1. Try Surfing

Well I finally accomplished my number one item, the item that started the whole bucket list!  Surfing was amazing, a must have on every Bucket List.  This was another item I accomplished in Hawaii, and was probably the highlight of my trip.   I started with taking a two hour lesson with Big Kahuna Adventures Maui, there were two instructors for a group of ten of us, which worked perfectly fine.  They lesson provided each participant with a board, rash guard shirt, and special shoes.  The instructor start with teaching water safety, then how to paddle, and finally how to standup.  After about half an hour we went to the water. The lesson was quiet simple, we would take turns going over to an instructor, wait for a wave to come, and they would give the board a push, normally you would paddle yourself, but being inexperience it is hard to get the speed needed on my own.  After traveling in front of the wave for a few seconds I would pop up from my stomach onto my feet, and ride the wave till I got close to shore, then turn around, and paddle back out to the instructor.  I was extremely pleased with the company I went with, I would definitely recommend them.  After two hours of paddling my arms were extremely exhausted.

Later that week I went back to Big Kahuna Adventures Maui and rented a surfboard for a couple hours.  The waves weren't as good that day as the day of the lesson.  I'm not sure if it was because the lesson was in the morning, and I rented the surfboard in the afternoon, or if it was just an off day.  Despite the smaller frequency of waves I was able to start myself of paddling, and without any assistance I successfully surfed many waves.

120. Use My Underwater Camera Underwater

After my camera broke this summer I bought a new one.  I'm a little hard on electronics, so I decided to go with one that is shock proof, freeze proof, mud proof, and water proof; I can't possibly break this one.  I bought the Fujifilm FinePix XP20 digital camera from Costco, and I have been extremely happy with it, but after having it for six months I was sad to say I had not yet tried the underwater feature.  Hawaii posed the perfect opportunity to try out my camera underwater while snorkelling.

I took many pictures of coral, fish, and anything unique I found underwater.  If anyone were to travel somewhere tropical I would definitely recommend taking an underwater camera.  It was perfect for documenting my snorkel experience, or to use on the beach, because sand cannot get inside the seal.  It is my perfect camera, because I have no concerned it getting wrecked no matter what I'm doing.

78. Go Snorkelling In The Ocean

I've been snorkelling before, but never in the ocean.  While in Hawaii I went snorkelling at least six times (like every second day).  The water was amazing, it was clear, and the temperature wasn't too bad.  I personally love spending time in the water, and snorkelling is a nice relaxing activity.  Bellow is a photo of my sister, and I enjoying snorkelling together.

While in Hawaii we went on a tour on a boat out to the Molokini Crater, and to Turtle Arches (Aka Turtle Town).  There are many groups that do similar tours, the only differences are the number of people on the boat, what food is available, and if they stop at both destinations for snorkelling.  I went with the Pacific Whale Foundation Molokini Snorkel. The Staff was extremely nice, there was both breakfast and lunch on the boat, and even though there were over one hundred people on board, the boat didn't feel that crowded.  I went with the earliest tour, which started at 8am, I would highly recommend that because the water is calmer, and nicer for snorkelling.  Molokini Crater had beautiful, extremely clear ocean, and is a must see if your ever in Maui.  Turtle Town was alright it was cool to see a few gigantic green sea turtles (I'll talk more about them in 117. Swim With Sea Turtles). Turtle Town is not actually a specific place, it is wherever the turtles are.  It is easily accessible from land, so if I were to return I would possibly go on a tour that only goes to Molokini Crater, and do the Turtle Town by myself.  I was extremely happy with the tour I went on, my only complaint would be since it was through the Pacific Whale Foundation the environmental aspect was pushed a lot, and eventually got a little annoying.

I almost forgot, because of the time of year I went while driving to the crater we got to watch humpback whales, which was really cool.  While at Turtle Town I saw a shark!  It was shocking, and terrifying, though now I'm pretty sure it was a reef shark, which are not know for being aggressive.  I was off on my own looking for turtles when I say the shark swim by not more then three meters from me, lets just say my heart beat probably tripled in speed.

19. Go To Hawaii

So I have official been to Hawaii!  I went to Maui, one the many Hawaiian island, and stayed in an area of the island called South Kihei.  I had an absolutely amazing ten days, it was a great stress reliever from a busy school semester.  The island was beautiful with unique tropical plants, and warm beaches.  The ocean wasn't as warm as I had expected, though it was still very comfortable to swim in (for some reason I thought it would be warmer).  I stayed at a condo in the Castle Kamaole Sands Resort, I 100% recommend it, unless you spent in a much higher price range, I did not see a better resort.  It was easily in walking distance of the beach(which was a good beach for snorkelling and boogie boarding), the grounds were well taken care of, and it had a reasonably nice pool.  I am vague about specific things I did in Hawaii, because some are other bucket list items, in later posts I will go into more details.  Bellow is a photo of the view from my plane window as we circled, preparing to land in Hawaii.

Things I liked about Hawaii:

1.  Obviously the warm weather, it was in the high 20's for the whole trip.

2.  The beautiful ocean full of the unique ocean creatures.

3.  Unlike Caribbean Islands I've visited, Hawaii felt safer, not sure exactly why, possibly because it is an American state.  Anyway I felt perfectly comfortable walking down to the beach alone, with no fear of anything happening to me.

4.  The relaxed atmosphere.

99. Visit The Coliseum In Rome

I thought it was appropriate to follow the Trevi Fountain with another Roman bucket list item.  While in Rome I had to visit one of it's most famous landmarks, the Coliseum.  The gigantic, ancient structure finished construction in 80 AD, and for it's age it's in great condition.  It's has survived multiple earth quakes along with humans deconstruction.  The bellow photo shows the Coliseum from a short distance away, I took it from in the tour bus.

The second photo shows the Coliseum, from the inside.  It was unbelievable, I wondered while walking around the building, who built the incredible structure, and how?  I imagined the bull fights that used to happen in the centre, all the brave gladiators that risked their lives. The Coliseum was extremely interesting, and a must see if you find yourself in Rome.

P.S. Bucket List item 19 followed by item 1 will soon be complete!

92. Throw A Euro In The Trevi Fountain In Rome

First of all there are a couple 'rules' with the famous Trevi Fountain, this is how the two hundred and fifty year old fountain works:

     1.  The first euro promises you to return to Rome.
     2.  The second euro gives you a wish.
     3.  A third euro ensures a happy marriage.
     4.  Throw coins over your shoulder with your back to the fountain.

I went on a bus tour around Rome at night, which was an amazing opportunity.  Well on the tour we stopped in a couple locations, one being the Trevi Fountain.  When I reached in my pocket I found that I only had one euro.  I probably could have asked a friend for another one, but I didn't really need a wish, and marriage is decades away so I didn't put in the effort to find a couple more euros.  As I prepared to turn around and throw my single coin, I thought about how though I did enjoy Rome, it wasn't the highlight of my trip.  I concluded that I would prefer to explore a new location opposed to returning to Rome.  I turned back around, and saw a couple bird sitting on one of the carved statues. With little thought I pulled my arm back, and put all my strength into throwing my coin at the birds.  I did not see where my euro landed, sadly it didn't hit the birds, but I am unsure whether it fell into the fountain.  If I ever find myself back in Rome I'll know the true fait of my coin.

26. Go To The Grand Canyon

Technically this post should be go to the Grand Canyon again, but since the first time I went to the Grand Canyon I was five and have no memory of it, I thought it would be ok to put it on my bucket list.  The view was amazing, a one of a kind destination.  I went in the middle of the summer, which made it extremely hot.  Without large amounts of sunscreen and water the hikes I went on would have been unbearable.  I believe if I ever went again it would be better to go there in the late spring or early fall.

While in Utah I also went to two other national parks, Zion National Park and Arches National Park. Zion was cool, I found it smaller then the Grand Canyon, but the overall look was the same.  Opposed to being on the rim of the canyon looking down, I got to take a tour on a bus around the base.  It was not as great as the Grand Canyon, though it was nice to see a second perspective.  Arches is different the other two, as it sounds it features arches formed in rocks that have been created by the wind erosion.  At this natural park I was able to drive through and see some of the arches from the road, and then park and hike to the famous arches that I wanted to see.  My favorite arch was the Landscape Arch, which holds the world record for the longest natural arch at 290 ft.  The Grand Canyon it the most famous of the three natural parks, but I believe each park is a unique must see.

84. Go Camping

When I say camping I don't mean going off in a motorhome to an RV park where there is power, electricity and flushable toilets.  To me true camping means going out west with a tent to a place where there's no cellphone service, no showers and no bathrooms.  With my own family every summer I go down to a lake in Montana to go wake boarding, but that's nothing like the camping trip I went on in my Wildlife class.  The photo bellow shows the girls tent, which we set up with some help from my teacher.

My class of nineteen students and three teacher chaperones headed out to the Bighorn Camp Ground in Yaha Tinda, Alberta.  It was late spring, and we spent the weekend out west.  It was a fun time consisting campfires and hiking.  There were a few firsts on are trip opposed to other years; two young grizzly bears came right into the camp ground.  My teacher had to use the bear banger gun to scare them off.  Another first was one of the students cut himself and had to be taken to the hospital, we were all whittling scrap pieces of wood and his knife slipped and he cut his wrist.  Late that night he returned from the hospital and stayed for the rest of the trip.  It rained for a large portion of the first night and the second day.  In the girls tent we set up the plastic floor tarp incorrectly, so we woke up swimming in water.  Our tent was cold and wet, while the three guys tents were warm and dry.  Below is a photo of the Bighorn Falls which is a beautiful set of falls a five five minute hike from the campground.  My class hiked up past the falls and continued out to the mountains, we saw many bear tracks along the way.  

The last day was hiked out to a small isolated lake where some of us went swimming.  It was spring and the water was extremely cold.   I had a fun, eventful weekend that I wouldn't normally get to experience.

7. Try Gelato

So gelato is kind of like ice cream, but like one hundred times better. It is an Italian frozen dessert that I new I would have to try when I went to Italy.  It is impossible to describe what makes gelato special, but be informed as soon as you try it, ice cream is never the same.  I had gelato a couple times during my trip, the coconut flavored was my favorite.  I have tried mutiple gelato imitators in North America, don't be fooled they are nowhere near as good as true Italian Gelato.

The first picture is of Assisi, a town I visited in Italy for a day last spring.  This is where I had gelato for the second time.  One of the cool things about Assisi opposed to larger cities such as Florence, is that Assisi was far less busy and less touristy.  The relaxed atmosphere made it one of the highlights of my trip.  The second picture is of the second place I had gelato which was in Rome, just like in Assisi the gelato was amazing.  If I ever go back to Italy I will stuff my face full of gelato, this frozen desserts is part of what makes Italy special.

52. Compete In A Pie Eating Contest

It surprises me that I would ever decide to compete in any type of food eating contest, but after watching a pie eating contest last year I decided to put it on my bucket list.  A year later I signed up with a friend of mine in team pie eating.  In the contest one person stand behind the other, putting their arms under the others arm pits and feeds the pie to them.  Sadly I was the pie eater not the feeder!

It was a coconut cream pie covered in whipped cream, one of my favorites. The first person to finish two teams to finish their pies won.  I here someone yell, "Go" and my friend started to shrove pie into my mouth. Soon I had to chew and she continued to shove pie all over my face.  Long story short, we were no where close to winning.  I didn't even finish the pie, but left feeling extremely full.  I will never again participate in an sort of food eating contest, this is definitely something I only had to experience once.  I'm not sure if I will ever want to eat a pie again.