My 50+ Best Experiences

By poolside today, I read Sasha Cagen's "To-Do List: From Buying Milk to Finding a Soul Mate, What our Lists Reveal About Us".
While the book doesn't actually tell us what lists reveal about us, there is a voyeurstic pleasure to flipping through it and reading other peoples lists.

Reading "30 by 30" - a list which details 30 things that one person had done before thirty - inspired me to write my list, starting with the baby sea turtles we just released.

Here (in no particular order) is my list:

1. Releasing baby sea turtles in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
2. Getting married under the Redwood Trees in Big Basin State Park, California
3. Hosting a Geisha Party in Osaka, Japan
4. Climbing Mt. Fuji, Japan
5. Exploring the ruins at Ankor Wat, Cambodia
6. Climbing Ayers Rock, Australia
7. Tracking Howler Monkeys at 2am in the rainforest - solo - at Chan Chich in Belize
8. Touring Frank Lloyd Wrights Fallingwater, Pennsylvania
9. Watching the Chinese New Years Fireworks over Hong Kong Harbor
10. Exploring the Great Wall, China
11. Visiting the Taj Mahal, Agra, India
12. Exploring Borobudur Temple, Java, Indonesia
13. Paddling an outrigger canoe with some locals who were short one padder, Kona, Hawaii
14. Seeing the Vietnam Memorial at Midnight on Memorial Day, Washington DC
15. Watching a Ramayana performance at Prambenan Temple, Java, Indonesia
16. Riding an Elephant in Chiang Mai, Thailand
17. Hiking through rice terraces in Bali, Indonesia
18. Witnessing Thaipusam Festival in Singapore
19. Hiking into the Grand Canyon, Arizona
20. Kayaking 10 days along the Sea of Cortez in Baja, Mexico with friends
21. Hand-feeding Kangaroos and wallabies on Kangaroo Island, Australia
22. Travelling the Li River by boat from Guilin, China
23. Canoeing the Green River, Utah
24. Ice skating under the stars at Yosemite National Park
25. Floating in the Dead Sea at sunrise, Israel
26. Being groomed by wild monkeys in the Monkey Forest in Ubud, Bali
27. Hiking to, and watching the lava flows at Volcano National Park, Hawaii
28. Eating grasshoppers, bamboo worms, and crickets at a night market in Phitsanulok, Thailand
29. Swimming with dolphins in the wild at Kealakekua Bay, Hawaii
30. Going on Safari in South Africa, Botswana, and Zimbabwe
31. Throwing a Hanabi party with friends at Yamashita Park in Yokohama, Japan
32. Staying at Raffles Hotel, Singapore and swimming in the 24 hour, rooftop, clothing optional pool (what? it isn't clothing optional? oops...)
33. Taking surfing lessons in Lahaina, Hawaii
34. Exploring 'wild' caves in upstate New York
35. Taking cooking lessons in Thailand
36. Swimming with three sharks in Thailand (by accident)
37. Catching snakes and geckoes by hand, almost everywhere...
38. Carrying a Mikoshi in a Japanese Festival, Tachikawa, Japan
39. Jamming with a marimba group in Zimbabwe, Africa
40. Taking Gamelan lessons in Ubud, Bali
41. Staying at the Lake Palace, Udaipur, India
42. Staying at the Iwako Inn on Miyajima Island, Japan
43. Taking Taiko lessons in Osaka, Japan
44. Snorkeling with Sea Turtles in Hawaii
45. Enjoying Cherry Blossom season in Japan
46. Meeting Shoukichi Kina and hearing him play "Hana" at his club in Okinawa
47. Watching a ceremonial Legong dance at an odalan in the middle of the night in Ubud, Bali
48. Witnessing a Lion Dance animation ceremony in a Chinese temple in Singapore
49. Watching a sea turtle lay eggs at Phinda Nature Reserve, South Africa
50. Riding a dolphin at Sea World San Diego's "Trainer for a Day"
51. Saying "Dr. Livingston, I presume?" at Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe
52. Riding the Maid of the Mist at Niagara Falls
53. The colorful burst of maple trees (and maple syrup) in the New England autumn
54. All those karaoke nights that ran so late in Japan
55. Enjoying a Pansori concert at a palace in Seoul, South Korea
56. Watching traditional dance at the Mahabarapuram World Heritage site, India
57. Eating sunrise breakfast with Angie on the Zambezi River, Zimbabwe, Africa
58. Watching Kanoe Miller dance the hula at the Halekulani, Honolulu
59. Eating katsuo no tataki in Japan, lobster in Maine, and Impala jerky in Africa
60. Watching falling stars in Death Valley, California
61. Sunrise on the Lost Coast, watching a whale and her calf playing 50 feet offshore, California

to be continued...