30 travel goals before turning 30: part 2

This is part two of my trip down memory lane while I go through the 30 things travelers must do before they turn 30 list, found here at Huffington Post. Part one can be found here.

16. Have one iconic Americana experience.
Graceland!

17. Go to at least one of the Smithsonian museums.
From what I can remember, I've been to at least 8 of the Smithsonian museums. Since I went to college fairly close to DC, I have traipsed around quite a bit and found myself in many a museum. I highly recommend the Renwick Gallery if you're looking for more of an off the beaten track experience.

18. Summit a mountain.
As I mentioned in part one, I hiked to the top of Old Rag and documented my experience here.

19. Be able to name your top five dream vacations.
This one is kind of tough because there are so many place I'd like to go. If I had to choose 5, I'd go with:
The UK
Germany
Hawaii or somewhere else tropical
Iceland
India

20. See a game at a classic ballpark.
Okay, so I haven't been to a true classic ballpark, but I like to think I've been to a modern classic. My brother is a huge baseball fan and tries to visit new ballparks as often as he can. I met up with him and his now wife in Pittsburgh a few years ago where we saw a Pirates game at PNC Park during our trip.

Sure, it's not a classic, but does Wrigley, Yankee, or Fenway have a pierogi race?

Didn't think so. I'm giving myself 50% on this one, especially since I'm going to try to visit Fenway this spring when I'm in Boston.

21. Visit a neighbor to our north or south.
By "north or south," the article's author is referring to Canada or Mexico. I got to sneak over the Canadian border a few years ago when I was in upstate New York and visit Montreal for an afternoon. Old Montreal reminded me a lot of Europe and really made me miss being overseas. I would love to go back and explore for a longer amount of time since I'm sure I missed out on a lot of the sights.

22. Do something so adventurous that it requires a doctor's visit.
While I didn't have to actually go to the doctor, I was incredibly sore for days after climbing Old Rag and managed to get some blood trapped under one of my big toenails (which still hasn't completely grown out yet). I'm going to give myself another 50% on this one.

23. Save pennies to go somewhere you really want to go.
While I've done this in one form or another for all of my big trips, I distinctly remember putting every single extra dollar into my savings account for close to a year to pay for my first trip to Europe when I was 16 years old. Withdrawing all of that money was an unreal feeling.

24. Go to New York City.
Having grown up in eastern Pennsylvania, I was pretty close to NYC and got to visit a good handful of times as a teenager and young adult. I haven't been for quite awhile, so I'm well overdo for another visit.

25. Sleep under the stars.
I got to do just that on the camping trips I mentioned in part one.

26. Eat an iconic city meal.
Let's see, I've had a Philly cheesesteak (when I still ate meat), clam chowder in Boston, BBQ (baked beans) in Memphis, an "Indian taco" in Arizona. I also tend to drink the local beer or liquor of choice: hefeweizen in Austria; Pilsner Urquell, Becherovka, and Slivovitz in Prague; PBR in Richmond.

27. Know all of the best places to take tourists in your home city.
I think many of my friends and family can attest to having had a good time in Richmond, VA. I hope to hone my hosting chops in the Bay Area as well.

28. Have one close encounter with a wild animal.
The first thing that came to mind was when a squirrel walked across my foot while I was in college, but then I remembered that I almost hit a bear cub when I was driving on Skyline Drive after hiking Old Rag. I checked all around to make sure the mother bear wasn't about to pummel my car before proceeding. That counts, right?

29. Do something you can't tell your parents about.
Done and done ;-)

30. Know a dance well enough that you could keep up with the locals.
I get a big, fat no on this one. Dancing is something that I've only recently become mildly comfortable doing, so I've got a lot of catching up to do.


So, how'd I do overall? 22.5 out of 30. Not too bad! I still have about 3 years left to check off the remainder. Did this list evoke any travel memories for you?