Sometimes it pays to dig into the archive and have the means to rescue long-forgotten memories. At some point, I scanned a bunch of old negatives and threw them into a directory grouped to the best of my ability. Old film images weren’t stamped with dates, GPS data, or anything at all that would help you identify details that are lost in time. But an old itinerary floating around from 1998 helped me identify the order of an 11-day visit that Ruby and Axel Rieke took with us that summer. But this wasn’t just any journey with us; this was Ruby and Axel’s honeymoon as they had just gotten married five days before, and we were there too. So, to the best of my ability, I’m trying to match those random photos to the days the itinerary says we were doing particular things. The day prior to our departure to New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah, we went to the hottest new restaurant in the Phoenix area at the time called The Rainforest Cafe. It was at the Mills in Tempe, where there was also a new IMAX theater. According to my notes, we took in a movie there but there’s no recollection of what it was.

We’ll never forget the long-gone restaurant Sam’s Cafe, as it was a favorite, and it was on our way to our next stop.

Fashion Square needed a visit as we required a couple of things before taking off on our 7-day road trip that starts tomorrow. You may not notice it right away, but in my mouth is a cigarette. I believe this is about the only photo that exists of the short time I was a smoker. From the day we landed on April 6, 1995, I started smoking and finally stopped on September 9, 1999. I still can’t believe I subjected those around me to such an ugly stench, but on the other hand, I had worse personality traits at work during those years; good thing I was on a path to growing up.

In a couple of days, we left for New Mexico, but sadly there wasn’t one photograph that documents our day on the road.