We’ve been talking a lot in our family about travel bucket lists, and it’s one thing that I have been working on with some of my children – talking about places that they would like to visit.
I have a travel bucket list as well, but I do not subscribe to the philosophy that these things (or any travel) should wait until you’re about to “kick the bucket”. Instead, it may be more accurate to think of these as travel IDEAS list. Miles to Memories had a great article on this (The terrible truth and dangers of a bucket list). We’ve been busy checking things off of my travel bucket list. So far in 2015, I’ve crossed off the following 9 things on my travel bucket list
- Take a ride on the London Underground – part of my recent trip to Europe
- See the Grand Canyon
- Visit 4 corners
– COMPLETED: March 4, 2015 - See Stonehenge
- See Old Faithful – COMPLETED: June 14, 2015
- See Mt. Rushmore – COMPLETED: June 17, 2015
- Visit the 11/11 11:11:11 themed Veterans Memorial in Anthem, Arizona
- Take an overnight train ride – COMPLETED: June 10, 2015
That’s not to mention making significant progress on my quest to visit all 3,143 counties and all 345 US Interstate highways. Between finishing up visiting every county in Utah, a Minnesota / Wisconsin / Manitoba / North Dakota / Ontario county trip, my eastern Virginia / Southern Maryland county trip, and my most recent Nevada / California / Arizona County trip, I have visited 210 counties in the United States this year (colored in the darker turquoise – nearly 7% of the country!!). This is my 2nd highest yearly total ever, only behind 2007’s total of 240.
Actually, it looks like I need to update my travel bucket list page!
My 11 year old son’s travel bucket list
Part of learning the tricks of the miles and points game has been an increased desire for more travel, and for teaching my kids the joys of travel, and helping them realize that the world is so much bigger than the small suburban town that we live in. So as I have met individually with my kids, one of the things that we’ve worked on is having them come up with their own travel bucket ideas list.
Today, we’ll start with my 11 year old son. Here’s his list
He decided to just come up with 10 items. In case you’re having trouble reading it, here it is
- 4 corners
- Nashville
- Salt Lake City
- New York City
- All the great lakes (he wasn’t with me when my older son and I visited all 5 Great Lakes in one day [VIDEO])
- Austin
- Oklahoma City
- Honolulu
- Lincon [sic] (Lincoln, Nebraska)
- St. Paul (Minnesota)
He is very interested in geography and maps, and he told me that he was wanting to visit lots of state capitals. Like I said in the post title – #9 (Lincoln, NE) was the one that cracked me up the most. I would wager that he would be one of very few people in the world that have Lincoln, Nebraska on a travel bucket list!! 🙂
I did tell him that technically, he has already been to Lincoln, as our California Zephyr Amtrak trip went through Lincoln, but he decided he wanted to visit it when he was actually AWAKE! (we went through in the middle of the night)
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
If you’re a college football fan, Lincoln might well be high on your list. Just don’t show up expecting to get last-minute tickets. The only show in town hasn’t failed to sell out in over 50 years. http://www.nfl.com/photoessays/0ap3000000498044
Take him to Austin Minnesota and not Texas, you can get St Paul and Austin in one day and hit the spam musuem
I think its a great list, I have some of the same cities on my hit list like Salt Lake City and Austin. Hope he enjoys the Great Lakes, would love to hear someday which was his favorite!
As someone living in Lincoln, that made my day! Even if you think it’s funny. Lincoln’s a nice place. Visit Morrill Hall to see the dinosaur bones, see Memorial stadium, and the Capitol is beautiful. Pop on up to Omaha to see even more stuff, including a world-class zoo.(And don’t forget to eat a Runza while you’re here!)
Thanks! I didn’t mean to overly denigrate the fine citizens of Lincoln – I am a firm believer that there is cool stuff to see / do just about anywhere!
Meh – tell that tween that Austin is overrated and that San Antonio should replace it on his list. After all, San Antonio has the Riverwalk, the Alamo, the only river in Texas with locks, a great children’s museum, and the Texas Institute of Cultures, among other things. Poor Austin doesn’t even rate a professional ice hockey team.
Ah but it doesn’t have the state capital 🙂
Both right. Austin is overrated, but the capitol is a joy. Especially the portrait of GW. The Alamo is a must and so is the Riverwalk boat tour at night. Around Christmas. Texas is a proud state and it shows. Unlike California the spoiled bastard who never realizes how great he has it.
I actually do want to visit San Antonio (I mean I want to visit every county in the US so of course Bexar County is on the list – but I also want to spend some time there seeing those things you mentioned among others
I’m a little disappointed that the Vendome didn’t make the list! 😀
It will be fun to see where your family overlaps or if you’ll need to take 10 trips for each family member’s list!
I think there’s some overlap – otherwise you’re right – we’re going to be busy!!
And actually Paris did make my daughter’s list (which I’ll post later) but I think she’ll be okay with not staying at the Vendome 🙂
I think this is a tell really sweet idea! We talk to our kids about where they want to go often but they are 3 and 4 so their list is usually: Disney, Grandma’s, The Beach, and Hawaii (all places they have been multiple times and loved).
I can’t wait until they add some new places to the list!
I love this! Letting kids set the destination always opens up new ideas that we would never have considered as adults. My kids have things they want to see, but we haven’t focused much on travel in particular with their bucket lists. But I think if I asked them to come up with 10 places they want to travel to in their lifetimes, it would get more interesting. So, you’ve inspired me. Over winter break I’m going to sit down with my girls and have them come up with 10 (including the destinations they already have on their lists).
Definitely let me know what they come up with!
Such a good idea! Helps your kids be more involved in the planned and be active participants in the travel and not just along for the ride. For my daughter’s 10th birthday this year we let her pick and plan a weekend trip. It was very amusing to see the places that made her list. Reveals a lot about what our kids are interested in and what’s important to them!
Very interesting! And I see why you are going to the reunion..lots of Missouri counties to visit!
Just spent thanksgiving in downtown OKC and had a great time. They have a river walk and are opening a whitewAter center late this spring. We rock climbed inside grain silos and went to an NBA game. Highly recommend!
Since I’m from Michigan, I totally get the whole Great Lakes thing. There’s something magical about them. But to visit in winter, spring, summer, or fall? There’s side trips to consider: hockey, tulip festival, hiking, and apple orchards. Good choice; he won’t be disappointed in a Great Lakes visit. It’d be completely interesting too if completely seen from the Canadian viewpoint as well!
Eight years ago I drove to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho to pick up my 12 year old son at a Boy Scout camp. On the way out of town he asked if we could stop at the golf course. This request intrigued me since we don’t play golf, and I didn’t know what was so special about this place. It took some doing to allow the gatekeeper to let us in for a look around–I’d never seen so much green grass in my life! But when we arrived at the Pro Shop at the edge of the lake, the reason became clear– a floating green with a taxi boat to shuttle golfers back and forth. That day I learned my son had a bucket list. Oh the things our kids teach us!