What’s on your summer bucket list?

On the cover of the recent Conde Nast magazine Traveler, there was this:

We Live for Summer

That caught my eye because it is so true.

Winter is finally over. The snow is gone. The temperatures are hot and delightfully dry; and in Utah, evenings are refreshingly cool and comfortable.

Oh, there are the occasional temperature extremes, some rain, and wind.

But, still, it’s summer, and it’s time to plan some fun.

Many years ago, we gathered with some friends and brainstormed what we wanted to do for the summer.

We made a list — outdoor concerts, road trips, theme parks, festivals, fairs, celebrations, and cookouts.

Oh, how I love a good list.

Then, we narrowed it down to the things we wanted to do most, and worked to make it all happen.

We bought tickets, divided up responsibilities, and wah-lah. We had a summer to live for.

We still look back and say, “Remember that one summer?”

We remember it as the summer we didn’t let slip away; the summer we actually did all the things we loved.

Since we’re newbies here in the Great State of Utah, Doug and I have made a very long summer bucket list; and we’re quite busy checking things off of it.

We’ve already experienced the exhilaration of riding in and driving a Razor RV with my niece and her dirt bike racing husband, who did his best to give us a “tame” or beginners mountain experience.

I may have looked like Pig Pen from the Peanuts cartoons, but boy, we had fun.

We checked off a local baseball game — not the Washington Nationals — but a summer baseball game nonetheless…

We attended an outdoor theater where the best seats in the house were lawn chairs that cost $14; and we smiled through an impressive, high-energy production of Hairspray.

We discovered a few new hiking trails with spectacular views.

Next up is to explore some hikes with waterfalls and wildflowers, eat at some new outdoor restaurants, attend a Shakespeare festival, volunteer at an arts festival, and, of course, squeeze in a trip to the Outer Banks, among other things.

 

Summer officially starts tomorrow, Wednesday, June 21.

So you better get planning if you want to have an unforgettable summer — you know, the one you always remember as “that one summer.”

It will be over before know it.

So, get busy.

Make a List.

Then, share it with me.

It might help us make our Summer 2017 bucket list a little longer and a lot more fun.

Happy summer.