Ron Simon: This ‘bucket list’ has no bottom

A “bucket list” is one of those things older folks put together that lists what they would like to do before they go out life’s door.

Personally, I could pass on a sky dive or visiting the Vatican or Mecca.

Life’s little adventures seem to expand once we hit retirement with our pensions intact.

For instance, I never thought I would see San Francisco again, and I’ve been there twice since 2007.

Helen and I have stayed at the same hotel simply because the desk clerk pours me a shot of tequila as I sign in.

Nice touch.

I’ve finally visited the Alaskan Panhandle, Seattle and Portland.

Helen and I did a lovely auto tour of New England and have driven down the Skyline Drive of Virginia and into the Great Smokies.

Now we plan to take a three-day cruise of the upper Great Lakes before the summer is out.

I’ve driven over the Mackinac Bridge many times but I’ve never sailed under it. I’m looking forward to that.

Like all young men, I made to Paris in my 20s and have seen the Matterhorn while riding a mountain train to Zermatt.

Travel seems to be my bag.

There are so many places yet to see and travel through, and a few stand out.

It would be great to take a Canadian passenger train from Toronto to Vancouver. The trip over the Canadian Rockies and down the Fraser River Gorge to Vancouver would stay in my memory forever.

I was only 16 when I saw the Grand Tetons from the shore of Lake Jackson in Wyoming. That sight is as fresh in my memory now as it ever has been.

The moment one spring night when I walked into the nave of the majestic Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris stays with me as if it happened only yesterday.

My memory, and hopefully yours too, is like a library with shelves filled with books. Pull down a book and a full memory is there to be had.

Like all collectors, I would like to add some more memories to those shelves.

So many things on my personal bucket list involve rails and roads.

It would be more than nice to travel slowly in New York State’s Finger Lakes, stopping often to take in the views. One of them would be the Baseball Hall of Fame at Cooperstown.

Or to drive along the south bank of the St. Lawrence River from Oswego, New York, to Montreal, Quebec and on to Nova Scotia.

Add Halifax to my list.

Just one more time I would like to ride a boat through the Wisconsin Dells.

I wish I had the energy and the knees to walk at least a portion of the Appalachian Trail.

I would like to stand on the rocky shelf of Montauk Point, New York, or on Watch Hill, Rhode Island.

The United States and Canada are filled with incredible beauty.

I never have given South America too much thought except for the chance to ride a train over the Andes from Argentina to Peru or to experience the vastness of Argentina’s Pampas all the way down to Cape Horn.

Vietnam left me with a strong distaste for jungles and tropical climates.

But I would like to visit Casablanca in Africa just to see of Rick’s Place is still in business.

And then there is always Nepal and Tibet.

Very little of this is going to happen, but as long as the bank account and my health hold up, there is always hope.

The memory bank can never be full enough.

They say: “You can’t take it with you.” I rather hope that isn’t true.

Ron Simon is a retired reporter, award-winning columnist and veteran of the U.S. armed forces. He can be reached at ronsimon@neo.rr.com.