The Honeymoon – Ruby & Axel

JWise Photo of the Day

Axel Rieke and Ruby Rieke in Scottsdale, Arizona

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.

Caroline Wise with Axel Rieke and Ruby Rieke in Scottsdale, Arizona

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.

John Wise with Axel Rieke and Ruby Rieke in Scottsdale, Arizona

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.

Getting Married – Ruby & Axel

JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

Ruby Rieke, Caroline Wise, and Axel Rieke in San Francisco, California

Caroline and I flew up to San Francisco this week to join Ruby Alvarez and Axel Rieke as they get married. Sadly, this was the age of taking photos on film, and it hadn’t occurred to us yet to take lots of photographs, but it was also pretty expensive, so there was that. While this isn’t the best photo of Caroline, though she is sweetly beautiful, notice the long hair because a week later, all that hair was gone, and we were welcoming Mr. and Mrs. Rieke into Arizona to spend their honeymoon with us on a road trip across the southwestern United States in the four corners region. Thanks, Ruby and Axel, for having us join you on these momentous days.

Jutta in America During The Fall of 1997

JWise Moments

Jutta Engelhardt and Caroline Wise at Phoenix Skyharbor Airport in Arizona

Only one year since her last visit, and Jutta was already coming back. I’m surprised, as I was a bit uncertain how she felt about spending the two weeks with me and my needling ways. My feelings were that Jutta’s trip to America was short and expensive, so she’d better get all she could from it. Jet lag could be dealt with when she returned to Germany. As this visit was planned between Stephanie and Klaus in Germany and us, we learned that Jutta had had a great time and was looking forward to a return. We invited her to stay longer; how long is now lost in time.

Jutta Engelhardt and John Wise in Sedona, Arizona

Speaking of things lost, we are not even certain that the photos being shared from this and the 1996 vacation are sorted correctly, as none of the images were dated, and I cannot find any notes or itineraries to verify any details. Maybe after we get back the photo albums that returned to Germany with Jutta, we’ll be able to return to these ancient blog entries and repair them. Those albums include notes on every photo. But for now, here goes into trying to yank memories from a brain that experienced these days nearly 24 years ago. The first thing to note is that my mother-in-law and I have a new rapport, as I figure if she wanted to come back, I couldn’t be all that bad. I’m guessing that this was a day trip to Sedona while Jutta was recovering from jetlag. Seeing she’d be here longer, I was going to cut her a break before we headed out on some multi-thousand-mile road adventure.

Jutta Engelhardt and Caroline Wise at the Little White Chapel in Las Vegas, Nevada

Back in 1994, when Caroline and I were married at the Little White Chapel in Las Vegas, Nevada, on a visit from Germany, Jutta did not accompany us. So, on this trip, we did the next best thing and took her to Vegas, stayed in the pyramid at the Luxor, and visited the place we were married.

Jutta Engelhardt and John Wise in Zion National Park, Utah

From there, we headed up to Utah to bring Jutta to yet another National Park; this time, it was Zion. As you can tell, the ice is fully thawed between Jutta and me.

Jutta Engelhardt and Caroline Wise in Zion National Park, Utah

I cannot tell you what they are pointing to with certainty, but I’d guess it’s The Narrows due to the next image.

Jutta Engelhardt in Zion National Park, Utah

In the Zion Narrows, walking as far as we could before we reached deeper water, we were not prepared to wade through.

Jutta Engelhardt and Caroline Wise in Zion National Park, Utah

This photo of Jutta looking at Caroline is, on one hand, iconic. There were things (habits) that were difficult to break Jutta of; looking in admiration at her daughter when I was trying to take their photo was one of them. I think it was the third or fourth visit to America when I kind of freaked out at her barking “CAHroline!” when she felt that my wife was doing or saying something not ladylike. Finally, I really needed her to stop the mom-thing of wetting a finger and cleaning something off Caroline’s face, I had to kiss that thing, and I didn’t want a layer of mother-in-law spit between us.

Jutta Engelhardt at Monument Valley in Utah

Behind Jutta is one of the Mittens in Monument Valley. We stayed over at Gouldings Lodge during this visit.

Jutta Engelhardt and Caroline Wise at the Arizona Stateline with Utah

Back into Arizona and heading south.

Caroline Wise and Jutta Engelhardt at Canyon de Chelly, Arizona

But first, a stop at Canyon de Chelly for Jutta to have a look into another canyon. On a subsequent visit, we’d all take a Jeep tour down on the canyon floor.

Caroline Wise and Jutta Engelhardt at Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona

Seeing we’re up north on our way home, why not stop at Petrified National Park and introduce Jutta to some fossilized trees?

Jutta Engelhardt and Caroline Wise at the La Brea Tarpits in Los Angeles, California

This Zion National Park sweater was on its way to becoming an emblem of Jutta’s visits to America for the next 15 years; I can’t say she ever didn’t arrive with it in her bags. We are over in Los Angeles at the La Brea Tarpits on a rainy day.

Jutta Engelhardt and Caroline Wise at the Pacific Ocean in Southern California

And although it was raining, that didn’t stop Caroline from jumping into the ocean to the surprise of her mom, followed by Jutta trying to help warm her up.

Jutta Engelhardt, Caroline Wise, and John Wise at the Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona

There was no way a visit to Arizona was going to go by without a return trip up to the Grand Canyon National Park. Jutta was astonished that she was able to visit this park twice in a lifetime.

[This post was written in April 2021]

Visiting My Father

JWise Moments

John Michael Wise Sr about 1996 in Ontario, California

Starting in 1995, after we moved to the States, we were making multiple trips a year out to Ontario, California, in the Los Angeles area to visit my father, John M. Wise Sr. My father opted for a pained life and absolute denial that saw him commit a slow suicide, which took him from his first heart attack in 1986 until his death on February 1, 2003. Over that time, he would have at least one more heart attack and develop diabetes, which led to multiple amputations that would leave him with crippling phantom pain until the day he died. Seen here, my father was 52 years old.

Caroline Wise, John Wise Sr., and John Wise in Ontario, California

My father was a bitter and difficult man harboring so much anger that violence was often his means of expressing himself. As he grew older, he became mentally frail and forgetful. His belligerence kept him smoking for another decade after the first heart attack. His diet never changed as he seemed to challenge the universe to strike him down as he downed a plate of pancakes laden with syrup or popped Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups as if they lowered his blood glucose. The first time we visited him in 1995, my trauma with him nearly had me turning away from the exit we needed to use if we were going to his home. Caroline encouraged me to do it as she’d seen in our previous encounter back in 1994 when we were in Los Angeles on our way to Vegas to get married, that my father seriously enjoyed seeing me. So we went. Reluctantly, for the next nearly eight years, we made frequent visits. My father is 53 years old in this photo.

Caroline Wise in Long Beach, California

The saving grace of those 350-mile drives west was that Caroline could read to me across the long haul, and we were always able to get out into Los Angeles at some point to find time for ourselves. Sometimes, we’d just take a photo or make note of a place, such as here at the Queen Mary, that was supposed to remind us to come back for a proper visit. Sometimes, we’d stop in Disneyland for 6 or 7 hours, eat at various places that had foods we couldn’t have in Phoenix, or drive to 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica to visit a great book store or walk along the ocean. So it wasn’t all bad, but it also wasn’t all great.

Jutta’s First Time Visiting America

JWise Moments, Travels

Jutta Engelhardt and Caroline Wise in Santa Barbara, California

This is another one of those two decades after the fact I’m trying to post whatever bit of information I have about a trip where we have very little to go on. The itinerary is long gone; there are no emails from 1996 still existing that I might have been able to refer to, just our memories. What we do know is that we started in Santa Barbara, California, and have this giant 120-year-old fig tree with Caroline and Jutta to prove it. This was my mother-in-law’s first-ever visit to America, just as she was transitioning into retirement back in Frankfurt, Germany. We never heard the rest of this “mistake” from our great aunt and uncle Ann and Woody Burns as they felt slighted that we were so close but didn’t stop in to visit them. Well, not that this is a good excuse, but I do remember how awkward Caroline felt on her first visit, and I tried considering how difficult this entire trip might have been for Jutta. Thrusting her into social situations with others could have proven uncomfortable for her, so I opted to forego introducing her to family.

Jutta Engelhardt and Caroline Wise in Solvang, California

From Santa Barbara, we headed north for a quick stop in Solvang as though some fakey “old-world” part of Europe that got dropped into California might have the same impact it had on me when I was six years old. Regarding the previous comment about socializing, you might need to understand that my mother-in-law and I, at this point, had a tenuous relationship due to my bringing her daughter to America. I don’t believe she ever liked me while in Germany as she saw me as some hamburger-eating cowboy who played with computers, and how could that in any way be a serious enough man for her wonderful youngest child?

Jutta Engelhardt at Pismo Beach, California

Continuing our trek north, we stopped at Pismo Beach so she could dip her toes into the Pacific Ocean with Caroline for the first time in her life. Seeing I could drive our rental car onto the beach, that’s just what I did. What’s that lady yelling at us who’s driven up next to us? Can you make it out? As we stopped, we realized she was yelling, “Don’t stop!” We were stuck in the sand. Good thing this ranger was right here to help get us out and back on our way. Great start to the adventure aspect of this epic journey.

A bit further up the road, we pulled into Morro Bay for an overnight stay. I have to admit to no small amount of travel naivety as this was Caroline’s and my first major road trip, and we were certainly greenhorns.

Jutta Engelhardt and Caroline Wise in San Simeon, California

Up Highway 1 we drove until we took a break at a small cafe and motel on the oceanside of the road. This place was at 16420 Pacific Coast Highway which would see us stop at many a time over the years. While at the gift shop, a person at the counter asked if we’d seen the elephant seals back down the road; we had not. We turned around and found the non-descript edge of the road where we could park (illegally) and head over to the beach to get up close and personal with the sunbathing pinnipeds. Our first few visits here were prior to the time when a parking lot and boardwalk that did not allow tourists to disturb these hulking giants was built.

Jutta Engelhardt and Caroline Wise in Monterey, California

Monterey Bay, California. Caroline and I needed this trip to return us to the place where, back in 1991, my girlfriend (at the time) and I visited Monterey after landing in San Francisco on her first visit to the United States. That girlfriend was obviously Caroline.

Jutta Engelhardt and Caroline Wise in Monterey, California

While it’s obvious we took a cruise around the bay, it’s difficult to recollect if we ventured into the aquarium but as Caroline points out, “How could we go to Monterey and NOT go to the aquarium?”

Jutta Engelhardt and Caroline Wise in Yosemite National Park, California

After a brief visit the next day to the San Juan Bautista Mission we continued east across California over for our first visit to Yosemite. The cabin we rented just south of the park had this “Bear Food Crockpot” that was busy boiling these softshell bear treats, or so we worried at the time. Our first impression of Yosemite National Park was not a good one as the place was overcrowded, and coming into such mayhem was a bit unnerving. It took years before Caroline and I would return.

Caroline Wise, Jutta Engelhardt, and John Wise at the Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona

Jutta’s first trip to America was a brief one at two weeks as no one had any idea about how we’d tolerate each other. Even though we’d been out on the road for 4 or 5 days after a few days of letting the jet lag settle after she landed, we still had to carve time out to bring her up to the Grand Canyon National Park. Who knew if she’d ever come back to the States? You can’t go to Arizona and not visit the Grand Canyon. Well, this turned out to be the biggest surprise and delight for my mother-in-law as she never dreamed that she’d see this with her own eyes. Because of that enthusiasm, we’d bring her back again and again until we now believe she’s been to the canyon at least a dozen times, and with each visit, she still swoons in the face of such grandeur.

Visitors from Germany – Ruby & Axel

JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

Axel Rieke and Ruby Alvarez at Wupatki National Monument in Arizona

After Caroline and I had been living in America for a little more than a year, we had visitors from Germany come in for a few days. Thank you, Ruby and Axel, for honoring our friendship by absorbing the cost of stopping in Arizona while you are out traveling on vacation. It was a short trip but a great one; our first stop on a road trip north was at Wupatki National Monument.

Axel Rieke, Ruby Alvarez, Caroline Wise and John Wise at the Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona

Our next stop was up at the Grand Canyon National Park, where Caroline and I spent our honeymoon nearly two years earlier.

Caroline Wise and John Wise at the Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona

I’m so happy we have at least a few photos of ourselves from this time and that we’ve been so fortunate to visit the Grand Canyon again and again.

Axel Rieke, John Wise, and Ruby Alvarez in Sedona, Arizona

On another day during Ruby and Axel’s visit, we drove up to Sedona to sit on Bell Rock and take in the view.

Axel Rieke and Ruby Alvarez in Sedona, Arizona

While I dated this visit July 15th, I don’t know the exact date but had to guestimate based on the length of my hair and increasing weight, but it’s close enough. The next time we saw Ruby and Axel, he too would have cut off his hair just as I did the year before, and also, during that visit, these two would be getting married.