On the Tuesday following my retirement, we headed out for Arizona for a visit with Melissa, Treacey, Savannah (10), and Ian (8). It's a 3-day, 1700-mile drive through Memphis, Little Rock, Dallas, and El Paso, so we arrived in Mesa on Thursday, March 22.

Naturally, we carried gifts for everyone. Savannah named hers "Gwen", and Gwen joined the kids for this snapshot taken by Nancy. Ian plays flag football for the Rams. His action shot was posted a couple of weeks ago, but is still in the archive.

I took my large telescope to take advantage of the clear night skies we've come to expect in Arizona, and we were not disappointed. I got my first look at the great nebula of Orion, and Saturn was displaying her rings for all to behold. I think everyone enjoyed both sights. We spent a lot of time with everyone, enjoyed a couple of football games, played on their Wii for many hours, played Monopoly a couple of times, and for the most part relaxed.

Nancy and I did make a quick trip to Sedona. I posted one picture last week. I will gather some additional pictures from the trip and post them next week. We returned home on Wednesday through Birmingham for a quick visit with Mark and his family. I thought the first thing we'd be doing when we got back would be yard work preparing for the summer. However, the temperature this morning in Huntsville, Alabama, is 27 degrees! Quite unusual.

How's that for a start at retirement?