62-year old Helen Macomber coming down from her self-given birthday-present sky dive

You may have pictured yourself in retirement driving leisurely in your motorhome, planting bulbs in the garden or hunkering down for quiet evenings at home. It may appear the Golden Years are the time to slow down, enjoy the quiet pace of life.

Don’t even think about it, would say many seniors who are taking advantage of the “slow down” to pursue lifelong adventures, even some that many younger people wouldn’t try.

Helen Macumber, a 62-year-old day care provider who lives not far from Gig Harbor, decided to give herself the perfect gift last summer for her birthday: a sky-diving experience. Saying it was time to see her lifelong dream come true, she made arrangements for tandem jumping with the Blue Skies Skydiving Adventures based at the Bremerton National Airport, invited friends and family —and had an all-out party.

“It was about taking care of me,” says Macumber, who hired a video photographer for the jump and has been able to relive her experience many times. “The whole thing was totally invigorating.”

Phil Bauer, a retired airline pilot, had a different idea for his 70th birthday this January: He decided to have a rollerskating party. Bauer recently attended a party for a friend’s daughter, and got back on the skates after 45 years. She decided to bring the youthful experience to his friends. As the president of the Key Peninsula Civic Center Association, which rents its building for the parties, he has spent many volunteer hours maintaining the center and its business affairs. The party was the perfect fit for him — but certainly not the wildest thing he’s done in retirement.

In the last few months, Bauer and three friends have been planning a canoeing trip for this summer from Great Slave Lake, up the Mackenzie River, to the Arctic Ocean in the Northwest Territories. The four-week trip will follow the route of Alexander Mackenzie, an explorer who set off to discover a westbound water route while working for a fur-trading company. As part of the preparations, they all read a book about Mackenzie and have been practicing their canoeing skills.

This is not the first retirement adventure for Bauer, who flew airplanes in Vietnam. He hikes and kayaks every summer, and last year with friends took a six-day hike on the 33-mile Chilkoot trail in Alaska, following an old gold mining route.

“Since I’ve been retired, I’ve had the time to do it,” Bauer says. “These are things I’ve always wanted to do.”

That is often the motivation for many people who enter the Golden Age and realize this is the time to take care of themselves and their dreams. “If it’s something you want to do, follow that dream,” Macumber says.

The grandmother of seven and great-grandmother of one, who says she never plans to officially retire, had such a good time up in the air, she plans to do it every year from now on. Jumping in tandem gave her the opportunity to focus on the experience and not worry about the technical aspects, and as luck would have it she caught a thermal and hovered for quite some time in the air, “feeling like a bird.” She hopes for another thermal zone next time.

“It was a monumental thing in my life,” she says.