Should Have Been Bucket List Items

For a little over a week I've been gone on vacation to a little lake near Whitefish, Montana.  While there I did many water sports that would have definitely been on my bucket list, but I started doing them far before my bucket list started.  I had a great week, so I thought I would write about these non bucket list items.

Non-Bucket List List

-Try kneeboarding

-Learn to wakeboard

-Drop a waterski 

-Do a 360 on the kneeboard

After I was born, I spent three out of my first five weeks at the lake. At a young age I first tried kneeboarded.  I was small enough that I could kneel on the board, and it would still float, before the boat started pulling.  I had very little control over what I was doing; I would stay directly behind the boat, too small to have the strength to get over the wake.  It was a start; a decade later I was confident, going back, and forth across the wake.  Learning to do the 360 took practice.  After a while I was able to easily spin the kneeboard all the way around, catching the handle behind my back as I made the circle.

After learning to kneeboard, waterskiing was next.  It was much harder then the kneeboard, but I remember being bribed with perigees (my favorite food at the time) to get in the water, and go for a waterski.  I started on the boom, which is shown in the photo above, it's a pole that goes out the side of the boat, making it easier for beginner to learn, because they are close, and can get instructions from the boat driver. Next I tried being pulled behind the boat.  Then after years of practice I tried dropping a ski, it was slightly scary, but after a few tries I did it.  To drop a ski you make one ski boot really loose, then when you feel comfortable you slip your foot out, and put it behind your foot that is still attached to the ski.  This is how you learn to slalom ski, eventually with more practice I will learn to get up on one ski; I should probably put that one on my bucket list.

I started wakeboarding when I was a little older; I think it's the hardest to begin learning.  It's my favorite of the water sports, because it reminds me of snowboarding; I did a lot of wakeboarding this past week.  I have mastered doing switch stands on both sides, and though it's easy to wipeout, it's totally worth it.  Though I didn't accomplish any bucket list items on my vacation, I had fun relaxing in Montana.