Yellowstone – Day 1

JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

Ruby Rieke and Axel Rieke in Jackson Hole, Wyoming

This is Axel Rieke and Ruby Rieke, and the four of us are on our way to Yellowstone National Park by way of Grand Tetons. We are in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, spending the night before heading into the Tetons. Back when we made this trip we had no idea what we were doing and how long things take. If we had had a better feel for travel, we would have gone directly to the Tetons and not spent so much money on a room here in Jackson Hole. To make matters worse we flew into Idaho Falls, Idaho, and rented a car because we felt this corner of America was so far away from home. We should have driven all the way.

Mountain views in Jackson Hole, Wyoming

The four of us are thrilled to be up here as none of us have ever seen anything like it.

Mountain view in Jackson Hole, Wyoming

The views are just amazing.

Whoa sign in Jackson Hole, Wyoming

This was our sentiment exactly – WHOA!

Grand Canyon and Return by Train

JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

Caroline Wise at the Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona

Okay, so I wasn’t very good at framing photos here in early 2000. We arrived yesterday afternoon but are stingy about taking photos as there are only so many images you can store on a floppy disk. This curse of not having unlimited storage would haunt me well into the end of this year and, to some degree, the following, too. After Caroline and I got married back on January 12, 1994, we came here to the Grand Canyon National Park and stayed in the President’s Suite at the El Tovar Hotel. Six years later, it’s still magic.

John Wise at the Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona

Seems that Caroline, too, can work on her composition skills. Who knows, maybe we were on drugs? We were probably on drugs.

Caroline Wise at the Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona

Caroline, before she tragically fell into the Grand Canyon, and I collected a ton of insurance money. No, seriously…she had a twin sister named Caroline who I live with until this day.

John Wise at the Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona

This was a pretty short visit to the Canyon, maybe one that will have been the shortest ever. We probably traveled with that suitcase for close to 20 years before it was retired.

Train back to Williams from the Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona

Short of cash, we rode on top of the train all the way back to Williams, Arizona. It was cold up here. Just kidding, this is the view from the Observation Dome.

Train to the Grand Canyon

JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

Caroline Wise on the train to the Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona

This was our first trip on the Grand Canyon Railroad to the Grand Canyon in Arizona. We had already been to the South Rim half a dozen times and figured taking the train up would add a different angle to the journey; it was well worth the investment. We had reservations for the Observation Dome Car and stayed overnight at the El Tovar Hotel on the rim; this is where we stayed on our honeymoon back in January of 1994. This is a luxury.

What wasn’t a luxury was the camera. It was a Sony Mavica MVC-FD83 0.8MP Digital with 3x Optical Zoom. We opted for this model because it was only $799 compared to the 1.3MP FD88 which cost $999. Besides, the price was a staggering quality difference; while the FD83 only had 1024×768 resolution, the FD88 was shooting 1280×960 with both cameras saving their images to a floppy disk. And yes, Caroline has blue hair in this photo.