. 🙂
Cool bucket list! Best wishes for ticking all of them off.
Mine are mostly travel related, on the whole too long a list, serious trimming required 🙂
Same here, Nila. 🙂 Travel is definitely the largest section. Thanks for dropping in.
Love the bucket list, Debbie. It is great to have one, and of course I have mine. I remember you mentioning the Metallica concert in July. My best wishes to you to achieve every single one! I’ve grown up making lists of things just outside the comfort zone, so it has been easy to get closer to the really big lifetime ones! 🙂 Perhaps I will join you in the hop since it is open till May 31. Hugs!
Thanks for coming by, Vidya. Yes, there’s plenty of time to join the blogfest. Please do join us. 🙂 I remember you talking about meeting the Dalai Lama. That must have been a major bucket list item!
Loved your bucket list, Debbie, and hope you are able to fulfil every wish on the list!
I have sort of created a bucket list in my mind, and am hoping to see at least half of those wishes fulfilled!
Just to name a few, I would love to learn to swim, bake like a pro, become a successful pro blogger and artist, travel alone and yes, learn a dance form other than the Indian classical one I learnt long ago!
Let’s see how many of these I tick off! 🙂
Hi Shilpa! 🙂 It sounds like all of your items are achievable. Best wishes for doing so. My list is dependant on time and money, unfortunately, both limited commodities. Thanks for coming by.
So many great places to visit in this world that my list is endless. I have similar feelings as you regarding Egypt in that I’d love to go but thinking it’s not the best idea at present. Have been to San Francisco years ago for just one night so would love to go back with my beloved to see more of that fascinating city. Keep working on the hubby re the dog – we welcomed a new canine member of the family last year and it’s been wonderful.
That’s the trouble, Pamela. So many places, not enough time or money. 🙂 Ah well, one can dream. Yes, the dog issue will definitely be revisited, once I retire. Dogs are the best! ♥ Thanks for coming by. Have a good week!
Hi Debbie – wonderful to read where you’ve been and your thoughts for future trips. I’ve done the Rocky Mountaineer – well worth it … and can quite see where you’re going (or wish to!) with the other thoughts … the cruise seems a good idea – Malta is lovely I gather … just enjoy wherever you go … and in the meantime happy weekend – cheers Hilary
Thanks for that tip about the Rocky Mountaineer, Hilary! We definitely want to go. 🙂 Since I’m a history buff, places like Malta always interest me. A cruise seems like the ideal scenario to visit multiple places. Wishing you a good week!
Whoa! Some cool things to do! I wanted to get a picture clicked with a tiger cub and I did that on my recent visit to Thailand. I also wanted to go for the only ‘Cave Dining’ in the world at the Grotto, Krabi and crossed that off from my bucket list. 2017 seems to be a great year!
You’ve had some wonderful experiences, Shalini! 🙂 I remember your A to Z post about the cave dining. Must have been an amazing experience. I’m glad you’re having such a great year. Thanks for dropping in.
This is so fab! A luxury cruise and a winter home somewhere sunny is on my list too! 🙂
I’m glad you enjoyed it, Aditi. 🙂 Thanks for reading.
DEBBIE, that drive along the coast truly is gorgeous. I did it once from Grant’s Pass, Oregon, down to Los Angeles. And of course, having been born and raised in L.A., I had previously done the drive from L.A. down to San Diego.
I can’t really think of anything for a bucket list of my own except to visit Israel and Egypt someday. Highly unlikely.
~ D-FensDogG
Doggtor of Alcohology &
King of Inebriation Nation
Every time I flew into San Diego (a frequent occurrence in recent years), I was struck by the beauty of the Pacific coast from the air. It’s even more so close up! Israel and Egypt would be fascinating places to visit, but that whole area is so unstable. Pity! Thanks for dropping in, ‘Doggtor’. 😀
Your list is like my dream. I want to travel and visit so many places. Please please come to Australia ??
Yes, travel is the greatest! 🙂 Your photos of Australia have fuelled my interest, Raj. Such a great distance though and the cost is prohibitive but, never say never.
Great bucket list Debbie! Lots of travel! I’m with you on the winter/summer home: I want to get a summer home in Portland or Seattle and keep my home here in Austin for the winter. Pipe-dream, I’m sure…
Awesome that you’re going to get to see Metallica in July. Another one to check off the bucket list!
I do have a question: why is your hubby so averse to getting a dog? That surprises me, especially in light of your business. I hope you wear him down. I know a lot of people who have loved a dog and then lost them are really reluctant to get another dog because the pain of loss is so great, but that’s just the price we have to pay for all those wonderful years of unconditional love. If that is the reason, please share this video with him. I used to play it at the end of my Pet Loss Support Group meetings. It really says it all…
Hi Michele; It would be great to be able to change homes with the seasons, wouldn’t it? 🙂 Hubby and I are both travel buffs, so that will always be on the bucket list. We’re not getting any younger or richer, though. Sigh….
I remember you showed me that video once before and I cried all through it then, just like I did now. It makes good points and we recovered from losing other dogs, but not this one, hubby especially. Tasha was extra-special. It’ll be ten years on May 22 that our beautiful girl left us. We had almost 16 years together and yes, the heartbreak is a huge factor here, but that’s not all. What I mentioned about not get any younger or richer has some bearing also. When hubby retires (and it won’t be far off; he’s 67), our income will shrink. We still want to do some travelling before we get too old and decrepit. Dogs are a big responsibility. They need proper exercise and there are so many expenses. Besides food and vet bills, there would be the cost of boarding when we’re away. You and I both know, being in that business, how quickly those charges add up! For now, it’s okay, because there are dogs around me, but whenever I decide to retire, there will be another conversation.
Girl, I know! I cry every single time I watch that video and I’ve seen it a gazillion times!
Yeah, those are all really valid points. I get it. My mom just had to put her little dog down in January and she mentioned the other day that she’s thinking about getting another one. I actually told her that I didn’t think it was a good idea…until she moves down here and I can be around to help her. Her health just isn’t good enough to have her dealing with picking up poop every day and if the dog has an accident or vomits, bending over and cleaning up the mess. She gets dizzy easy and has fallen a few times so I actually told her that it wasn’t a smart move. I NEVER thought I’d ever hear myself talking someone OUT of getting a dog!
You actually have it made now: not the responsibility, financial or otherwise, but yet you’re around dogs all the time with the business so that’s enough. I know these dogs who stay here are just like part of the family and I love them as if they were my own and I know you feel the same way. So you’ve got a good deal going…
There are so many things to take into consideration before getting a dog. That’s good advice you gave your mom. Hopefully, she will move near you. This is such a great job! All the joys(and yes, they are loved like my own) without any of the costs. Getting paid to do it is icing on the cake, as I’m sure you’ll agree. 😀
I just put down a deposit on an apartment at a senior apartment complex for her yesterday! So now we just have to get her house in NC sold. So that’s exciting…
And yes, the icing on the cake is fantastic. Love icing! 🙂
That’s wonderful news, Michele! Good luck with the home sale. I’m sure you mom will be looking forward to living close to you and getting another dog. One can never have enough icing. 🙂
At this point in things, a bucket list would be more of a “if I get reincarnated” list. Happy just to get through each day with my sanity (questionable today), my integrity, and no kidney stones!
Hurray for no kidney stones! 😮 My husband had those and the pain was excruciating. Sanity and integrity – two important things to have. Thanks for coming by.
I love your Bucket list and…I have a great friend who does tours of Jasper, Lake Louise and Banff! He told me the train tour is something to see. When I talk to him, I will ask him for some information and send it your way if he has any. The tours he does are by bus but he is the guy who talks to all the tourists and sets everything up. I would wear him down because there is nothing like a black lab and I want one again as well. My hubby says NO but we have 4 cats and Wallace our doggie so when Wallace is in heaven…I am getting a lab. I just have to make sure to train him well so my joints are not hurt. My hubby has to walk Wallace because Wallace is so scared he pulls and he knocked out my shoulder twice. I want to visit Wittenberg and the small village of Zornigall where my mom was born and grew up. I would love to trace the steps where my father fought in the war for Canada and visit the Reischwald Forest where he was wounded. I would love to see Macchu Picchu but am deathly afraid of heights so unsure I will see that. I also want to see Ankhor Wat…we shall see. Something that is doable-trace my father’s family tree and I do plan on this. Believe it or not, write my mom bio.
I knew you might like the list, Birgit. 🙂 Some Rocky Mountain tour info would be helpful. Not sure we can pull it off for this year after all, but it’s definitely on the agenda. Black labs are special, aren’t they? 😀 Hubby is adamant at this point, but whenever I retire, there will definitely be another conversation. Can’t bear the idea of not having any dogs in the house. Big dogs especially need strict leash training. Having a dislocated shoulder must be horribly painful! My fingers have become arthritic, due to all the leash yanking and pulling over the years. I hope you get to Germany and explore all those places. Ankhor Wat would be a spectacular sight. Never say never, right? Tracing one’s heritage has become so much easier since the internet came along. I hope your Mom will cooperate with the writing of her bio. Just going by the few things you’ve mentioned, it sounds fascinating. I had the same idea, but my mother wasn’t forthcoming with the details.
Those sound like pretty cool bucket list items. I wouldn’t mind doing some of those myself though money would likely be a big issue.
Since I now live pretty close to San Diego, I’ve gone there a number of times over the past many years. It’s become sort of a running joke with my wife and family how I will often go to see the house where I used to live when I lived in San Diego nearly 60 years ago. My parents paid around $18,000 for their house in 1959. Last time I checked the house was valued at around $800,000–totally absurd. It’s pretty small. I wouldn’t pay $100,000 for it unless I had a lot of extra money and was making an investment. Housing in San Diego has become quite expensive, but it’s a nice city so it has a lot of appeal.
Arlee Bird
Tossing It Out
Haha! Money is the issue for me, too, otherwise, that winter home would be a reality. 🙂 San Diego real estate prices are out of control, not unlike Vancouver and Toronto, in Canada. Good thing we bought our house years ago. Revisiting your old home seems like a natural thing to do. I drove past my parents’ former place after my mother died and it was kind of a sad moment. Nice to see the new owners were taking good care of it, at least.
I’m not into traveling but these sounds good, I like the idea of visiting Australia though it would take me a whole day just to get there.
a lab dog looks quite sweet, from the photos, what is it about dogs that some people can’t resist them?
good luck with your bucket list.
have a lovely day.
Australia would be awesome, lissa. 🙂 The trip takes 24 hours from here, too. Better to break it up and spend a week in Hawaii, on the way. Dogs are amazing and offer unconditional love. ♥ They have no agendas other than wanting to spend time with you. Thanks for coming over. Enjoy your week.
I do not really have a list, but working from yours: 1, 3, 6, and 9 are done. I saw Vancouver, but would like to visit Alberta, just not sure I want to take the train there. 2, 7, 8 are not on my radar. I would love to have visited Egypt, but fear I have missed my chance. I have no desire to live in San Diego or anywhere in California. I’d be b—-ing about taxes and costs all the time!
Nice travel list, Denise, Even Australia! 🙂 Egypt has become too dangerous and I don’t think we’ll get there either. I only want to live in San Diego for a few months of the year, during the winter. It has the best climate in North America and it’s so beautiful there. You’re right about the cost, though, so that dream is pretty much an impossible one.
Hi Debbie, I love bucket lists. I have crossed off Iceland though I’d like to go back and see the northern portion of that country. My bucket list now consists of Alaska, Montanna, Wyoming and the Dakotas. I also want to go zip lining – I did it 3 minutes in Las Vegas but want to do for a longer period of time.
Hi Lisa; Iceland must be spectacular! One of my clients just came back from there and was raving about it. Hope you get to go back and also fulfill the rest of your bucket list. We watched the zip lining in Vegas. Looks like fun! Thanks for dropping in.
Ha, Deb, I KNEW we were going to have at least ONE in common!
Great list, I can rely to most of them.
Now, about that black lab. Here’s what you do: have your husband write down his top ten list of bucket wishes. Make one true for him, get the dog!
San Diego! 😀 If only…
Problem is, my husband is dead set against getting another dog and I do see his point. It’s just hard for me NOT to have one. I come from a long line of dog lovers. Once I retire, we will have another SERIOUS discussion. 🙂
Thanks for inviting me to join your blog hop. Have a good day!