The second week of summer was wrapping up, and I had officially done nothing with my time except for sleep in past noon, binge watch Netflix, and work a couple hours here and there when my boss decided to schedule me. I determined that it was time for me to do something with my life… or at least the next three months of my life before school becomes my full-time job again in September.  

In the past, I never had time to hang out with friends during the summer because I was road-tripping across the country with my family to visit various relatives. This year, my parents decided to take a break from traveling, leaving me to entertain myself, a challenge that’s proved harder than anticipated. I got to thinking about all the places near home I had yet to visit and all the amazing activities I missed out on because of countless summer days spent traveling. Then I had the totally cliche and unbelievably basic idea of creating a summer bucket list. However, my bucket list is special. It is special because each task requires myself to get out of bed, socialize with my friends and family by taking at least one person with me on each adventure, and blogging about each experience to YOU, my readers.  

While realistically I may not get to do everything on my summer bucket list, I hope to accomplish as many as possible. My goal is to go out into the world, make new memories, and create a guide to the perfect midwestern vacation by exploring the entirety of what staycations have to offer.