The bucket list
Ten years ago an underrated little movie called “The Bucket List” opened in theaters. I saw it because it had two of my favorite actors in it, Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson. Maybe it was the afternoon showing that
I picked but I remember the theater was half empty. Too bad because it turned out to be one of those unexpected surprises. It has been on cable so many times in the decade since I’m sure you’ve happened upon it but on the off chance you haven’t seen it the premise is two dying men decide to go and do all the things they always wanted to before they kick the bucket. They make up a list of cool things to do or see; thus the title “bucket list.”
I’m 54 now so I’m hopefully a long way from kicking any buckets but I was thinking recently of some of the things I’d like to see before I find myself on the wrong side of the grass in the cemetery. Sure there are the obvious ones that take you far and wide across the globe; seeing the Vatican, Eiffel Tower, sipping a pint of Guinness at a bar in Dublin. But there are also quite a few things I’d like to do in these United States. Some of them are actually tied to some of my favorite movies or TV shows. See if any appeal to you.
My favorite television series of all time was David Milch’s Deadwood. If you’ve never seen it I highly recommend it as long as you are OK with salty language. It tells the story of the birth of Deadwood, South Dakota and the collection of characters who found themselves there in the old west. It’s perhaps most famous as being the place where Wild Bill Hickok was murdered. Aces and eights are the hand he purportedly was holding when the coward Jack McCall shot him from behind. Legend has it when they convicted McCall of murder and hanged him they buried him with the noose still around his neck. These days Deadwood is a historic site and tourist trap but I’d love to drop by and stand in a place where so much nefarious history took place.
Another place I’d love to visit some day is the Blackfoot River in Missoula, Montana. The film “A River Runs Through It” was shot there based on the true story of a preacher and his two boys who loved to fish. When Robert Redford filmed there he needed only point the camera in any direction to capture nature at its absolute perfection. To catch a rainbow trout in that river just before sunset would be amazing.
Staying out west and being a romantic guy my bucket list also includes spending a leisurely week in Napa Valley, California. I love red wine and think it would be amazing to rent a convertible and go off without a map or plans and discover some of the cute little treasures that countryside has to offer. I envision finding a vintage wine we both love and having the vineyard owner ship us back a case to be opened on special occasions.
Since we are in that neck of the woods I suppose we could hit the Grand Canyon on the way back; one of the few places they say lives up to one’s expectations.
I’d love to see New Orleans on a warm spring day, just not when Mardi Gras is going on. I think it would be fun to explore the everglades in Florida and venture down to Key West and find Hemingway’s home for a visit. I’m sure they have some old typewriter of his although I doubt they’d let you touch the keys.
Cliché as it may be I’ve always wanted to take a tour of The White House and see some of the famous portraits of the great leaders who once roamed its halls. Who knows maybe the current occupant might poke his head out of the oval office in between tweets.
I’ve always wanted to drive up to Whiteface Mountain and try the Olympic ski jump from the top. I’m guessing if that’s really in my plans I should make that the last thing on my bucket list given the unlikelihood that I stick the landing.
Truth be told there are so many neat places to visit in this country and I’m sure your list is much different than mine. I suspect we’d both run out and do these things tomorrow but life gets in the way; jobs to work and bills to pay.
So like Jack Nicholson I’ll scribble out my list and tuck it in the nightstand with the promise of achieving it someday. I’ll try not to wait too long because life has a way of taking unexpected turns. How many residents of your local cemetery have headstones that silently say, “Shoulda, woulda, coulda?” So eight years until retirement then Deadwood here I come and Jack McCall be damned.