This Adventure Called Retirement

Our stop in Phoenix AZ was the principle driver for the timing of our trip – to attend our son-in-law Richard’s opening of his thesis photography show at Arizona State University. On Thursday Richard had his thesis defense which included a review of his gallery and actions to make changes so we were on our own for the day. Our son, Gene, and his wife, Katie, and son, Eddie, flew in about midday. We met them Thursday afternoon and went to dinner at a nice local Itailian restaurant called Oregano’s. Gene and Katie were exhausted but their 2 year old Eddie was bursting with energy. We went back to their hotel and visited while Eddie ran around the atrium and played kickball with a girl’s soccer team that was staying at the hotel. In spite of all this activity, Eddie apparently still woke up at 4am (7am East Coast time) much to his parent’s chagrin.

Our daughter Emily was due to arrive at the airport at 11:30pm but while we were at dinner she texted to inform us her flight was delayed an hour. This delay continued to grow and we finally picked her up and returned to our hotel around 2am. Luckily nothing was planned for Friday morning so we slept in. Mary’s Aunt Joanie and cousin Julia and her two children drove up from Tucson in the afternoon so we met at Gene’s hotel and went to a local park were all the kid’s could play and we could have coffee and socialize before the gallery opening. After a quick early dinner back at Oregano’s (we liked the restaurant but also had to find a non-meat option since it was a Friday in Lent) we headed to Richard’s opening.

Richard’s opening was a success and well attended. He had a hand’s on interactive setup designed to introduce visitors to the art of film photography including a section where visitors could complete the development process of photos to complete a wall mural mosaic. The gallery had several of Richard’s self-built film cameras including one that was his own original design. He discussed the process of exposure and enlargement used to create the larger prints and mosaics on the walls. The most fascinating aspect of this presentation was in recognizing that a single exposed 4 inch by 4 inch negative when enlarged still contained extremely clear details of elements that could not be seen in the smaller image. For example, a small rock which would be no more than a dot in the 4 x 4 image, when enlarged, clearly showed the rock grain and surface detail that could not be seen in the smaller format. His portfolio wall was stunning and encompassed people and places that had specific meaning in his journey and development as a film photography artist, including a photo of my childhood home in Long Beach where Richard spent many days at family gatherings.

On Saturday Mary and I began the day visiting a close friend and roommate from the Naval Academy and his wife, Pat and Ellen, for breakfast and a hike. We hiked in the local Papago Park to a small mount called the Hole in the Rock. The trail rose behind the mount to a hole at the top which brought you out to a view of the Phoenix skyline. The weather was perfect for a hike, in the high 60s with partially cloudy skies. Both the hike and the company were invigorating. We left Pat and Ellen and met our family members, Gene, Katie, Eddie, Emily, Beth, and Richard, at a local arcade and bowling facility that was similar to a cross between Dave & Buster’s and Chuck-E-Cheese. We spent way too much money to win two stuffed animals, but Mary enjoyed her favorite game – Skeeball and David had a plentiful choice of crane games. Beth and Richard took us to their favorite Polish restaurant for pierogis and polish sausage and we finished the evening on their patio around a tabletop solo stove fire.