Thanksgiving to Roswell – Day 1

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Caroline Wise, Robert Bell, and Mark Shimer in Superior, Arizona

What you do on Thanksgiving is not as cool as what we do on Thanksgiving. After a couple of bungled holidays with my mother and family, we’ve now learned better and will use the long weekend to get out of town and do our own thing. Leaving Scottsdale, we picked up some friends and dinner supplies and drove east to Superior because who wouldn’t want a roadside meal in this funky little town in Arizona that just two years ago was the backdrop for the slightly surreal Oliver Stone movie with Sean Penn called U-Turn?

Robert Bell in Superior, Arizona

Thanksgiving Superior style.

Mark Shimer

Back out on the road, we have a long drive ahead of us as it is 551 miles to our destination in Roswell, New Mexico. Well only 487 miles from Superior, but you get the idea. Matter of fact we have a detour somewhere else before we get to the Alien Capital of America.

On the road in Arizona at sunset

We’ll be driving into the night as not only do we have about 10 hours in the car today, but it is November, and the days are short.

Arizona to Utah – Day 3

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Bryce National Park in Utah

From Zion, it’s a short drive to Bryce Canyon National Park.

Caroline Wise and John Wise in Bryce National Park in Utah

We are on our way to a particular hike further into the park.

Caroline Wise in Bryce National Park in Utah

From Sunset Point, we went out for a short hike on the Navajo Loop Trail through Wall Street.

Caroline Wise and John Wise in Bryce National Park in Utah

The 1.4-mile easy trail takes you to the canyon floor and connects to several other trails, including the Under-the-Rim trail that stretches nearly 23 miles through the park.

Robert Bell in Utah

Like a dog hanging out the window.

Arizona to Utah – Day 2

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Antelope Slot Canyon near Page, Arizona

Spent the night in Page up next to Lake Powell, making visiting Antelope Slot Canyon as easy as pie.

Caroline Wise and John Wise at Antelope Slot Canyon near Page, Arizona

The Slot Canyon is not an easy place to take photographs. While the eye easily adapts to the available light and the swirls in the sandstone take on the most sensuous of curves and colors, our little Sony Mavica struggles to capture enough light and detail.

Robert Bell at Antelope Slot Canyon near Page, Arizona

I don’t think I’ve shared this before, but Caroline and I first met Robert in the summer of 1995, just a few months after we moved from Frankfurt, Germany, to Arizona. At the time, we were the owner/operators of the Congo Internet Cafe in Scottsdale. Robert came in to check out the place, and we struck up a conversation that has lasted for four years now. The guy has a great sense of curiosity and art appreciation that resonates with us.

Glen Canyon Dam in Page, Arizona

Seeing we are in the area and don’t have a hard schedule to conform to, we took the opportunity to visit Glen Canyon Dam and went on a guided tour to see how the place operates.

Glen Canyon Dam in Page, Arizona

There’s something intimidating about being at the foot of the dam and seeing so much water leaking out of the rock down here. While the dam itself hasn’t sprung a leak, there are a ton of places in the sandstone in front of the dam where water is escaping. Being a layperson and not an engineer, I can only marvel in disbelief that the pressure of the Colorado River dammed up behind this giant concrete wall hasn’t made those leaks pop a cork and start a cascade of events that would catastrophically drain Lake Powell to our left.

Turn off to Pariah Movie Set in Pariah, Utah

Stop to take a photo as a reminder that this old movie set might be interesting to visit one day.

Alien in Zion National Park, Utah

The aliens have arrived in Zion National Park here in southern Utah. We are on the lookout for cows to abduct for BBQ experiments or for others who are on the same quest.

Caroline Wise who is a Resident Alien in Zion National Park, Utah

I married an especially beautiful and smart woman who makes me smile almost every time I see this face, even in photographs.

Arizona to Utah – Day 1

JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

Flagstaff, Arizona

It’s Friday afternoon when we get underway for a quick getaway up north into southern Utah. Robert Bell is accompanying us, so this is an Alienzoo crew kind of thing. You might guess from the trees in the background that we’ve already left Phoenix; we are, in fact, already in Flagstaff.

Flagstaff, Arizona

On rare occasions, this little camera gets some rather good results, but only on occasion.

John Wise and Caroline Wise at Wupatki National Monument in Arizona

We had to stop at Sunset Crater National Monument and then here at Wupatki National Monument because they are both beautiful places that should always be stopped at in case we see something we’ve never seen before.

Siggraph 1999

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Anaheim Convention Center in California

While we were here at Siggraph for two days, apparently, I didn’t shoot anything yesterday. Siggraph is a computer graphics trade show that is most appealing to those in the film industry. Because we are in love with computer graphics for the sake of art, we decided to come over from Phoenix to check things out. The Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics holds its show yearly, not always in California. This was the second most attended conference held by the group; this year, over 42,000 people attended. Two years earlier almost 49,000 people were in attendance. During the conference, we had a peek into the future, with many of the displays focusing on cyberspace, while on the conference floor, over 300 vendors showed us everything from 3D graphics software to virtual reality gloves. The 21st century promises to lead humanity into the machine.

Computer graphic circa 1999 at Siggraph in Anaheim, California

With no recollection of exactly what this is we are looking at, I just remember that it was astonishing at the time I saw it. Computer graphics have been a large part of our lives for the past ten years, starting with a Commodore Amiga, Deluxe Paint, and TurboSilver, which became Imagine in 1990.