My own final bucket list hope is for a trip with my husband back tymy hometown, West Chester, PA. I want to visit nearby Longwood Gardens in Kenneth Square, plus see the house we lived in in the early nineties in Unionville.
I’d like to swing by both of the houses in West Chester I grew up in. I also want to go through my old high school and see what’s changed and if anything’s still the same from when I graduated in 1977–then walk across the alley to my all-time favorite super-soupy pizza, Schiano’s Las Vegas Pizza!
I hope we are able to stay at a place called the Hotel Warner. It is a refurbishing of the building that used to hold the beautiful 1930’s Warner Theater, which even had a gigantic, elaborate stage from the days of vaudeville.
The lobby and fixtures were made of marble, and it had a balcony and a giant chandelier.
My dad used to be the projectionist there on weekends, and he often took me. I watched his procedure so often I was sure I could have run the projectors!
Anyway, the “old-fashioned, obsolete” building was carved up and essentially destroyed by a guy in the 70s who put concrete walls up in the center of the theater to attempt to turn it into a “multiplex!”
That venture failed, then a newspaper turned it into an office building; then in the nineties a historical architecture committee got wind of the monstrosity that had occurred, and they led attempts to salvage it.
So now it has been lovingly restored as the Hotel Warner—and it has retained the original marble staircase to the second floor (what used to be the balcony)!
I am very excited to see it. That theater was near and dear to my heart!
Oh, and if I can find one closer to home, I’d also like to go up on a hot air balloon ride before it gets too cold.
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The only two of these items that have official plans made are the Jersey and Boca trips.
If those pan out, I would consider myself more than fortunate!
They would really be quite enough. Just writing it out helped me to get things in perspective.
Just those two will be the trips of a lifetime.
My husband just would like to spend a lot of time hanging out with me in the mountains. We always relax there.
With the whole bucket list thing he really wanted to bless me, and he certainly has!
But I think my eyes are bigger than my stomach, so to speak.
I’ll just try to see my NY friend and get in the hometown trip in July, then be content with the two trips in August. After that, we’ll see.
Forgive my rambling—it must sound extremely spoiled.