Great thread, I grew up in Alaska, went to college in CA and live in Seattle so it is fascinating to see how many times these areas are mentioned. Three selections from my bucket list
Channel Islands, California
Assateague Island, VA
Monument Valley, AZ
Channel Islands, that’s a good one! Our son’s dorms have been named after those islands. I read they have some cool kayaking and even overnight camping at one of the islands (not Catalina) which we’d like to do.
Hawaii, Savanah/Sea Island, Key West
@toledo have fun at Arcadia Bluffs, it’s beautiful there! I haven’t played that course but want to. My H wants to wait until he’s playing well to tackle it, hope that happens some day.
Tomorrow is suppose to be 59! Can’t get much better than that at the end of October.
Last year we sat on the porch at Arcadia Bluffs and had lunch. The view is spectacular. It was August though and they had heaters on!
@abasket, yup have reservations for one of my favorite restaurants up there.
Alaska, the part of Texas where LBJ grew up, and some part of the Appalachians.
Bryce / Zion
Yellowstone / Grand Teton
Glacier
Alaska is spectacular and deserves all the mentions… not many places make my list to go back to, but Alaska is on there.
San Diego, Philadelphia, and Acadia National Park
Grand Canyon, Nashville,Montana.
This thread names me happy because I have visited or lived in so many of the places you all have listed. The one place many of you have listed, and I want to visit, is Alaska. H has not seem inclined. I am working on him.
I too feel I have limited time. After kids all graduated from college, it was time for us. We,for the last 4 or 5 years, make sure we go somewhere warm in the winter and somewhere. more “adventurous” in the summer. Although I would love to visit every state and city, large and small, in the USA, I cannot attempt to do that at this time as I am still working.
Sooo…besides Alaska, maybe Bryce and/or Arches National Park and San Antonio and a southern city such as Nashville or Charleston. ( This is my way of getting around the three? Lol)
@conmama, to your question about running out of time…I do feel like dh and I have years ahead to travel but what type of travel? We’ve been very, very fortunate to travel quite a bit, both inside and outside our wonderful country. We went to Siem Reap, Cambodia to see Angkor Wat and the other temples in the area and some required extensive climbing which I found somewhat difficult. A few years later, we went to Machu Picchu as a family after D2’s graduation. While it’s not strenuous to see MP, we climbed Wayna Picchu, the mountain behind MP which was really tough. So, for me, I want our priority to be to travel to the places that will tax us physically (both in the US and not) for the near future and leave more leisurely destinations for later. I’m not sure that we have that many more of the former on our list so it may work out just fine.
Alaska, Sedona, New Orleans
We camped near Yellowstone, been to HI more than 20 times (hiked Napali Coast and camped in Haleakala National Park), visited almost every winery in Napa/Sonoma/Santa Rosa, camped at Mt. Rainier, been to Boston and suburbs, drove from WA to Idaho for a swim meet, drove from WA to CA, been to FL Space Coast, hiked in AZ, hiked in Joshua Tree Park, just to name a few things… Ran a marathon in Alaska - wow, the moose and her baby were an unforgettable sight. I feel so lucky we did all this traveling! Even been to Vegas once… no plans to return. 
Some places I’ve never been but want to see sooner than later:
Bryce
Florida Keys
Nashville
And many-many-many others!
Vegas is good for one thing - getting you a cheap non-stop flight that lands close enough to Bryce, Zion, the north rim of the Grand Canyon, Canyon de Chelley (sp?), etc.
It’s hard to choose three - but I’ll go with Alaska, San Diego and the Florida Keys
If you fly into Vegas and drive to the Grand Canyon, beware the speed traps along the way! (ask me how I know…)
I am also feeling the press of time. DH is still working 70 hour weeks, but I worry how long I will be in good enough shape to travel.
Acadia (Maine), Bryce/Zion, and Denali.
@conmama - I don’t feel like we are running out of time in the general sense but I do feel like we need to do certain trips now while we are still able. For example a few years back H and I talked about going to Italy. Another place we wanted to go was sailing in Tonga and New Zealand. We ended up going to Tonga and New Zealand feeling that we should do the more physical trips while we still are able. We figured Italy would still be doable even with reduced mobility.
We are at a good place. All but one of the kiddos are done with school and fully launched. My parents have passed away and my MIL and FIL are in good health. It is a good time for us to travel. My H has a good work situation right now that also makes going away easier. The only restriction we have presently is budget.
Add me to the Maine B&B list.
Places I’ve never been that I would like to visit:
The Grand Canyon, New Orleans, huge competition for the third spot (Black Hills, Charleston, Key West, Kansas City for the BBQ…). The number of places I’ve been and would like to see more f is lengthy.
I was recently in Italy with H and his parents. My sister and D2 joined us the second week. H’s parents are 80 and 77. Mom needs a new hip and walks with a cane. Dad messed up his knees badly over years of skiing, and stairs and hills are very hard for him.
We were visiting very hilly towns, or along the Amalfi where you can’t seem to go anywhere without a lot of steps. A lot of those hilly towns have escalators or elevators to get you around easier. FIL had a hard time in Gubbio, climbing up to the elevator but he made it. When things were too much for him, he would sit and have a coffee while the rest of us walked around. D2 was like a mountain goat, running and happy, while my sister, who smokes, had a terrible time with the 250 steps you need to get down to the water. MIL and FIL didn’t even attempt that. There was plenty for them to do anyway!
I feel like FIL will only stop going to Italy when he is dead and buried. He will drag his bad knees wherever he wants to go. I asked him why he didn’t go to Ravenna or someplace flat and he just dismissed that. He is 80 and doesn’t accept limits so he goes where he goes! I found it quite inspiring.
Bryce/Zion, Pacific NW ie: Portland/Seattle, Charleston