There were a few things earlier this year that I accomplished in Albuquerque. All three of them were on the list with Albuquerque in mind as two of them could only really be completed there. The first was 28. Ride the Railrunner to Sante Fe. The Railrunner is a light rail train in New Mexico that only travels north and south and is a cheap and easy option to get between Albuquerque and Sante Fe ($6 round trip). This was a fun day trip that I spent with my friend Kristen from Denver. Speaking of Kristen, while she was there we completed an item that was also on her to do list, 80. Ride in a Hot Air Balloon. The ride was incredible, taking off around sunrise and getting a beautiful view of Albuquerque and the entire Rio Grande Valley. The other Albuquerque-specific item on the list was 29. Visit the Petroglyphs in Albuquerque. This is a National Park within Albuquerque. It sits up on the western side of the valley and contains many old petroglyphs (Native American art on rocks). Most of these rocks are lava rocks that were from the now extinct volcanoes that helped form the valley. This was enjoyed with Tiffany (also visiting from Denver) later in the year. A bit of a Denver trend, but more on that later.
This summer was full of adventures for me. I went hiking/camping in the Grand Canyon to Havasu Falls, went to Kansas City just to see a full day concert, went to Denver that same weekend for a concert and some mountain fun, traveled home for my youngest brother’s high school graduation and went back to Europe, visiting a collection of places new and old. Within all of that were some list items being completed.
While visiting New England in the summer for the graduation, I took a small trip up to Orange, Massachusetts in order to jump out of a plane. That’s right, 82. Go Skydiving was accomplished! It was an amazing experience shared with my equally daring friends Grant and Sarah. Exciting times indeed.
A couple of weeks later it was off to Europe. On Day 1 I met up with my brother Jon in Amsterdam. This officially knocked off 65. Visit another country with a family member (excluding Canada/Mexico). We spent the next few days exploring Amsterdam, Brussels and Zurich. On Day 4 we met up with Tiffany and we continued the trip, spending time in Interlaken (2 nights), Paris (3 nights) and Barcelona (3 nights). At the end of Barcelona Jon went home and Tiffany and I (along with her Aussie friend Brad) spent three nights in Dubrovnik and finally three nights in Prague. Other items completed on this trip included 72. Take jumping pictures in 5 places I’ve previously been to but didn’t jump at (Atomium and Eiffel Tower completing the five) and 31. Visit ten museums I’ve never been to (5 on this trip helped complete this).
Some other items completed in the past few months include 32. Renew my passport (needed it for a trip to Toronto), 39. Host a movie night at my place at least ten times (finished with a double-feature of The Toxic Avenger and Evil Dead 2), 44. Complete a 5K (Warrior Dash), 74. Get jumping pictures with five people who have never done a jumping picture (completed by jumping with Age at a waterfall in Idaho Springs and the biggest one of all 79. Live somewhere new.
If you haven’t been keeping up with my life (which unless you know me well could be tough since I haven’t written in a while), I have moved to Denver, Colorado in order to take on a new job. It was time to try something new, both in my career and in my place of residence. It has only been a couple months but so far it has been good. This is hopefully the start of a grand new chapter in my life. Ironically it’s also almost the end of my 88 in 888 challenge, but I will be creating a new one which will drive me through this exciting time. Before that starts however, I must finish the current one. I obviously won’t be completing all 88 items; I don’t even want to accomplish all of them anymore. There are however some I believe can still be completed before the end date. Below is a list of some potential ones:
17. Scan pictures from at least 5 old family photo albums and put them on discs
34. Read 5 books off the Time’s Top 100 List
63. Attempt to recover files on hard drive from old computer
67. Pay off school loan
76. Make a photobook of jumps
83. Enlarge and frame 10 pictures I’ve taken
85. Frame five of my pieces of art or posters and hang them up
87. Complete a new list to start when this one ends
If I can get through these, give or take a few, I should end up having completed around 50 goals with around 10 partially completed. That’s not too bad considering how ambitious some goals were and how interests change through the course of a couple years.