Mill Creek Beacon - Your Hometown News Source

I don't have a bucket list as such, but there are certainly things that I would like to do before I die.

The fantasy with Reese Witherspoon will probably have to remain just that, a fantasy, but in August I was able to accomplish two things that I have long wanted to do. I saw the first total solar eclipse of my life on Aug. 21, and two days before I visited the historic mining town of Monte Cristo, deep in the Cascade Mountains.

I don't know when I first decided that I wanted to visit Monte Cristo, but it has probably been on my mind for more than 50 years. Various reasons kept m...