The Importance of Making a Local Bucket List

Wanderlust is one of the most pleasing infections an adventurous spirit can catch. Once you’ve earned that first passport stamp, you want another one – and five more after that. Suddenly, ever place you’ve ever dreamed of visiting is a plane ride away, and there are a thousand more bullet points on your bucket list.

But as we get swept away by the exotic glamor of international travel, we often forget how enticing our own backyards can be. Have you ever met a tourist who knows more about your city than you do? I’ll put one slightly guilty hand up.

If not for an elementary school field trip, I’m not sure I ever would have made it to Alcatraz. I barely explored Northern California’s wine country, just a few hours away, until recent years. And my first glimpse at Big Sur occurred on a very long and scenic Pacific Coast drive back to L.A when I was living there.

Big Sur is actually a prime example of something Californians often take for granted. During my recent stay at Treebones Resort, I chatted with the staff and found that it’s a huge magnet for international travelers. People from around the world book their yurts and tree houses up to 11 months in advance.

But in most circles of Bay Area natives I know, few have ever taken even a day trip. Personally, I wouldn’t stay there for an entire week, but I definitely think it’s a once-in-a-lifetime destination. Between midnight hot spring sessions at Esalen, crystal clear stargazing opportunities and that surreal turquoise Pacific water, it’s a true marvel.

It’s easy to take things for granted precisely because they’re so accessible to us, but that doesn’t mean they’re any less valuable than something you had to fly 24 hours to see. Talking to tourists and seeing how far they’ve come to take a peek at the Golden Gate Bridge always seems like a breath of fresh air to me.

My father grew up in Brooklyn and mentioned to me that he’s never experienced New York City “for the first” time the way a tourist does. People often go all-out when they head to a travel magnet like Manhattan for the first time – bus tours, trendy restaurants, Broadway tickets and yes, yes, yes, the souvenirs – but seeing things in fragments is just as fine a way to explore. So long as you get off your couch and do explore from time to time.

So I challenge you today to pick up one of those tourism books about your city, state or country and pick out 5 things you want to do this year. It may surprise you how much fun you can have on a brief day trip! If anything, it’ll keep a tourist from one-upping you with their Lonely Planet knowledge in the future.

Beyond that, I think it’s great to have a local, national and international bucket list. Here are some of mine.

Local
Vichy Springs, Ukiah, CA
Lost Coast Brewery, Eureka, CA
Russian River Brewing Company, Santa Rosa, CA
Lake Tahoe, CA

National
Austin, TX
Nashville, TN
Maui, HI
Chicago, IL
Milwaukee, WI
Savannah, GA
Charleston, SC
The Statue of Liberty Museum in NYC
Denali State Park, Alaska

International
Lake Louise, Canada
Dublin, Ireland
Lake Como, Italy
Copenhagen, Denmark
Liverpool, England
Shanghai, China
Capetown, South Africa
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
South of France
Costa Rica
Switzerland
Austria
Croatia
Iceland

Do you have a local bucket list? Tell me some of you recent favorite finds!