45 by 45

Back when I was completing my list of 30 things to do by the time I turned 30, I wrote that I wanted to make a new list of 45 things to complete by the time I was 45. I picked 45 because that was the age my mom was when she died and at the time, it dawned on me that when my mom turned 30, she only had 15 years of life left. It made me wonder if she could have gone back, with that knowledge, what would she have wanted to accomplish in the time she had left? She shared many regrets with me during her last few months. With that in mind, I made a list of 45 items, a sort of “bucket” list if you will.

Well, that was almost 6 years ago and up until this summer, I had completed all of one item on the list (we visited Mayan ruins on our honeymoon). So, when I started planning the trip to Maine, I looked over the list to determine what other items I could accomplish while we were there. I had originally set out to accomplish 3 things, but when my husband gave me the limitations for our trip, I had to cut out one (rock climbing) because we wouldn’t have time to go to Bar Harbor.

The two main items I was able to complete were whale watching and white water rafting. I do have visiting all 50 states on the list and my husband insisted we drive to Maine, so I was able to add a few New England states on our way, but I still have the entire west coast I have yet to visit. I looked at whale watching directly out of Portland, but I wasn’t thrilled with the reviews of the main company I found on tripadvisor, so I branched out a bit and found a company in Boothbay Harbor. It was probably a good thing we drove as we would have needed to rent a car to complete the two items on my list.

Whale watching, with Cap’n Fish’s Whale Watch, was first and we lucked out in finding a juvenile humpback. I didn’t get the greatest of pictures as I think the poor creature was trying to take a nap while we chased it around the ocean, but I did see it breach once. It was a wonderful experience, being that close to such a large and majestic animal. We also were able to see other wildlife while in Maine, not just on this tour. We saw sunfish, seals, porpoises, and a bald eagle. For one afternoon, we booked a private charter with Fogg’s Boatworks and that was when we were treated to an entire colony of seals on a rock in the bay. We watched them for a long time, taking countless pictures, but then as we were about to leave, a bald eagle landed on the island. Suddenly all the birds and seals took flight and left the eagle with an island to himself. I told Eric that it was like seeing National Geographic in action!

After we had our fill of Portland, we drove into the mountains to a little town called The Forks. We stayed at a really nice camping resort called Northern Outdoors which had cabins, a campground, and rooms above the lodge (which Eric enjoyed because the lodge included a craft brewery. I think that was his favorite part of the trip: all the beer!). We were able to go hiking soon after we arrived to a waterfall called Moxie Falls and then we retired to our room at the lodge for some R&R before our white water rafting trip the next day.

The next morning, we were up and dressed bright and early to head out on the river. None of us had been white water rafting before, so we were all a little nervous. Surprisingly, the river water was much warmer than I was expecting, which was good because not long after we got underway, Eric and half of the family we were paired with took an unintentional swim! Honestly, I think the worst part for me was carrying the raft down really steep stairs to the place we would put in the river. Ever since our orange cat attempted murder on me last October by tripping me down our stairs, I’ve been more than a little apprehensive of them. The river itself wasn’t bad, maybe up to a category 4 of rapids, but not higher than that. We had a lot of fun and were able to purchase pictures of our experience. Both Eric and the kiddo went swimming in the river once we passed the worst of the rapids (intentionally this time). Even though the water was warmer than I expected, it still wasn’t quite the temperature I prefer swimming in (I haven’t enjoyed swimming in cooler water since my trips to the Bahamas and Mexico, that’s the temperature I prefer).

After checking off these two items from my list, I started really looking into what I wanted to accomplish with this list again. At this point, I’ve got a little over 9 years before I hit 45, so I’m definitely thinking I need to start pursuing items with a vengeance! Unfortunately, some of the items will have to wait because I can’t take kiddo out of the country until she’s 18 (it’s a long story and an even longer court battle, so it’s really just not worth it). Some of the items are easier (performing in community theatre, learning to sail, learning to ski, and learning to ice skate), but others will require some planning. I don’t expect to finish everything by the time I hit 45 as the list is more meant as things to aspire to than actual goals, but the more I items I complete, the less regrets I’m likely to have, right?