Do Until You Die

I don't want to give the impression that I am playing off a movie that looks as cheesy as a Wisconsin kurd bucket. But I think February is a great time to be thinking about what place(s) we want to see or thing(s) we want to do before another year passes.

Also, I don't really need help with my "Things To Do Before I Die" list. Nonetheless, I think it'd be cool to hear what some of you have on your lists - and what others might be planning on marking off this year.

I have never been to the great Northwest, but have always imagined I'd love it there...which sets me up for a two-fer this autumn: seeing southern Oregon/northern California AND climbing a titan Redwood. (Okay: so I'll be climbing an old growth Douglas fir tree - not a Redwood - get over it. It's still a 300-footer!)

There's something about these majestic millenia-old beauties that has grabbed me by the 'nads and won't let go. Not sure about the firs, but the titan Redwoods don't even have any branches until you get about 200 feet off the ground. They actually have to shoot fishing line over them with a high-powered bow, tie a climbing rope to the fishing line and then pull it back over.

The scientists who study them aren't sure just how old they become - their best guess is between 2,500 and 3,000 years old. The massive trunks of the fallen are often hollowed out - it's a survival mechanism that let's them live through forest fires. The botanists remain a little baffled about how they manage to stay alive...though they've learned a lot, there is still much they don't know about them. It's only been in the past 25-30 years that botanists have even gone exploring forest canopies.

One woman got lost in a "trunk cave" while climbing a live, still-standing tree. She went in to explore and was lost for about 20 minutes, unable to find her way out: that's how enormous these suckers are.

In the eco-adventure trip linked above, they spend a few hours teaching you (on the ground, thank Dog) how to use the ropes. Then one of them goes up with you (climbing at your side). They feed you when you get near the top, then strap you into a treeboat (hammock) and spend the night up there. (The hammocks are called "treeboats" because the whole tree sways around in the wind and people often have "sea legs" when they get back on terra firma.) The guides feed you breakfast and coffee, then you come back down.

Like I said (if you couldn't tell), I am juked-up about this.

Also, thanks to a friggin' awesome job (no gloat - just grateful), I'll be knocking off Africa this year, too. More about that later...

What has you enthused? What are you hoping to be able to scratch off your list this year - and come back (hopefully) enriched in some way?

enthusiasm = en theos = with god. Not that you need a trip or something out of the ordinary to get enthused - daily life offers plenty of opportunity for that, I hope.

I just believe you gotta be enthused about something or you're not really living.

Let's talk!