Last Day Q&A: Bucket List

Chasing Dreams: A Peek into Our Bucket List Adventures

Have you ever found yourself daydreaming about epic adventures, grand achievements, or simply the thrill of ticking off items from a list of dreams? We sure have! From scaling towering peaks to savoring exotic cuisines, we’re sharing the dreams that keep us inspired and motivated. What’s on your bucket list?

Sarah, Community Engagement Specialist

A few of my bucket list adventures (in no particular order) include:

Visit all 30 Major League Baseball stadiums in the country (10 down, 20 to go!). I absolutely love baseball (Let’s Go Boston!) and the history that surrounds all the stadiums and teams.
Visit all of the national parks (8 down, 55 to go!). I love, love, love knowing about the real history of these places and seeing them, because pictures just don’t do them justice!
Backpack the Appalachian Trail. Only one in four hikers make it the whole way; so tell me I can’t, and I will!
Visit where my Nonna and Nonno grew up in Naples, Italy so that I can feel closer to my heritage and history.
And finally, swim across Lake Erie. This has been a bucket list item for me since I was a little kid. Who wants to have a little kayak/canoe next to me so I don’t drown?

Kristin, Communications and Community Manager

I’ve been fortunate to travel to a lot of really cool places, so it may sound odd to hear that Rhode Island is the next place on my bucket list to visit. I’m obsessed with genealogy, and, for the sake of my kids, I have done a lot of research on my husband’s side as well. He has all kinds of likely connections to kings and emperors and saints, but my family’s one celebrity is Roger Williams, founder of Rhode Island. I actually visited the church where he was baptized in London, but I would love to add another U.S. state to my list and learn more about his life in the “new world”. On the opposite side of the coin, I would also love to skydive with my sister-in-law, who lives near one of Florida’s most popular skydiving sights near the ocean.

Lane, Human Resources Manager

I would like to:

Visit New Zealand. It’s just so lush and untouched and several movies and shows that I love were filmed there.
Spend a month in France. I love France! Paris and the smaller villages are so wonderful and the people are very friendly. Not to mention the food and wine! I took a dessert cooking class when I went to Paris the first time, and would love to go back for an all day class where you prepare a meal starting with a shopping trip to the outdoor market.
Take my family on a trip anywhere. I just think it would be fun to have us all together for a week or so and have all the generations there with each other.

Julie, Program Resource Manager

Bucket list item: To visit as many countries as possible! A few that I would like to prioritize are Scotland, Egypt, and Madagascar.

Bucket list Items I have checked off of my list: Swimming with sharks and playing with elephants! On my 26th birthday I was able to visit an elephant sanctuary in Thailand and it was one of my favorite days ever! The sharks were pretty cool, too, but the sea sickness that followed once I got back in the boat made it not “one of my favorite days ever!”

Lauren, Family Engagement Specialist

As a parent of two young children, Disney World was always on my bucket list. I wanted the share the magic that I was able to experience as a child. A few years ago we were able to go for the first time. It was truly magical. So much so that I knew we needed to go again before the kids were too old. Next year we are going back for my 40th birthday. Staying club level at the Polynesian is still on the bucket list and likely will remain there forever!

My husband and I also have our own bucket list, which includes spending a month traveling Europe and visiting Japan. While I have been both places when I was younger, I would love to experience these with him as an adult, visit the places I was not able to go, and spend more time diving into the culture. From the food and architecture of Europe to the technology and history of Japan; both are on our “after the kids grow up” bucket list!

Allie, Resource and Referral Specialist

Most of my bucket list involves traveling as well!

Visit Europe. I had never been to Europe and that was my graduation from my masters gift to myself. I went to Venice, Italy; Salzburg, Austria; Munich, Germany; Lucerne, Switzerland; and Paris, France. This most recent trip to Europe, I visited the UK (Edinburgh, Scotland; Durham, UK; Dublin, Ireland; and London, England.) The goal for the next trip is Croatia, Sweden, or the Netherlands!
Visit Africa. I grew up on the Mummy movies with Brendan Fraser & Rachel Weisz; so my obsessed with Egypt and Egyptian mythology drives me to get there in my upcoming trips.
Visit Asia. Oh! This list goes on and on but mostly India to explore Hindi culture. I feel most closely drawn to this spiritually or my version of religion and beliefs about afterlife. Also, South Korea, because I have fallen in love with their culture via “k-dramas.”
United States. I have a goal to visit all 50 states! I have gone straight across from here to California and the straight path down to Florida (as us Midwesterners do!) So I have achieved 17; 33 to go. So Sarah Bartolo, I’ll totally do the Appalachian trail with you!
Outside of travel, I always wanted get a siblings tattoo for the longest time, and I was able to cross that off my bucket list a couple years ago! We got the moon phases of the days we were born and they are in order from my oldest sibling down to me.

Sylvia, Program Resource Navigator

Oh the places I would love to go, and the things I would like to see and do. I simply thrive on a good adventure! I am happy to try adventures in any arena; something that I want to do sooner than later is para glide, skydive, and walk across a suspension bridge, in, I don’t know, Portugal (I fear bridges so this would help me concur a fear with some go ole adventure).

Oh the places I want to be; for starters I’ve never been on a cruise so that would be next on my bucket list. I’d also love to go “down under” to Australia, be close to my African roots in an African Country (Cape Town, South Africa to start), as well as go on several more mission trips. It would be so rewarding to do mission work with my family!

Skylar, Administrative Assistant

My bucket list item has always been to swim with a whale shark. My obsession started as a project in elementary school about whales and it has grown from there. They are so large but one of the most gentle creatures and they do not even have teeth, so they can’t bite unlike other sharks. I recently found out that the Georgia Aquarium has them and you can pay to swim with them. Hopefully within the next year I can check it off!

Rosy, Multicultural Family Engagement Specialist

In no specific order:

See the giant pandas in China. They’re my favorite animal and I would love to interact with them in their natural habitat.
Visit my maternal grandmother in Mexico one more time before she passes away. My kids really want to meet her and it would be great for them to visit the other half of their family.
Go skydiving. I don’t like heights, but I want to say that I did it at least once.
Visit a few cities in Colombia, because its such a beautiful country and they have amazing food.
Take my kiddos to see the gulf side of Florida because they’ve not yet seen the ocean. My in-laws are in the works of booking trip for next June and they want us to come, so fingers crossed we can make it happen.

Mollie, Executive Director

Most of my bucket list items revolve around travel. I love exploring new places through walking, hiking, or boating, watching wildlife, learning the history, and, of course, indulging in local food and drink.

Some of my favorite experiences so far include getting up close to glaciers and whales in Alaska, hiking and swimming in a stunning waterfall in Costa Rica, visiting the Vatican in Rome, and hiking Mount Rainier in Seattle. On my list for the future includes exploring the Pyramids in Egypt, relaxing on the beaches of Fiji, and discovering the many islands of Greece.