The Anti-Bucket List

This article made a big impression on me.

http://www.statesman.com/news/local/forget-the-bucket-list-here-are-things-well-2133034.html

Since I've never gotten around to making a Bucket List, I thought I might do better with an Anti-Bucket one.

I have a bunch that key off my fear of heights.

(1) I'll never again tour Mammoth Cave and walk up that multi-story staircase with space where the risers should be. Especially not backpacking a 30 pound baby. (To be fair, my husband packed him part of the way.) This should maybe be a separate item, but it was in the same cave, so I'll put it here that I'll also never slide through the Fat Man's Misery with said baby in the backpack. The baby is a huge handicap because you can't bend over or go on hands and knees since the baby would fall out. You (meaning me) have to slide on your rear.

Here's a link to a picture of the staircase http://www.flickr.com/photos/ameiss/970469830/.

I have found out, though, that I can tour the cave without the staircase if I should want to.

http://www.nationalparkstraveler.com/2008/07/theres-new-way-come-air-mammoth-cave-national-park Thank God!

(2) Drive across the Verrazano Narrows Bridge. I almost had a heart attack. In fact, in the middle of that bridge is where I first discovered my acrophobia. If I'd never drive that bridge, maybe I wouldn't even be this way.

(3) Go on a trail ride. I love horses, really, I do. I just don't ride very well and I bounce when they trot. Nuff said.

(4) Back to the heights--Hike the rim of the Grand Canyon. I'm not sure if it's the South or the North Rim, but it's the one where the trail slants into the canyon in places, where the surface is gravelly stuff that you can easily slip on.

(5) Tile a bathroom. It was our first house and the tile was pink and plastic. And not in good condition. So I bought ceramic tile and the stuff you stick it up with, after pulling the old tile off. I even got a cutter for the corners. Then I started slapping the tile up. I didn't do a plumb line or measure anything, just eyeballed it. The tile turned out great. Looked perfectly straight. That would never happen again, so I won't do it again.

In spite of the heights thing, I do want to hike up to the hanging valley in the Grand Tetons. The path, which is about a mile straight up, is narrow and I have to cling to the wall on one side to keep from plummeting over the edge of the other side. That path feels about a foot wide, maybe two, and has a solid wall of rock on one side and nothing whatsoever on the other. But the reward at the top is worth even that. Just don't ask me to move to the outside if you pass me going the other way on that trail.

All photos and illustrations are in the public domain.