Real and Wild Dreams

It is a five to six hour drive to Yosemite from where we live, and so we got to talking about our goals, and the things we want to do someday. For the most part, I found out that my parents are content, they both have a few goals, but mostly are happy.

Maybe it is partly my age, but there are a lot of things that I think would be fun to do someday. Some of these are more realistic than others, especially for cost reasons, but all of them float around in my head from time to time.

In no particular order:

Realistic- I would like to go on a cruise, an Alaskan one sounds particularly good. If I like it, maybe we will keep doing cruises, and basically cover my less realistic goal in chunks.
Wildest Dreams- In idle times I fantasize about going on an around the world cruise, hopefully one that makes stops in Europe as well, though those are surprisingly hard to find. I doubt I will ever feel wealthy enough to put down enough money to buy a nice car on a vacation (even as long as a world cruise) but it is one of those things that makes my someday category.

Realistic-Learn how to play hockey, and actually enroll in the classes to do so.
Wildest Dreams- Have season tickets to the Ducks.  

Realistic- Learn how to operate a boat, maybe joining a boating club (for the price of membership, you can share boats with those club members who have them).
Wildest Dreams- Own our own boat.

Realistic- Submit a freelance article to a magazine.
Wildest Dreams- Write a book.

Realistic- Travel to interesting places on vacation for a safari, or to see ancient buildings or go on a missions trip.
Wildest Dreams- It might be interesting to go to another country and teach English there, and immerse myself in the culture for an extended time.

Realistic- Be on a school board someday.
Wildest Dreams- Take my various ideas from various readings and my own experience and make a charter school that combines all those thoughts and teaches that way.

Realistic- I would like to experience more restaurants that have earned two or three Michelin stars (very prestigious to earn those stars). To name a few in the United States:

• http://www.frenchlaundry.com/
• From the pictures on the website, the restaurant looks like someone's house. 
•  http://www.alinea-restaurant.com/index.html
• Lots of beautiful little courses
•  http://danielnyc.com/daniel.html
• http://www.therestaurantatmeadowood.com/
• This place sounds incredible! They don't even have menus, they have the server come out, ask you questions, and then they create a menu based on your preferences that night

Wildest Dreams- Plan vacations around eating at Michelin restaurants. 

Realistic- Have a ranch house somewhere in the mountains with our own crops and a bunch of rescued dogs.
Wildest Dreams- Design our own house, and run a CSA style business so it sustains us and we can go there early rather than waiting till retirement to make our ranch a reality.

I don't know how much of the above will actually happen, and honestly, I am fairly content with my life as it is. I would not be surprised if a number of the realistic goals happen, and none of the wildest dreams one do. In fact, I think that some of those wildest dreams goals are things that sound good, but if it actually came down to it, I wouldn't actually enjoy because of the sacrifices they come with. Like teaching in a foreign country- I am sure it would be an experience to remember, but I would miss my family, especially Blake unless he came along. I would miss my pets, and I am sure I would miss the creature comforts of home. Same with the cruise, I think I might be ready to go home way before I made it around the world, and would actually prefer seeing the world one chunk at a time.