Just like my 30 before 30 bucket list, Pearson and I have been creating (and sharing) a date night bucket list every year since 2016! You can see how we did on all those bucket lists at the links below.
Anyway, I highly recommend making a date night (or adventure) bucket list every year and trying to get to everything on your list. My friend Amberly of A Prioritized Marriage wrote a post a few years ago all about why and how to create a date night bucket list.
Dating your spouse should always be a priority but this year, Pearson and I decided to make our family motto “Less Stuff, More Adventure.” So with that in mind, we created the below list and actually made plans and scheduled a few of these already. It’s going to be a good year!
Table of Contents
ONE || Disney World
We’re going with Pearson’s entire family in just about a week! This will certainly be a different trip from what we did last year, but it will still be a blast!
UPDATE: Related: 5 Tips For The Best Disney Experience With A BIG Group
TWO || Go to a Hops Game
The Hillsboro Hops are a minor league baseball team that play practically in our backyard. I love baseball and I especially going to minor league games because they’re usually cheaper and in a suburb. It’s really a wonder we haven’t been to a Hops game yet.
THREE || Visit Mount Hood and Hike around Trillium Lake
It’a also a wonder we haven’t been to Mount Hood yet. We can see the mountain from Hillsboro on clear days and I cannot wait to see it up close soon!
FOUR || Visit Multnomah Falls (for real this time)
We tried to visit the falls on Memorial Day weekend last year. Yeah that wasn’t really smart. We didn’t even get out of the car. We saw all the people and just kept on driving.
FIVE || Snowshoe in the Cascades
I’m super excited for this one. Pearson has been wanting to do this for a while but I have always been weary of it because I don’t do well in the cold (though that changed a lot since living in Ohio for 5.5 years). But some friends of ours just did this over the holidays and couldn’t stop talking about how much they LOVED it so I’m more excited to do it now.
SIX || Visit Bend again
We went to Bend, Oregon for our anniversary last year and had a blast! We weren’t there long enough to experience everything we wanted (read: kayaking on the Deschutes River). We’re planning to go back this year.
SEVEN || Attend an OMSI After Dark Event
While OMSI (the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry) has a lot of great stuff for kids, they do offer some events for the 21 and over crowd. We loved the one After Dark Event we attended at COSI (the Center of Science and Industry in Columbus, Ohio) because there weren’t children running around and getting in the way.
EIGHT || Tour the Tillamook Cheese Factory
Maybe touring a cheese factory sounds weird to you but apparently it’s the thing to do around here. They were renovating the visitor’s center when we first moved here so now we’re super excited to go check it out!
NINE || Have lunch at a food truck pod in downtown Portland
I’m sure you probably know how much Pearson and I love food trucks and there are a bunch of awesome food truck pods down town.
TEN || Get all the stamps in our McMenamins Passports
McMenamins is a local entertainment chain that takes super cool old building and turns them into restaurants, pubs, breweries, movie theaters and more! They started in Portland and have extended into other cities in Oregon as well as Washington. They have these passports you can get and you have to visit them all and get your passport stamped with lots of fun prized along the way. We got our passports in Bend on our anniversary and we’re hoping to get them all before our next anniversary but that’s not going to happen so we’re extending it to the end of 2019!
Have you ever made a Date Night Bucket List? What dates would be on yours for this year?
Thanks for reading.
What a good idea! 38 years into my marriage – hope it’s not too late to start!
It’s NEVER too late to start!
I love this idea! I never thought about couples making date bucket list. But this is really cool. thank you so much for sharing this part of your marriage.
Thank you! It’s made a big difference!
Well that sounds downright fun! My cousin and her family just came back from Disneyworld. I’ve never gone, used to wish to go, but I figured now that I am… ungh… past 30… I figured I would be too old with my erm… even older husband 😛 Needless to say after seeing her photos I revisited that wish again. Maybe one day before I’m too much older LOL. That being said, I think I would love to (if I weren’t deathly afraid of flying) visit China and Israel. Closer to home I’d like to go to the Lavender Fields here in Quebec, and mini putt glow in the dark. I think those are slightly more realistic for me, but it doesn’t hurt to dream 😉
Have fun!!
All of those travels sound lovely! I do highly recommend visiting Disney World as an adult. My husband and I went last January as well. In fact, here is a blog post I wrote all about doing Disney World as adults https://www.enduringallthings.com/2018/03/15-tips-for-best-disney-experience.html
My boyfriend and I are “back in the saddle,” dating after divorce. In the interest of purity, we sometimes have to get creative about dates, when it is easier (and more temptation-laden) to hang out at my home or his. One of the best investments we made was purchasing a state park pass. We live in a gorgeous state, Colorado, and have traveled near and far in search of interesting hiking trails and wildlife, especially birds. Our favorite spot is Barr Lake, just north of Denver.
A state park pass would be a great investment!!
Oooo we love Bend! We stayed in Sisters for a long weekend right after my husband’s first deployment and it was magical. Also, I love the idea of creating a yearly date night bucket list—AND I love that you keep it so small!! Then the priorities really stand out, and it’s fun instead of stressful.
Bend is amazing! And thanks!