I want to drink deeply from the cup of life. I want to see the wonders of nature. I want to try new things. I want to challenge myself. I want to grow and change and become a better version of myself than I was yesterday. I want to gain new skills. I want to meet interesting people. I want to see art, appreciate beauty, appreciate architecture and see with new eyes. I want to listen to music that is reminiscent of heaven and speaks to my soul. I want to stay up so late I see the sunrise the next morning. I want to dance and sing without regard to what others think. I want to take candid pictures and post them without filtering or editing. I want to take road trips. I want to be spontaneous. I want to run through the forest. I want to chase fog and make flower crowns. I want to visit coffee shops, browse thrift stores for treasures and explore craft fairs. I want to visit museums and archaeological sites. I want to explore places. I want to simply stop and admire the view. I want to make memories and deepen my relationships with people.
I don’t want to spend my life in regret wondering about the chances I never took. I don’t want to spend hours scrolling through on my phone wishing I could have the life I see on social media. I don’t want to waste my time dreaming of things I can’t afford or do or places I can’t afford to travel to. I don’t want to miss out on the things I could be doing because I was too busy wishing for the things that are out of reach. I don’t want to spend all day with my head in the clouds not minding what is right in front of me. I don’t want to listen to the people telling me that what I am isn’t good enough or that my life isn’t there yet. I don’t want to miss the blessings I have demanding the blessings I don’t have yet. I don’t want to live in fear of what people might think or say or do because of being authentic to myself.
My bucket list isn’t just a checklist, it’s a call to action to remind me that I get to create an adventurous life. It helps push me to keep trying new things and to seek out new experiences. I’m always adding things to my list and revising it. I am constantly on the lookout for opportunities and unexplored areas. I may not always be doing things that people would consider “bucket list worthy”, but they’re moments outside my usual routine whether it’s taking a train ride to do a wine tasting or dying a scarf.
It’s also not about chasing the next thing because life is supposed to have the mundane and the routine. There will be dishes and laundry, there will be days at home with tea and books. There will be lazy mornings snuggling with cats. Those are moments to savor as well which is why adopting a cat is on my list. It’s about living. Whether it be the everyday moments or the extraordinary and all the moments in between.
And more than anything, dear reader, I want to live.
Maybe it was the music itself that enticed me. Perhaps, it was the wine at dinner. Or maybe it was the allure of Italy itself that wound itself around my legs and compelled me to dance. All I knew was the night was still young as the sky was turning to twilight and the saxophone drew me towards it. What else could I do, but begin to sway and dance to its siren call? As I twirled and danced upon cobblestones, I caught glimpses of the musicians smiling as they played, keeping the song going as I was caught up in its magic spell. My skirt swished gently about my legs, my arms flowed of their own accord. I can still almost hum the low, almost slow almost sensual tune, though in truth it plays along the boundaries of memory, faded with time and unfamiliarity.
To be young and uninhibited again, unbound by the constraints of societal expectations and propriety. To simply find yourself in a place where the music is playing and the urge to dance takes hold. It is not very often one stumbles upon street musicians unless one is in a city, such as Rome, but one must take advantage of such moments. It is one of my favorite memories from my semester abroad because I danced as if I were alone, unconcerned about the crowd or who might be watching. I let myself live freely in the moment, embracing the serendipity of music at twilight.
As it so happens, not only did I delight those playing by my ample appreciation of the music, but also of a nearby photographer. He happened to catch me dancing and was inspired by my boldness. For a short time afterward, I was his muse with a short and impromptu photoshoot in the plaza before the Great Colosseum itself! I unfortunately only have the pictures which were sent on to me and lost the gentleman’s name. But I will forever be grateful for the phenomenal memories he helped preserve. Perhaps, this blog post will find him and I will be able to give him proper credit.
It was not my first foray into impromptu dancing, for I also danced at the spring festival in Marburg in the rain, again much to the delight of the musicians. I may have said only moments ago, “to be young and uninhibited again”, but the truth is, I still am! Uninhibited that is – I’m almost 40, one has to embrace middle age gracefully and not cling to youth in some sort of grotesque fashion. One should not stop dancing to street performers just because one is no longer in one’s 20’s! One should not stop embracing moments of joyful abandon. Is there a song to sing at karaoke? Belt it out! Did you stumble across a public art project inviting you to paint? Join in! Be spontaneous! Embrace your impulses and passions! Be silly! Don’t be afraid to look foolish! Had I not been fearless to dance in the middle of public, it would not have led to a photoshoot in the middle of Rome! How many people can say that of their journeys? Not many? Exactly! Fortune favors the bold after all!
Now dear reader, you may be wondering why this would grace a bucket list as it seems like rather a small thing. Really, dancing on the street of all things to a “lowly” street performer? What sort of standards do you have for your bucket list, you may ask.
First, it’s my blog and I’ll blog what I want to. My list, my rules. You go make your own list with your own rules.
Second, consider how few people would actually be bold or brave enough to do this? How many of them hold back? Does it even occur to them to dance? Or have they been so conditioned against any sort of unauthorized or predesignated fun that they don’t even think to dance? Have you, dear reader, ever acted with such impulsive abandon? For me this was about living without fear or anyone’s judgements. A life well lived includes doing things off the beaten path, allowing your passions and impulses to occasionally run riot. I love music and I love dancing, why should I deny the urge to embrace life when it so fervently invites me to its arms?
Besides, when you do embrace life not only do you bring delight to yourself, but also you bring joy to other people. In my hometown, there is a young man who frequently goes out dressed as a templar knight. His reasons are his own, but he started to become a bit of a celebrity. People are posting sightings of him. They’re excited to see him. It brings us joy. I love that there’s someone out there just living his best life as a templar knight! There’s another town in Canada where a man walks around with a giant carrot and people LOVE it. There’s stories of people passing out flower crowns or leaving chalk art on the sidewalk of their neighbors to bring them joy. The world needs our whimsy dear reader!
Sidenote: Before doing chalk art, check your local ordinances as in some towns this may be illegal – some places really have outlawed fun!
All of these are stories of people doing something a little impulsive and making the world a better, more magical place because of it. The third reason is that it made my trip to Rome that much more memorable. Consider how many travel stories seem to consist of the same things, especially such destinations as Rome. Don’t get me wrong there is a reason people go to the same places and see the same things, it would be silly to go to Rome as a tourist and eschew the Colosseum as plebeian because everyone goes to Rome to see it. But this punctuated my week-long trip with a truly memorable experience, it made the Colosseum special to me. When I think about the Colosseum, I think about dancing! I strain to recall that haunting tune. For a moment, I am back there. If we don’t authentically express ourselves out in the world, what are we even doing? Are we really deeply experiencing life or just pretending to?
How can you dance like no one’s watching?
If you are interested in replicating the magic of impromptu dancing, the best way is to use your ears. Pay attention to your surroundings. Obviously if you visit a city, you are much more likely to encounter the stray musician. Be sure to pack along a few dollars to show your appreciation if you are intending on seeking out someone to dance to. However, I will admonish you to not seek this out specifically. After all, half the fun is stumbling about it naturally to let the music extend its hand with a flirtatious invitation to join it. Then by all means accept the invitation, let it embrace you in its arms and let go.
The principle of course is to be open to serendipity and to take advantage of the opportunities that arise. When a creative opportunity presents itself, meet it head on, boldly and passionately. Dive in with careless abandon. After all, a life well lived is one with passion and risk. Not every boldly taken action will end well. You may be booed off stage of the open mic comedy club. You may be told afterward you sang worse than a braying donkey. But that’s okay! In the words of Theodore Roosevelt, “It is not the critic who counts….The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena.” Do not content yourself with sitting on the sidelines dear reader! Enter the arena of life and dance as if no one was watching!
Completed: Spring 2009
Miles from home: 4,371 (though this can be completed almost anywhere)
No one ever wins the game, “what could have been”, but we all play it to our own demerament. The game “what could have been” is when we sit and think about the path not taken. The “one who got away”, the degree not pursued, the job offer you didn’t take, the house you didn’t buy or the trip you didn’t go on. It is usually when we are sitting in regret for not taking that path and say “if only I had….” Indeed, if only you had and then life would be wonderful! That, dear reader, is the dangerous and poisonous trap.
You see when we play this game, we only ever present ourselves with the idealized version of events had we only made a different choice. I should probably write a post later about the choices we make since I keep saying it, but life is full of choices and saying yes to one thing means no to others. We choose to give up something to take a given path, often more than one thing. If we pursue a higher degree we may land our dream job and make lots of money, we may also find ourselves drowning in student debt working at McDonald’s. Rarely do we consider the second part when playing “what could have been.” We only think of the best possible outcome of the path not taken, dreaming that if we had just done something slightly different we would have a life that frankly was probably never in the cards to begin with.
I had a wonderful co-worker who was quite talented in the social services field. She was arguably better than most people with their master’s given the amount of additional training and experience she had. Unfortunately, without that degree her job prospects were limited and her salary was less than it should have been for what she brought to the table. It was to her deep regret that she did not finish school. However, she shared that she had in part chosen not to pursue a career in order to support her husband’s children in their blended family. They needed additional support and because of her pouring herself into them, they turned out wonderfully. They are successful young men and women who love and adore her.
I reassured her that at the time of the decision she could have no idea that the job market would be so demanding of a higher degree and that she made the best possible decision for her and her family in those moments. I told her that she has no idea the positive impact that her presence in the family brought and what horrible things may have happened if she pursued her higher education which would have required her to sacrifice the extra time and attention she gave those children. I told her she has no idea if the gamble would have paid off or if she would have been stuck with debt or how it would have impacted the dynamics of the home. Perhaps, those children would have gotten into drugs or joined a gang without her love, care and support (a possibility in the city she lived in). Would she be sitting in an office today, wishing she had made a different choice and cursing herself for not staying home?
Much like in the movie it’s a Wonderful Life, we have no idea how the choices we make effect the world around us and how without those choices the world may actually be far darker.
That “dream” home may have been a money pit or a financial stressor that ruined you. That vacation you didn’t go on, maybe would have been the place of a freak accident that left you without a leg. That job that you didn’t take may have been the most toxic work environment that you ever experienced. Yes, it may have led to a magical land of happiness, but look around you, do you know anyone who is truly happy? If so, then I will ask you to look closer at them, are they happy because of a dream life or for some other reason? The Kardarasians are arguably one of the most successful families in America and I don’t need to watch their show to know they are miserable. They spend their lives creating endless drama for our entertainment and that sounds like a gilded hell. How many celebrities have completed suicide or turned to drugs to numb their pain? How many people regret getting married? How many single people long for it?
You accomplish nothing sitting up and thinking up a fantasy life for paths not taken. It only leads to regret for a life that you do not have and for one that may have never existed no matter what choices you made. You cannot change the path that has already been taken. The only possible way is forward to make the best choices you can in the moment with the information that you have. Living our best lives means living this life and making this one the best one we can with the tools at our disposal not trying to live a life that can never be. Do not play what could have been, dear reader, for it is a game you will never win.
Having recently celebrated another journey around the globe, it seems like a good time to reflect back on life milestones that I have accomplished. After all a birthday is a milestone that we mark off each year. As we get older, birthdays can become times of existential dread. Time has passed and we may becoming overly focused on all the things we haven’t accomplished. Maybe we got married, but we still don’t have children. Or maybe you had kids but never got to school. Maybe you went to school and launched a successful career but never got around to tying the knot. We can become so overly focused on all the things we still haven’t done, that I think we should make sure to celebrate the things we have accomplished. Hence my reverse bucket list and this blog – by writing things here it helps keep me focused on the positives to build on them rather than allow myself to get bogged down in the quagmire of unfilled dreams.
Now most big milestones of life are usually things like marriages, birth of children, graduations, professional accomplishments, etc. That isn’t to say those are things we must do or should do. For some people none of those things are things they want to pursue and good for them! A life milestone for them may be adopting a pet, starting a non-profit, backpacking solo through Asia. As always, dear reader, embrace your own journey and individual inklings.
When going through my Reverse Bucket List, it was a natural thing to include my education and professional development as past items worthy to celebrate. Higher Education is often something that graces people’s Bucket List and for good reason. It is one way for an individual to develop themselves professionally and have opportunities open to what one hopes is a better path forward. As many in my generation can attest, a degree is not a promise of success, it is merely opening the door to possibilities that would otherwise be closed.
High School Graduation: The start of the journey
There are also many paths to education after high school including trade schools, certificates, and even self-taught skills. College isn’t for everyone depending on their own personal goals. If you desire to have your own plumbing business, getting a degree in engineering may contain useful information a plumber would need, but it’s not going to help you with that goal. My goal was to become a therapist, so I knew that I would need to obtain a higher education in order to achieve the goal. The education piece was part of the journey, not necessarily the goal in and of itself.
Over the course of almost 13 years, I obtained a dual undergraduate degree in Psychology and German, completed my MSW program, and successfully sat for two licensing exams, first the LSW and then the LCSW. Not only did I graduate from these programs, I graduated with honors or if you’re feeling fancy “cum laude”. The LCSW represents the long journey to achieve one of the highest levels of expertise and competency in my chosen field. Completing it took thousands of supervised clinical hours, continuing education credits, studying, attending classes and commitment. There were times when I did consider not completing it, wondering if it was really worth it. However, I knew the opportunities it would open up once I got it, more so than any degree or certificate I had yet obtained.
I think it’s important to celebrate not only the achievement of an end goal, but also all the smaller goals in between. When we reflect on the journey, we can appreciate how that journey enriched our lives, potentially more so than the goal itself. Going to college was more than just the knowledge gained, though I certainly gained a solid foundation at Messiah College with regards to my profession. I went through rigorous coursework, taught by phenomenal professors who truly cared about my development as a budding mental health professional.
In addition, college was an experience of living on my own, having additional responsibilities and freedoms, navigating different social systems and expanding my world views. For the first time, I was regularly interacting face to face with people who came from not only all over America but all over the world. I found myself challenged and stretched in unexpected ways. I learned to look at things from a different perspective. I formed tight-knit bonds with my circle of friends, who while I may not see very often, the moment we get together again, it is as if no time has passed. Part of my undergrad experience was the opportunity to live and study in another country for five months (post on that later). My semester abroad is something I wouldn’t trade for the world.
Walking across the stage to stand in collective triumph at the end of college, with all my friends and classmates who took the journey with me, is a moment that will stay forever in my mind. I still remember the pride in my sister’s eyes as she hugged me close to say, you did it and how grateful I was that my mom got to see that moment when only four years before in my freshman year I got the phone call that she was in the hospital with a stroke. I was filled with excitement and hope for the future. I had dreams of what my life was about to become.
A lot of those dreams didn’t exactly pan out. Graduating into the recession made life difficult and a lot of the projected decent jobs that I was told would be there when I entered the workforce, were gone. The original plan was to get a good job and work towards paying my student loans down before going back to graduate school. The economy had different ideas. After two years of working at a low paying but enjoyable job with autistic children, I decided to apply for graduate school and get my higher education. Honestly, had the pay been decent for an undergraduate degree, I probably would have never left that job. I loved working with those kids! However, despite requiring a degree it paid about the same amount as someone with only a high school diploma with zero prospects of a decent raise, so I choose to go back to school.
Unlike college, my experience in grad school was more a frantic run than a journey I took the time to savor. There was no room for extra things like Japanese Culture Club, Swing Dancing, Irish Step Dancing, Fencing or Flags. There wasn’t even time for making friends. I worked and went to school, both keeping me busy during most of my waking hours. Rather than invest in social relationships of grad school, I choose to simply maintain the ones I had. However, lest it seem that the experience was less glamorous than my undergrad, the highlight of my graduate experience was my internships and my discovery of macro level social work.
Two amazing gentlemen that I had the privilege of working with in Haiti
I had the privilege of being the American contact for a non-profit committed to assisting young men and women in Haiti obtain a higher education and improve their job prospects. I worked with about 20 young men and my Haitian counterparts Daniel and Lubin to develop the education program, coordinate with the American educational resources and encourage the students. I even spent a week down there meeting with the students and providing professional development workshops. My second internship was helping to plan and implement a Golf & Gala Fundraiser for orphans in Africa. My final internship was helping to run an emergency winter shelter for homeless women in my local city.
After graduate school, I sat for my LSW exam and passed. It would be another 7 years before I finally had the necessary 3,000 hours of clinical supervision and could sit for my LCSW. In that time, I was a Family Therapist, a coordinator of another Homeless Shelter and a coordinator of a housing program for individuals with disabilities. In the summer of 2023, I was able to sit for the exam and passed with flying colors. From the time I decided to become a therapist in my senior year of high school, I finally could call myself a LCSW after almost 17 years. Naturally, my family and I celebrated this achievement.
Proudly holding my LCSW license at my job
The journey was not an easy one. There were many setbacks and delays with going to grad school and finding a clinical supervisor resulting in almost 6 years “lost”. However, I wouldn’t call them truly lost or wasted. I have always trusted the path that was before me and that despite everything, it was the one I was meant to walk. There were reasons for the delays and setbacks, skills I needed to develop, lessons I had to learn, experiences I had to have and perhaps, people I needed to meet.
How can you celebrate your own professional journey?
Take time to reflect on your accomplishments! Toot your own horn! Be proud of all the things you’ve done! Obviously, dear reader, if you got a degree, you should look on that for the accomplishment that it is. However, if you did not, there is still much to celebrate. One of the most successful people I ever had the privilege of knowing never got her college degree, yet she started a non-profit, ran a successful hospitality business, started a consulting business, runs an annual fundraiser for charity, recently sold her business for well over a million dollars and started up another one. She has been a vice-president of operations of an international company, an actress, model and more. There are so many different careers and journeys out there each with their own measurements of competency, expertise and success.
Regardless of whether you’ve gotten a degree or not, it is important to remember your own measure of achievement. What the world says is a mark of achievement and what you want to actually obtain, might be different things. It’s your life; you only get to live it once, so you get to set your own professional goals and what it means to obtain them. Only you know what it took to get to this point in your life. Only you know the personal struggles that you had to overcome and all the small victories along the way that got you here. Celebrate your journey and look to the future!
Completed: LCSW Obtained July 2023
LSW Obtained July 2016
Master of Social Work magna cum laude Obtained May 2016
Bachelor’s of Psychology & Bachelor’s of German cum laude Obtained 2010
Miles from home: A Reverse Bucket List can be completed at home. I wrote out a whole list of items, but to do a deeper dive, I recommend journaling about them, like my blog post above.
Cost: For purposes of a Budget Bucket List Reverse Bucket List Items are free as they are celebrating past achievement.
However, full disclosure is in order – Going to school is expensive, the average student debt for college degree & master’s degree is $71,000 and my debt was about this average. My graduate school was less than an hour from my house and my college was about an hour and fifteen minutes from home, so still close to home.
I highly recommend that if you are considering school or other post-secondary education, to research carefully the projected job market of your chosen field, the starting salaries and the cost of living in your area.
I think one of the reasons everything seems so much better on a vacation is because we’re able to leave behind the worries, stresses, and responsibilities of everyday life. IWhen I do go on vacation, not only do I leave it behind, I almost always have a “flex” day for when I return, I make sure all bills are paid up early and I make sure my house is spotless before I go. This means that I don’t have to worry about returning to housework, everything is paid for and I still have an extra day where I’m not working. I have an entire day to prepare to “return” to the mundanity of life with all the worries, stresses and responsibilities of everyday life. It also means that I don’t have to begin to prepare to return until after the vacation is completely over thus “protecting” the vacation mindset. Another protection I give myself is having things fairly planned out, with room to change them if the need arises, but having done most of the decision making beforehand means that not even the worry of a decision can possibly bother me.
Sidenote: The flex day is usually spent snuggling my pets who missed me and ensures that I meet their emotional needs after being separated from me. It’s like a whole bonus vacation day and I love absolutely it.
Cat snuggles at the end of a vacation away is the purrrrrfect welcome home
Because we’re able to “set aside” our “real” lives while away, it means that we are much more able to focus on what’s happening to really enjoy what’s happening in the present and savor those moments. Vacations just feel more fun even if we’re doing an activity that we could arguably do at home.
Consider going to the beach or the lake. A day at the beach or lake nearby is lovely, but what about say going on a cruise and picking a day at a tropical beach. Objectively, a beach is a beach. Sand, check. Water check. Waves check. Yet, in comparison to my last day at the beach on the Atlantic coast vs my day at the beach on my cruise. The cruise one stands out as better. Why? Both trips, I spent time swimming in the water and then laid out under some shade to read my book. Perhaps it was less crowded, but I went to a less crowded beach before. Perhaps, it’s because I didn’t have to lug my chairs and towels. Maybe? Or perhaps it was the mindset I was in. I was mindful to be in the present. It seemed better because I was more relaxed and worry free. I simply was in the moment. All I was concerned about was the beautiful weather, the feel of sand between my toes and the gentle lapping of the waves as I sipped a drink and read. I was in my body in a way that I wasn’t really before.
I would hazard a guess that was the biggest difference, not the location, not the fact that I was on a cruise or whatever else, but my mindset. If I went away for a vacation and life followed me there, I probably would be miserable and perhaps, vow to never visit that location again having associated it with a terrible experience. No wonder we’re all looking to escape to far flung places rather than living where we’re at.
So how does one cultivate a vacation mindset while doing things at home, perhaps on the weekend, a single day off or on an evening out? First, you must create some boundaries around those activities. For me, I may schedule a preparation evening the day before. One where I do a more thorough cleaning of the house or at least make sure it’s well straightened up so that when I leave to go do what I want to do, a bunch of housework isn’t lingering behind in my mind’s eye. I may look ahead of upcoming responsibilities such as bills or projects I need to get done and try to get as many of them done beforehand. My alternative is to have on my calendar a block of time dedicated to those activities. I find that when I block out time to get a task done, the stress associated with it diminishes greatly. Mostly because my brain is able to accept it will get done and then not worry about it. It also means disconnecting, airplane mode can be your friend or if you’re too afraid of that because you have children at home and you want to make sure you’re available in an emergency, setting your phone to “Do not Disturb” where you can still get phone calls in an absolute emergency. All of these things help me set a boundary to keep the outside world out of my leisure activities.
By setting a boundary with the rest of the world, it’s much easier to cultivate mindfulness. What do I mean by mindfulness? I mean being fully present in the moment, being aware of the physical realm around you and your own body. One could call it being grounded in your current reality without being distracted by things in the past and the future. This allows you to turn the mundane into something extraordinary. Consider a trip to the farmer’s market. Apparently, this fairly ordinary thing here in Lancaster is a coveted activity by many a tourist and don’t get me started on the “farm to table experience” that people pay an arm and a leg for or as I call it Wednesday night’s dinner.
When I go shopping, I am on a mission. I get in and out as quickly as possible, I have a list, I know where the items are at and I don’t want to spend a single moment lingering. I am busy and I have things to do. A tourist on the other hand, linger. They pick up the fruit and smell it. They admire the textures and colors of the different vegetables. They see the display baskets as quaint, harkening back to the days when all our food was sold in little markets and stands such as this one. They admire the baked goods, mouths almost watering in anticipation. They strike up a conversation with the farmer behind the counter asking curious questions. For them, this is their bucket list experience. For me it’s grocery shopping. The same place, the same activity, two completely different experiences.
My farm to table dinner: tomato pie
What might I find if I scheduled some extra time in my busy schedule to meander through the aisles? What delights might my eyes see? What smells might make my own mouth water if only I would pay attention? If one can turn grocery shopping into a bucket list experience, what might happen if when one goes to an event like a festival, concert or museum one cultivates this same mindset? As for Wednesday night’s dinner, a trip to Root’s Farmers Market on Tuesday can yield a farm to table experience without the price tag. Buy direct from the farmer at their stand to make in your own kitchen.
If you take time to cultivate moments to be on vacation, even for an afternoon, you will find you are more refreshed and better equipped for the daily inconveniences and stresses of life. It is different than escaping into your phone which is merely a distraction and often fuels negative feelings about yourself. Unless you’ve carefully trained the instagram algorithm to only show you cat videos – which I have intentionally from day one – scrolling on social media will not help you feel better. Being mindful connects you back to your body, relaxes you and allows you to cultivate moments of joy and gratitude even for simple things like a bushel of tomatoes.
It isn’t about what you’re doing, but how you’re doing it. We can create amazing moments in the ordinary if we only open our eyes to see what a wonderful world we live in.
It can be quite easy to forget that wherever you live, someone dreams of visiting. Maybe not your particular town or neighborhood, but certainly places nearby. I once worked with a young woman whose dream was to move to South Dakota much to my bewilderment and last time I spoke with her, she was absolutely loving her decision. I used to dream of going to the west to see the Rocky Mountains or the west coast. Others apparently dream of coming to my part of the country to see the Amish.
I remember when I was seeking inspiration for my bucket list and I stumbled across one that included visiting Lancaster County. I knew growing up that I lived in a tourist destination and that people came here, but it wasn’t until I saw it on someone’s bucket list that it truly sunk in that the place I was constantly trying to escape from, other people wanted to come to and it was a big deal to do so.
I started exploring what made Lancaster so unique and special that made it a destination worthy of someone’s list. What I discovered is that it actually is a special place with its own subculture and quirks that make it so charming to outsiders. I began to appreciate what was in front of me, enjoying the rolling farmlands near my house, seeing beauty in the corn and wheat fields, savoring the seasonal changes and stopping to admire the farm animals frolicing in their pens. I learned the ubiquitous fruit stands and farmers markets scattered throughout the county were rare treats elsewhere. It’s home to America’s Coolest Small Town 2016, Lititz, and recently two of America’s best buffets, Shady Maple and Miller’s Smorgasbord.
Is it still Coolest Small Town in America? Maybe, maybe not – but it is pretty awesome.
In addition to all things Amish, we boast a rich art scene with its many art galleries and Lancaster’s School of the Arts. We’re home to the Fulton Theater as well as Sight & Sound and American Music Theater. We still preserve many of the folk arts here which can be found at many shops in the tourist areas. However, if you want a more hands-on experience, there are tons of workshops in the area through PA’s Artisans Guild which helps keep these crafts going.
We have street fairs throughout the fall as well as craft fairs in the spring and late summer. We host farms shows and even have tractor square dancing! Although, don’t ask me about it, I had no idea that was a thing until my early 30s.
The truth is, I am now grateful to be living here whereas before I was always looking to escape to far flung places instead of realizing what I had in my own backyard. It would be easy to dismiss my small town as boring and “uninteresting”, looking to the bigger cities or tropical islands of the caribbean. I can make every day moments bucket list worthy. Instead of being annoyed when I am driving and I come across a farmer helping his flock across the road, I take the time to savor what I’m seeing. It’s actually quite pastoral and idyllic to watch. I get excited when I hear the tell-tale clop of hooves on the road signaling the approach of a horse and buggy. I take time to stop at the stalls along the road rather than continuing to drive on.
Sheep! I love seeing the little lambs in the spring time.
My everyday life is another person’s vacation. Sure it’s easy when you’re on a vacation to enjoy the mundane as extraordinary. On a vacation you aren’t worried about the everyday stresses of life like getting to work on time, picking up the groceries, rushing home to the wife and kids, so lingering at a farmer’s market is a luxury the tourists have that I don’t have. When you’re on vacation, you aren’t quite as pressed for time, you can linger and savor what you’re experiencing. Your worries take a backseat to the present moment. Without the worry of time and everyday responsibilities, it’s easy to mistake a foreign place as better than our own homes. I think that’s why some people will regret moving to a place they loved to vacation in, because the reality of everyday life doesn’t match the rosy picture they had as a tourist. We can apply the opposite approach to our homes, realizing that we can recreate those feelings for ourselves at home with the right approach.
How can you cultivate hometown pride?
The first is to take the message of this post to heart. Somebody wants to come to your area and visit and that someone is willing to pay money, perhaps not an insignificant amount to do it. It’s so easy to miss the life that’s in front of us when we spend our lives looking ahead to the future, to excitement and adventure, scrolling on our phones while life passes us by. Your adventure is right out your front door!
The trick is to stop taking your surroundings for granted, to ground yourself in the moment and be mindful about your sensory experience. Instead of rushing into the farmer’s stand grabbing my groceries and leaving as quickly as possible. I will try and make time to pursue the produce, carefully examine the baked goods and give into temptation with the local honey. Last time, I even purchased a cool meadow mint tea in a glass bottle. For those of you not in the know, Lancaster has a unique meadow mint tea that the Amish make and it is a summer treat for the locals. Rather than drinking it down quickly, I slowly sipped it, letting it dance upon my tongue just like I used to do as a child. Did I still have to return back to my housework and garden? Yes, but for about ten minutes, I let all the stress melt into the background and took in my hometown with an outsider’s eyes.
Completed: Around 2017
Miles from home: 0
Cost: Free
Stables near my home, I pass it almost every week. I finally took the time to pull over an appreciate the sight.
It has been noted by my fellow therapists that I am exceptionally good at what is called “reframing” or the practice of looking at a seemingly negative circumstance and seeing the positives in it. Even something like a loss may be reframed in a positive light despite the pain of the loss.
A forest fire is painful, but necessary for the life cycle of the forest. Loss in life is the same. The part that burned will take years, even decades to recover and the marks of the fire do remain even centuries later, else we would not find it in the records of the forest. However, without the fire new growth could not happen and the forest would ultimately suffer.
Consider the loss of a relationship after a break up. This could be a very good thing. After all, we only have so much time to cultivate and grow our relationships with other people. On average, we can really only maintain about 200 relationships, if someone leaves, what a delightful opportunity this could be! You may spend your energy elsewhere, growing deeper more meaningful relationships with those you already spend time with or it leaves you open to a new one. It is not to devalue the relationship that you had or have, people are not cogwheels easily replaced. We should also not adopt an attitude of not valuing relationships at all, having deep and meaningful relationships are important to our mental health and well-being. It is to say that we should mourn the loss and allow ourselves the opportunity to grow.
The reframe is not about finding a silver lining or putting a false positive “spin” on the facts. It is about not dwelling and getting ourselves mired in the muck. We are like cameras shifting our focus from the foreground where all the action is to the background where the action is about to happen. So often you’ll be watching a movie with a battle scene and right before the reinforcements arrive, the scene shifts to a blurry hill and then just as the cavalry crests the hill, it comes sharply into frame. That’s the reframe! It’s about focusing on what is going well or what could go well rather than what is going wrong or about to go wrong.
The cynical reader will rightly be grumbling about now about how the calvary doesn’t always come and the loss of the relationship didn’t result in any positive outcomes. This is true dear reader! Life can often seem terribly unjust and it is one catastrophe after another! A silver lining person may say something trite about how you gained all this resilience and built all this character. Character is nice and all but it doesn’t keep a roof over my head or food in my belly – unless you’re an actor then I suppose that’s sort of the job.
My response to this is that it isn’t helpful to dwell on the negative. Absolutely, acknowledge it, process it, be emotionally honest about the problems and then shift your focus to a growth mindset. You should never try to invalidate or suppress your feelings because that leads to its own problems. It isn’t helpful to impose self-limiting beliefs when you’re already in a limiting situation. This isn’t about false hope. My reframes are often from a very pragmatic and practical mindset focusing on positive things and trying to build on those positive items because that is what works.
Reframing is always asking if there is another way to view this issue. It challenges the current thought process to consider if your view realistic, is it based on facts or feelings, what other theories could you come up with to explain this situation, is it as black and white as you may think it is and is your view out of habit or is there something there to support it? It’s about questioning the current narrative to one where you can take steps towards the things you want. When we reframe, we remove roadblocks that we don’t even realize we set up.
The earlier reframe about a loss relationship is a direct challenge to the idea that it was the ONLY quality relationship a person could have and that without that relationship the person would die alone. By looking at it as an opportunity to cultivate the current relationships or allow a new relationships the narrative shifts from one of hopelessness to one of hope, from one of being closed off to relationships to openness to them.
Reframing about opening ourselves up to different stories that allow us to shape more desirable endings. It empowers you to take those negative thoughts around a problem and transform them into potential solutions. We aren’t able to control very much in this crazy chaotic world that we live in, but we can control our thoughts and how to respond to all the craziness that happens. When we overly focus on the negative aspects of a given issue, we give those more power than they have a right to have. By working to reframe, we shift the power back to ourselves, and place ourselves in a position to pivot to the opportunities that the universe presents us with.
Slowly, slowly he worked stone against stone chiseling out a dimed sized impression. The sun marched its way across the sky as he worked each part of the snake. An hour’s work would only yield four and he had so many to go. Still in this sacred place of sun, earth, water and sky where the underworld opened to the deep below, he kept to his work. One piece among a dozen others each marking the important spiritual events of his people. As the sun kissed the rock on the fall equinox lined up perfectly with the head of the man’s snake, he smiled. The stories of these drawings the life, spirit and blood of his people, a testament to their presence which would continue to echo for a thousand years and more. A thousand years later, though lost to time after the conquest of the Susquehannocks and the colonization of the Europeans, they are not forgotten but remembered simply as the Safe Harbor tribe.
To stand on the Little Indian Rock and Big Indian Rock is to be transported back in time. On either side of the river the trees still stand tall and proud and to the west, not even the telephone lines can break the illusion that one is seeing the forest as it has been for a thousand years. Though truthfully the dam has raised the water levels significantly and the river has eroded the shore line. Still one can see why they felt this place was special. With the thickness of the forest the sky would have been often blocked out from view under the canopy of leaves. The wide river would have opened up to the glittering cosmos even as the deep crevasses beckoned to the underworld below. The jutting rock up out of the water would have been a place of earth within water. A place of earth, water, sky and the underworld colliding where the river goes from a soft, lazy merading flow to rushing current as it suddenly drops.
Big Indian Rock seemed to have been used primarily for social purposes with its markings for hunting, directions and even a helpful gps tag noting that it is a two day’s walk to the mouth of the river. There is evidence of camp fires perhaps for when they wished to view the night sky. Despite its size the petroglyphs are mainly concentrated in the cardinal directions. Little Indian Rock seems to have primarily been used for spiritual purposes having several Thunderbirds and snakes which line up with the spring and summer equinoxes. There are several which seem to depict the mystical Wendigo and even a Misiginebig.
One of the largest collections of petroglyphs east of the Mississippi. In this picture you can see a Thunderbird and the mysterious water serpant.
Graffiti dots the rest of the rock from the various visitors over the years primarily from the 1800’s until about the 1980’s when the rediscovery of the petroglyphs and their significance put a halt to any additional markings. Not through any sort of ordinance, but through education and the respect that education has bred through the local populace who still kayak and fish around the rocks. Despite its historical significance and being home to what is considered the greatest collections of petroglyphs east of the Mississippi there is no official protection for either Big or Little Indian Rock, no barriers preventing anyone from clamoring up the rocks to see them. The location of this ancient art is perhaps the best protection that can be offered: a wall of water separates it from the land on either side requiring a boat to gain access and most mischief makers are easily deterred by the strenuous physical exercise required to obtain access.
At first, one could easily miss the ancient markings as no more than strange impressions in the rock. It takes a sharp eye to spot them, they are most easily seen at sunrise and sunset when the angle of the light allows them to stand out in sharp contrast. Which is why on a late August evening, my sister and I set out with a small tour group in kayaks to the two islands. I was a little nervous having grown up hearing the dangers of the river especially around the dams which so easily can sweep a person down into their churning depths never to be recovered as their body remains trapped within. However, we were a safe distance from the dam and our guides delayed our departure twice due to unsafe river conditions, so I trusted them to take us out. We donned our life jackets and were given a quick overview of kayaking. My sister and I were the only two non-experienced kayakers as the other members of the tour had brought their own kayaks.
With little ceremony, we hauled our small vessels to the launch site and were quickly swept up in the quick current of the conestoga river rushing to meet the Susquehanna. At first, I paid little heed to my natural surroundings focusing primarily on learning how to steer and maneuver the kayak. There were a few run ins with others but we laughed it off with some pirate jokes. One of our guides rushed to the front of the group where the other stayed in the back to assist any stragglers. We were assured that if we needed a tow back they would assist to ensure we all made it back safely. Being a novice, I was not very good at reading the river and got swept up a few times in quick, churning currents which swirled my vessel around. After a few moments of panic and fruitless fighting, anxious that I would be swept away from the group and lost down river, I regained my footing (so to speak) and allowed myself to literally go with the flow. I was able to maneuver my kayak behind some rocks which broke up the flow long enough for me to jet across to rejoin the group of boats. Having conquered my first challenge, I felt much more confident in my ability to traverse the waterway, though I was certainly not ready for a solo venture.
Not being quite so nervous about the river, I was able to start to take in my surroundings and really enjoy the experience of the kayak gliding across the surface as my paddle dipped into water. Overhead birds circled and cried to one another. The trees on either side of the river blocked out signs of civilization, the illusion only broken by the distant sounds of traffic and the dam nearby. However, with the dam behind me it was easy to get lost in it. Occasionally, I would place my paddle across the kayak to simply float and breathe. I could see why so many people will spend their weekends out on the water leaving behind the sometimes suffocating atmosphere of the urban environment for the open expanse.
We first visited Big Indian Rock where we were shown the petroglyphs and given some education on the people who once made them. Though we no longer know their name they are thought to have been part of the Algonquin people who were known for their making of petroglyphs; other artifacts that have been found in the area also point to cultural similarities with other known Algonquins. We were given a brief overview of native beliefs when he showed us a thunderbird. The one on Big Indian Rock is a rarity for its depiction of feathers on the wings. It is uncertain what the significance of the feathers were. We then clamored down the rock back to our kayaks to go back up the river to Little Indian Rock. We were warned to stay away from the poison oak. Having had poison ivy earlier in the summer, I was quite motivated to stay away.
I was absolutely amazed by the incredible amount of petroglyphs concentrated on Little Indian Rock, a feast, a mythical serpent creature, snakes marking the passage of the sun, deer prints, footprints, bear paws, thunderbirds, animals that could be beavers or otters and more. It was such a plethora of art made meticulously over hundreds of hours. Each dime sized impression took over twenty minutes to make leaving little doubt that it was done with intention rather than something a few bored teens may have completed. It seemed that all too soon we had to leave this magical place, but the announcements coming from the dam warned us that it would soon be time to get off the river and the setting sun threatened us with coming darkness. As a novice kayaker I did not wish to embark on my first night adventure.
The trip back was considerably more effort than going down as the primary task was steering the kayak with the current. The trip back was against so it required us to hug the shore of the larger island in the middle for a significant portion where the current was slower. I made the mistake of trying to jut across too soon which left me fighting the current. I strained my muscles forcing them to conquer the river’s strength with my own and was quite grateful I had been working out using a sledgehammer to mimic kayaking throughout the summer. My sister required some assistance and was towed part way for the trip back. Primarily to help her navigate the river and not get caught as I was in the stronger currents which threatened to push me back. Despite a novice’s mistake, I was able to overcome and make it back on my own, my arms happily exhausted but not overdone.
The sun had not yet completed its journey to the underworld and we were happy to have made it back. We helped haul the kayaks back up the shore to the grass and thanked our guides for the lovely evening and assistance in getting back.
How Can You Kayak or See Petroglyphs?
This was definitely one of those “bang for your bucks” kind of trips in that it crossed two things off my list at the same time: petroglyphs and kayaking. I had been kayaking as a child, but it was only on a small lake at summer camp and I wanted a real experience. Renting a kayak would have been pretty easy, but given the dangers of the river nearby, I wasn’t comfortable exploring on my own. Just two weeks before, two people perished in the aftermath of the flooding from the hurricane, and others had to be rescued. The river can be quite dangerous under certain conditions and had it not been for the guide shouting some advice to get out of the churning current, I may have ended up many miles downriver. I recommend that while you can easily purchase or rent a kayak, you ensure you have completed any necessary licensing requirements for boating and you have done the necessary research to ensure you understand the dangers of any particular river.
As for the petroglyphs, they are found throughout the United States and even the world. They range in ages from 1,000 to 40,000. Some can be found still in the native surroundings like the petroglyphs on Big and Little Indian Rock whereas others have been removed and placed in museums or have had barriers built around them to protect them from harm. It really depends on what you consider “good enough”. For most people, I imagine seeing them in a museum is perfectly fine. For me, it was important to view a set in their original surroundings. For instance, it was really cool to see how close the sun aligned with the snake marking the fall solstice which was only a month away when this trip was untaken. There were footprints on the rocks and we stood close by them wondering what they marked and whether we were supposed to look out and see something important. Has anyone looked to see if they align with any star signs? All of these questions can only be asked and answered if they remain where they were untouched. Unfortunately, leaving them untouched also means risking them to the elements and potential vandalism.
I found out about these petroglyphs several years ago and was very disappointed to see that they were nearly inaccessible for someone without access to the water via boat or kayak. I had almost resigned myself to not being able to see them, until a post on Facebook caught my eye, Lancaster Uncharted was hosting kayaking tours to them. It was unfortunate that because of an earlier trip I took that year, I was unable to afford to go that summer, but I marked my calendar for the following spring when I was sure tickets would go on sale and sure enough was able to snag them in May for August of the same year. There are many sites dedicated to the location of various petroglyphs and tours to go see them. As always, I encourage you to decide what suits you. Remember it’s not about replicating my adventures as they are merely to inspire you with the possibilities that are out there! After all, what is available in my backyard may not be in yours, but that’s what makes these adventures so fun and unique! Go forth and explore dear reader one never knows when and where one might find a portal to 1,000 years in the past.
Completed: Aug 23, 2024
Cost: $115 per person
Miles from home: 20 (plus another 1/2 mile of kayaking down the river)
I have written earlier about the choices we make and that there is always a cost to be paid. I encourage you dear reader, not to be disheartened with this advice. It is not an admonishment to not do things. It is only a word of caution to walk through a given door with your eyes open and prepared for what the task ahead will ask of you.
Consider the high performing lawyer. She goes to school, gets into a prestigious practice, starts working very hard, makes partner, earns a lot of money, and works very long hours. Suddenly, one day she wakes up and realizes she has lost touch with her family, she have no real friends because the only people she interacts with are her fellow lawyers who are only out to compete with her, she has a beautiful apartment she never sees and decides to quit taking a much lower paying job so that she can actually have a life outside the office, maybe get married, and have a child.
If she chooses to get married, have a child and keep her career working 70 to 80 hours a week, who will raise that child? Certainly not her directly, but whatever hired help she has. What kind of relationship will she have with that child? It would be difficult to cultivate a close personal relationship with a child she barely sees, especially when she is probably missing out on all the important things to a child like dance recitals and birthday parties. This is not to judge someone who chooses this life, it’s just not the choice I would want to make. The good Lord knows I don’t want to be away from my cats that much, I imagine I will want to spend even more time with my own children. However, to each their own.
Now it is not always something as grand as career vs family when we make these choices. They can be small. We cannot be a master of all trades given our limited time and resources. Choosing to pursue one hobby will probably mean giving up another. If I choose to weight lift, I may not have time to learn how to paint. If I choose to play the violin, I probably won’t have time to learn to sew. If I spent all my time out of the house going places, I would not be able to have my cats. I am not saying that these are the only dichotomies. Rather a single yes to one thing closes the door on almost hundreds of others, but a choice must always be made. Even choosing not to choose is still a choice – often the worst option you can take as it almost always leads to less than optimal conditions.
A yes to learning German was a no to the other 7,000+ possible other languages. A yes to pursue psychology and social work, was a no to thousands of other career paths. The point of course is to consider what doors your “yes” is closing and what ones it is opening. As a goal oriented person, it can be easy to get “lost” in the pursuit of the goal. To blindly plough forward heedless of the destruction in your wake until you stand upon the mountain top to gaze upon a ruined domain.
How often did I find myself alienating my project partners blindly completing the project and “getting us the A” in school? I was often confused when they reacted badly to my process. We got it done didn’t we? Are you unhappy with our success? The goal was to get a good grade, mission accomplished. I did not know that there were other pieces of the project not on the rubric that I was supposed to learn like how to cooperate with people and cultivate working relationships. In my pursuit of the goal, I burned the relationships with my peers in school. In the pursuit of other goals, we may neglect relationships or lose sight of things that really matter.
What might we still be missing in the pursuit of our goals? That is not to say that we should not pursue those goals only to be cautious in the pursuit. When your life narrows down to a single goal or passion, be aware that chances are you are about to give up a lot of things. If you want to become a doctor, you will probably give up a lot of free time and sleep. Traveling the world may mean giving up secure roots and long term relationships. Becoming a star athlete will mean missing out on a lot of fun parties to train and compete. When picturing your best life what are the things that you most wish to preserve? What things do you want to accomplish and what do they require of you to do? Are there things you absolutely won’t give up? Are they worth holding onto even it means giving up on a dream?
Often what we feel will make us happy, money and fame leave us empty and unfulfilled. In chasing those dreams, we often damage the relationships that truly enrich us. That isn’t to say don’t pursue your dreams. There are plenty of worthy goals and dreams to pursue. Depending on your own internal value system what one person finds most important may not be the same for you. However, it’s important to reflect on what you really value before diving headlong in pursuit of a goal that doesn’t really align with who you are. It’s also important to not get too hung up on a singular path to achieve a goal. I wanted to help people live better lives. I’ve become a therapist, but if this blog takes off, maybe I’ll do this full time instead. Maybe, I’ll become a professor and teach. Maybe I’ll start a non-profit. I’m open to where God leads me to serve and I’ve been willing to forgo obtaining higher paying jobs to do so. If you feel the reward is worth the cost, by all means pay it, just reflect on what the costs may be before you agree to pay it.
hat could possibly be more romantic than an antique train through the summer countryside, the cornfields lush and green, cows grazing in their pastures and the blue skies dotted with clouds? Other than including a companion known for her poise and stimulating conversation? Why a little wine, of course! And what could be a more perfect place for such an adventure than the oldest continuous railroad in the United States?
Built in the mid 1800’s, the Strasburg Rail line faithfully provided transportation to the residents of Lancaster county to ensure they stayed connected to the larger railroads. However, with the rise of the automobile and significant changes in rail usage, it had been reduced to the poorest and smallest railroads in the country. In order to save this piece of history, a group of railroad enthusiasts purchased the railroad and began to offer tourist excursion trips. Within three years, ridership had grown from 9,00 a year to 125,000. In order to keep up with customer demand the directors turned to the steam engine. Today, Strasburg offers visitors the opportunity to climb aboard a fully restored steam locomotive in a beautifully restored wooden railcar and gaze out at the lovely Lancaster County countryside.
While not train enthusiasts per say, my sister and I are history buffs who enjoy experiencing how life once was. What was impressive was not only were the trains historical, the railroad itself from the ticket booth to the staff were also historical. It felt like stepping into a history book where we could leave the hustle of modern life to embrace a slower time. We had arrived early so we were able to not only stake out our seats but also to explore the railcar a little. We loved the details that went into every inch of the car from the light fixtures to the woodwork. It is difficult to imagine such care and craftsmanship being put into our railcars or airplanes today. The environment of the old-fashioned railcar was warm and welcoming rather than the cold industrial experience public transit currently offers. I immediately relaxed into the comfortable leather seats settling in for my 45 minute ride.
The steam locomotive, also called the Iron Horse, dominated the railways from the early 19th century through the middle of the 20th century. They were a vast improvement over the old system where horses were used to pull carts along rail tracks – hence their nickname. An early model was designed and constructed by John Fitch a steamboat pioneer in the United States in 1794, but it’s the United Kingdom that gets the credit for fully developing the idea and utilizing it for commercial use. They work by using steam to push the pistons of the engine up and down. That movement is converted into the back and forth motion of the wheels through a series of rods – piston rod to main rod, main rod to side rod, side rode to driving wheels. Through such a simple system the age of steam revolutionized the west.
The staff, like the staff at the ticket booth, were dressed as they would have been in the 1800’s when the train was operating to connect passengers to the larger rail systems. They punched our tickets to get us started and gave a brief overview of the train. Then we began the wine tasting being offered two different whites and reds. From the four wines, we would be able to select one to enjoy a full glass. Naturally, I chose one of the reds and my sister, surprisingly, enjoyed the same one – she usually prefers the whites.
As we snacked on the offering of cheese, crackers and grapes, we gazed out at the rolling hills. The rail car shook rhythmically and under the murmur of conversations, one could hear the characteristic pattern of the steam engine chugging along. The sun began to set, changing the sky from a near perfect blue to a paler almost lavender hue. We sipped on the full bodied red, toasting to life and adventure. We were able to catch sight of another steam engine on the tracks and even snap a few pictures of it in action as it passed us by.
How forty five minutes manages to stretch out into what could have easily felt like two hours of relaxation can only be explained by the time machine that was the Strasburg Railroad. It seemed as if no time had passed since we started our journey and yet it also felt as if we had just spent hours traversing the fields. We disembarked fairly content with our adventure and with hopes to enjoy the other offerings that the railroad has to offer in the future. Though with an ever growing list of adventures to try, it may be a while until we are able to step back into the history books.
How can you experience a historic train ride?
Luckily, there are many places where you can experience a ride on a historic steam locomotive, from the line of Whitepass & Yukon in Alaska to the State Train Museum in Georgia. Many places can be found https://www.trainchasers.com/steamdirectory.html though if you don’t see your state listed, it’s not an exhaustive list. It’s just a very good starting point for where you might a locomotive near you. Unfortunately, for those of you living in the middle of the country, most of our rail lines have disappeared, so if this interests you, consider checking out if there are any historical railways near your next travel destination. Remember when we do travel, we want to try and make the most of our travels and explore things we don’t typically have access to. You may also see if there are other historic modes of transportation available to you such as a steamboat ride or early automobile. Perhaps, you can enjoy a steam engine in a train museum. Remember, it isn’t about doing the exact thing but looking at what it symbolizes and what sort of experience you desire to have.
Additionally, I cannot promise that any of these will offer a wine and cheese pairing, but each of them offer a unique experience from Murder Mystery theaters to sight-seeing to simply moving from one place to the next. On a historic train ride in Panama, we were treated to seeing the country from coast to coast, sampling coffee and being entertained with songs.
Budget Bliss: Bucket List 