These are bucket-list-type things I’ve done prior to getting the chance to put them on my real list (idea inspired by Le and David from Wise Monkeys Abroad). It helps me be grateful for the things I’ve already done and experienced, and is a fun way to remember these events. I’ll add links as I write the stories about each thing, and when I think of more things that should be on this list, I’ll add those too.

For my actual bucket list, click here.

Read the whole thing (below) or Quick Jump to the section that most interests you: Experiences, Accomplishments and skills (of varying value), Travel experiences, Travel locations

Experiences

• Play an April Fool’s prank on someone
• Participate in a research study
• Visit the Seattle Gum Wall (and add gum)
• Go to the top of the Space Needle
• Fly a plane
• Go to Disneyland
• Visit the Fremont Troll under the bridge
• Touch a snake
• See an active volcano
• Go to a water park
• Buy an unlimited rides pass at a county fair
• Ride in a Ferris wheel
• Go on a roller coaster
• Go to a baseball game
• Go to a basketball game
• Go to a rugby match
• Go to a soccer game
• Have a scavenger hunt for my birthday
• Walk through a corn maze
• Walk through a pineapple maze
• Pick a pumpkin at a pumpkin patch
• Make a snow angel
• Roll down a grassy hill
• Play Ultimate Frisbee
• Eat a deep fried Twinkie
• Eat alligator
• Harvest seaweed from the ocean
• Eat octopus
• Eat frog legs
• Eat Vegemite
• Try a “Szechuan button”
• Drink butter beer
• Eat poutine
• Have a formal afternoon tea
• Go on a ferry boat ride
• Go tent camping
• Go to a karaoke bar with friends
• Go whale watching
• Feed birds bread in a park
• Play hopscotch
• Go canoeing
• Go snowshoeing
• Have a picnic
• Wish on a shooting star
• Watch a solar eclipse
• Attend a giant cereal bowl party
• Crack a macadamia nut shell
• Visit a candy factory
• Visit a coffee farm
• Go on a brewery tour
• Go berry picking
• Volunteer at a food bank
• Get a professional manicure/pedicure
• See a movie on the first day it is in theaters
• Quit a job
• Go reverse trick-or-treating on Halloween – go door to door to give away candy
• Play mini golf
• Visit a petting zoo
• Go down a water slide
• Build a sand castle
• Take an art class
• Escape from a puzzle room
• Take an improv class
• Spontaneously go to an event with people I just met
• Meet a celebrity
• Go to a dayclub pool party
• Stay up all night at an after-party in a mansion
• Go dancing at a nightclub
• Ride the roller coaster at the Santa Monica Pier
• Wake up early to watch the sunrise
• Contact a celebrity to ask what’s on their bucket list
• Take a selfie with a stranger
• Let my friend plan my itinerary of things to do for one day
• Pet a tarantula

(Want to go back to the top? Want to read more? My actual bucket list has more)

Accomplishments and skills (of varying value)

• Plan a successful fundraiser
• Act in a play
• Read a novel from start to finish in one day
• Complete a photo album
• Start a blog
• Bake a cake
• Create a recipe
• Carve a pumpkin with a good design
• Crack an egg with one hand
• Get a driver’s license
• Learn to use chopsticks
• Juggle three scarves
• Jump rope more than 100 jumps without stopping
• Win a spelling bee
• Get straight A’s in school
• Watch an entire TV season in one day
• Watch the Matrix trilogy in one night
• Get paid to write
• Teach someone to play the piano
• Get my master’s degree
• Read the Bible all the way through
• Get a strike in a game of bowling
• Start a business
• Learn to knit
• Learn to crochet
• Learn to play the piano
• Learn basic HTML
• Learn to rollerblade
• Learn to swim
• Learn to hula hoop
• Publish a blog post every week for a year

(Want to go back to the top? Want to read more? My actual bucket list has more)

Travel experiences

• Fly somewhere in a plane without my friends/family
• Go on a road trip with family
• Fly first class
• Sleep in an airport
• Rent a car
• Take a spontaneous trip
• Go to a touristy luau in Hawaii
• Drive down the Pacific Coast Highway from San Francisco to LA
• Drive on Route 66
• Bike across the Golden Gate Bridge
• Camp in Yosemite National Park
• Use the Couchsurfing site to find a place to stay

(Want to go back to the top? Want to read more? My actual bucket list has more)

Travel locations

• Pearl Harbor
• Four Corners
• Hawaii
• Mt Rushmore
• Grand Canyon
• Arches National Park
• Yellowstone National Park
• Carlsbad Caverns
• Arches National Park
• Aztec National Monument
• the Alamo and other San Antonio missions
• the USS Constitution
• Bandelier National Monument
• Petroglyph National Monument
• the Golden Spike National Historic Site
• Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument (site of Custer’s last stand)
• Canyonlands National Park
• Bryce Canyon National Park
• Devils Tower National Monument
• Mesa Verde National Park
• Grand Teton National Park
• Haleakala National Park
• Santa Fe trail
• Camel Rock in Santa Fe, New Mexico
• Grand Coulee Dam
• Hoover Dam
• Petrified Forest National Park
• Lewis and Clark Trail
• Mount St. Helens
• Mount Rainier
• Oregon Trail
• Dinosaur National Monument
• Freedom Trail in Boston, MA
• Space Needle in Seattle, WA
• Stratosphere in Las Vegas, NV
• Golden Gate Bridge
• Yosemite National Park
• Joshua Tree National Park
• Alcatraz Island
• Painted Ladies houses from Full House
• Japantown in San Francisco, CA
• Golden Gate Park and the Japanese Tea Garden in San Francisco, CA
• Bellagio fountain
• Disneyland/California Adventures – Anaheim, CA
• Universal Studios Hollywood

Do you have a retrospective bucket list? What about an actual bucket list?