When temperatures soar it is tempting to crank up the A/C and sit out the rest of the summer. Don’t do it! Take advantage of long days and warm weather to do something fun, complete a needful task, realize a longtime dream and still have time for plenty of ice cream. Yep, we’re talking about a summer bucket list. No clue how to fill your bucket? We’ll get you started with five inspiring ideas. To borrow a line from that famous summer blockbuster movie Jaws, you’re gonna need a bigger bucket.
1. Life’s a Beach
How long has it been since you wiggled your toes in the sand or searched for sea shells along the shoreline? According to the U.S. Census, America has 12,383 miles of coastline (a lot more if you include rivers, lakes and US territories). That’s a lot of beaches you could be combing, and some of the best are in places where Taylor Morrison builds new homes: Southern California, Texas, Florida and the Carolinas. The best thing about a bucket list full of beaches to explore is that you don’t even need to go in the water. You can sail, raft, fish, work on your tan, eat fresh seafood or discover the fun of an old-fashioned boardwalk like Kemah near Mar Bella in League City, Texas, one of our many new home communities in and around Houston. Here are some bucket-list worthy beaches to add to your list.
California
From San Diego to Orange and Los Angeles Counties to San Francisco there are miles of Pacific Ocean beaches like those near The Cove at Pacifica San Juan in San Juan Capistrano. But don’t overlook the allure of Northern California’s bays, lakes and rivers. Folsom Ranch Azure, a Sacramento-area community, puts you close to 18,000-acre Folsom Lake, a local mecca for boating, jet skiing and picnics.
Arizona
Arizona might not be top-of-mind for beaches, but there are actually six lakes around Phoenix. One of the biggest, Lake Pleasant, is close to new Sonoran Gate Discovery Collection.
Colorado
The Boulder Reservoir is a popular spot for swimming and boating, and not too far from Skyestone Villas in Broomfield, CO.
For more ideas, read our Best Beaches Guides to the West, Central and Eastern U.S. Check out our Beach Day checklist, too.
2. Park It Here
Our national park system, started by President Theodore Roosevelt, is one of America’s crown jewels. Everybody knows about the big ones: Yellowstone, Yosemite and the Grand Canyon, to name a few. But there are 58 national parks in the U.S., and some of the smaller, less well known offer the advantage of being a lot less crowded. Another good bet is the amazing selection of state parks. They’re often ideal for daytrips. Deer Grove for example, offers paved trails for biking and walking, forest preserves and picnic spots, about a mile north of Chicago and even closer to our new homes in Palatine, as well as Tallgrass in Lake Barrington. Wherever your summer bucket list of state and national park excursion take you, go well prepared with our Camping Vacation Packing Guide.
3. Visit Camp Y.O.U.
If you don’t have time for a summer getaway, you can explore the great outdoors right in your own backyard. Call it Camp Smith or Jones, or whatever your last name is, and rediscover the childhood joys of sleeping under the stars (or in a tent made from a bedsheet), complete with a campfire cookout, stargazing and ghost stories! Time it right and you can catch the August Perseid meteor shower. And don’t just make it a one-night event. Turn Camp YOU into a weekend retreat complete with a field trip to a nearby attraction. If you live in one of our Orlando communities like Laureate Park, you’ll find plenty of enticing field trip options. Get some idea for planning your backyard camping adventure here, including a gooey-good S’mores recipe.
4. Fix Stuff
Okay, maybe summer home maintenance isn’t the bucket-list equivalent of climbing Mount Everest. But taking care of those little maintenance chores around the house before they become BIG maintenance bills is a worthy goal. When you think about it, if your home is in good repair, you’ll have more money and more time to go off and do all the fun stuff on your bucket list. So, since we still have quite a bit of summer ahead (and since you might have put off doing this is June), here’s a checklist of summertime home maintenance tasks. Take care of them and then go order he tickets for that once-in-a-lifetime ride on the Orient Express. Here are a few ways to organize your summer maintenance activities.
- Divide tasks into indoor and outdoor. Save the indoor chores for days when summer storms or soaring temperatures keep you inside.
- Decide what a DIY job is and what calls for a pro.
- If you’re doing it yourself, figure out what supplies and equipment are needed for the job, inventory what you have on hand and what you’ll have to buy. A shopping list will cut down big time on trips to the hardware store.
- Make it manageable by focusing on one room or area at a time.
- Share the load. Even little kids can help with weeding, cleaning, sorting and trashing.
- Purge. If something is broken beyond repair, toss it. If you’re never going to use it or wear it again, donate it or have a yard sale. The more stuff you get rid of, the less there is to fix.
- Prioritize. Repair the things that will make the biggest difference in terms of safety, home value, comfort, etc.
- Realize that even a new home like Esplanade at Hacienda Lakes in Naples, FL needs TLC to keep it in tip-top condition. It could be as simple as new batteries in the smoke detectors or changing the A/C filters.
- Get more inspiration and a checklist for summer home maintenance chores here.
5. Take the Plunge
We’re not talking about cliff diving in Acapulco. Make this the summer you move into a brand new Taylor Morrison home. Spend a little time exploring The Taylor Morrison Difference and our communities. Then start the grandest adventure of your lifetime: finding the home of your dreams.
Summer and your bucket list are calling. Go for it!
