Do 43 things i've never done before!

During my 10 days in L.A., I did a ton of stuff…
42. Do Hollywood. I had to be a tourist: see the handprints at Graumann’s Chinese Theatre. Visit all the dead celebs at the Hollywood Forever cemetery. Tried to figure out how to get to the Hollywood sign. (I think you have to hike there.)
43. Visit the Griffith Observatory. This is high up in the hills. It’s been recently renovated. Fantastic views of the city. Fun planetarium show. J. and I loved it!
43+ Tons of other stuff. Traveled all over the area: Malibu, Santa Monica, Venice Beach. Went to LACMA, Walt Disney Hall, played 4 concerts there….

I loved this goal. It helped me get out and DO stuff. And also help me realize how much stuff I do and that I’m not wasting my life. I hope everyone else who’s adopted this goal has a fabulous time!
~g

41. Visit the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum: Udvar-Hazy Center.
This is the new building out by Dulles airport. I’d been to the one on the mall a few times, but they opened this big airplane hangar since the very nature of planes limits the display capabilities of the downtown museum.
It was pretty amazing! Some of the most famous planes are still downtown (Spirit of St. Louis etc.) but they had tons of interesting things. I was very moved seeing the Enola Gay.
The impetus for this visit was that I was hosting my nephew Noah’s Flat Stanley, and I thought 6-year-olds would like seeing planes and space ships etc. In the picture you can see Stanley with a WW2 fighter plane.

40. Go to “The MET: Live in HD”. I have been wanting to do this for ages! They broadcast the operas live from the MET, but the times are often conflicting with my performances. But last Saturday, it worked out for me to go see Tosca. It was great! Better almost than going in person because you can see things up close, and of course the sound is excellent with all those speakers (and it’s way cheaper!!) During the intermissions (which unfortunately were WAY long: 30+’) they showed the backstage activity and did interviews with the singers. I felt for poor Karita Mattila, though, having to come off right after her big aria and do an interview! It makes it like a sporting event: “How did you feel about that?” etc. I guess anything that brings opera (and all classical music) up close and personal and gets people interested is probably a good thing. It was showing in two theatres and it was packed!
I highly recommend it! http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/broadcast/hd_events_current.aspx

37. Visit the Maryland State Fair. This is quite different than the fair I went to in TX growing up! J. and I had a great time looking at all the exhibits, especially the animals. We steered clear of the rides….We did see one guy about our age about to lose it getting off of one, and decided to pass.
38. Bet on the horsies. This being Maryland, there’s a betting track on the grounds of the fair. (All the time actually.) Since I had no idea what I was doing, I lost..!
39. Milk a cow. They showed you the proper technique. Wow, that must take forever!

36. Visit the Newseum. This is a museum in DC all about, well, the news. Meh. J. wanted to go, so I accompanied him. Surprise! I LOVED it! My favorite part was the Pulitzer-Prize-Winning Photo gallery with all the winners displayed with stories, and films interviewing the photographers. Very moving. There is 600 years worth of (sometimes very rare) newspapers on display. And theatres for documentaries and sports reporting (although I don’t often watch sports except the Olympics, I LOVE inspiring sports stories!). Overall, it was fascinating and I could have spent twice as much time as we had to spend (3 hours.)

35. Take a cooking class. I’ve been having pretty good luck with recipes, but wanted to take a class about fish because it still eludes me. So I signed up for a Mediterranean seafood class. There’s a local restaurant, Donna’s, and actually Donna herself was teaching and had just returned from a trip to Italy and Croatia. The main course was salt-encrusted sea bass (cooked in foil). Yum! There was also wine :) See below for other courses :-/
35a. Eat Octopus. Urf. So you’ll notice this isn’t on my Life List. I think octopi are really cool and cute and also I hate eating things with tentacles. (I can barely even do fried calimari). But the preparation looked really good so I had a few bites just so I can in good conscience NEVER have to eat it again :(
35b. Eat Mussels. Now these are much more doable (especially seeing as they don’t have a face.) Tasty actually.

32. Go to a family reunion. This is the first time we’ve ever tried to get together en masse outside of holidays. It was SO much better! No expectations…no fighting! I’m the youngest of 8 kids, so even all of us with spouses and kids (12 so far) is a crowd. We went to a State Park in the Ozarks, so everyone had their choice of camping, cabins, or lodge. I think that was part of the secret of why it went so well. Space! My family is full of professional musicians, so of course there was music to disturb all the other campers. The only rule was you weren’t allowed to play your main instrument. That’s my dad above with his cajun accordion.
33. Eat Smores. Slightly unbelievable I’ve never done this considering how many camping trips I went on as a kid. But we were never allowed to have a fire. And meh…I didn’t love them. (Also unbelievable!)
34. Visit a Presidential Library. On the way back to Little Rock for our flight, J. and I visited the Bill Clinton Library. Very fascinating.

It’s amazing I live so close, but haven’t really explored Philadelphia. So J. and I hopped up there for our anniversary weekend.
27. Visit the Philadelphia Museum of Art. This is one of the last major American art museums that I hadn’t visited. Great collection of course, but I was most blown away by the entire buildings they had reconstructed inside, like a 12th century French abbey (though I had to wonder how they came by it…) And naturally, J. and I ran up the Rocky steps like any good tourists :)
28. Visit the Eastern State Penitentiary. This is the Coolest. Place. Ever. (pic above) I love ruined places, I love old prisons, and I love things covered in rust and flaking paint. What an incredible place! I was not expecting it to be such a mess, but that made it cooler!
29. Go to Independence Hall. Amazing I had never been here since it’s right up the road. Hordes of tourists but it had to be done.
30. Dine at the Waterworks Restaurant. This was our anniversary dinner at an amazing restaurant in the renovated Waterworks in Philly. Sat out on the patio overlooking the river and FANTASTIC food. Yumm!!!
31. Visit the Mutter Museum. This place is always on the list of America’s 10 Nuttiest Museums. It’s at the College of Physicians and is full of medical oddities like two-headed fetuses and the world’s largest colon. Way cool if you like that sort of thing!

23. Go to SilverDocs. Which is a documentary film festival held at the AFI Silver in Silver Spring, MD. Amazing: I love documentaries!
24. Make mojitos. Due to very enthusiastic mint, I pulled a bunch up and J. and I stayed in concocting them. Despite a number of internet recipes…they never tasted very good :(
25. Go to the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. I have never made it down for this before. Every year they feature 3 different countries or areas. My favorite this year was Wales. There were booths about weaving, music, ironwork, language, food etc etc. Quite extensive! Really great to be able to get down there on a weekday, too.
26. Go see a production of the Chesapeake Theater Company. J. and I went tonight to see Twelfth Night. They do a Shakespeare in the Ruins thing at this amazing site…Turns out the director was a woman from my Pilates class!?

20. Volunteer at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary.
See: http://www.43things.com/entries/view/4004036
21. Visit Bryce Canyon. Amazing! I had seen photos but it is truly spectacular! At Yovimba Point, I had the place completely to myself, and got to eat my lunch in complete and utter silence. Amazing.
22. Hike in Zion National Park. I visited two different days. The first was miserable and rainy, though that did make for some awesome waterfalls. The next day was perfection: blue skies and 65 degrees…much better for taking pictures!