Quest

I recently read The Happiness of Pursuit: Finding the Quest That Will Bring Purpose to Your Life by Chris Guillebeau.  Since reading the book, I have been thinking about what my quest is or should be.   Quests can vary in scope, so I have been thinking both small and large scale. 

After reading the book, I realized that on a small scale, each Oscar season I participate in a quest to see all the Best Picture nominees.  Since the nominees are announced a few weeks before the show, it is a challenge to find the time to go and to find local movie theaters showing the nominees.  This year I saw seven of the eight nominees before Oscar night.  I finally saw the elusive eighth nominee this past weekend.  This year I shared the quest with my daughter, who until this year had been away at college during my yearly Oscar quest.  Towards the end of our quest, she mentioned how much she had enjoyed going to see movies she typically wouldn't have seen.  This is a quest will continue to repeat. 

Today I read the Washingtonian Magazine article "The Great Washington Bucket List:  50 Things Every Local Needs to Do" and am now looking through the list to see what I have already done, things that I can do over the spring and summer breaks, and the things I need to do more research on.  

There are 8 things that I have already done, that I would like to do again.  Some of these are things I did in my childhood.  It is time for a redo.  

Things I want to do again:

1. Kennedy Center

2. Ford's Theater

3. Library of Congress Main Reading Room

4. White House

5. Lincoln Memorial

6. Cherry Blossom at the Tidal Basin

7.  US Holocaust Memorial Museum 

8. Annapolis day trip

Things to do over the spring and summer break 

9. Blossom Kite Festival

10. Mount Vernon Trail

11. Washington Monument

12.  Fourth of July Fireworks on the Mall

13.  Arlington National Cemetery

14.  Air Force Memorial Concert

15.  Museums Around the Mall (check to see which ones I still need to go to) 

16.  National Arboreteum by Moonlight

17. National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial

18. Only-in-Washington food experiences

19. Rock Creek Park on Horseback 

20. George Washington's Mount Vernon by boat

Things to research and plan accordingly 

Items 21 through 50 requires more research before I can plan out my calendar. 

I am grateful that I discovered the article since it is providing a focus for my quest.  I can't wait to share my plans with my family to see who else wants to be a part of it.