Thanksgiving to Roswell – Day 3

JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

Roswell, New Mexico

As one might imagine, aliens play a large role in this remote desert community. Lucky for the residents of this outpost, a spaceship crashed nearby back in 1947 because, without this as a tourist draw, I don’t believe there’d be much reason to stop here other than passing through on the way to Carlsbad for those coming from the north.

Mark Shimer, Caroline Wise, and John Wise in Roswell, New Mexico

We stopped for breakfast and ordered pancakes with green alien faces cooked into them, some green eggs and ham (oops, wrong story), and some cross-sections of abducted and dissected pigs.

Roswell, New Mexico

Checking out the local gift shops while they check us out. You just have to know that we left with more than one of these little guys; we left with three of them.

Roswell, New Mexico

The UFO Museum & Research Center is the main draw here in Roswell and is worth every penny of the few dollars it will cost you to visit the place.

Caroline Wise and John Wise in Roswell, New Mexico

Here on this Internet terminal, we paid to bring up our website, Alienzoo dot com. The t-shirt I’m wearing is from my last project called TheLinuxStore, which you can guess was focused on all things Linux. Now that I’m working on all things alien, I see lots of similarities with the Linux community.

Socorro, New Mexico

Oh wow, check out that amazing neon sign, said the driver as we sped by, not really giving a second thought to stopping in. But then we look at the map and consider where we are staying in Alpine, Arizona, and figure this might be our last best chance to get some dinner. Good thing we did, as this place rocks. When you find yourself in Socorro, New Mexico, be sure to stop at this kind of New Mexican Denny’s where green chili on their steak and eggs and a side of guacamole is a great way to enjoy dinner.

Thanksgiving to Roswell – Day 2

JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

John Wise, Caroline Wise, and Mark Shimer at Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico

Human bats entering the cave. We are at Carlsbad Caverns National Park and are about to enter the bowels of the Earth.

Robert Bell at Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico

Better be careful about my metaphors else someone might think I was talking of a friend’s bowels or their full bladders.

Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico

Okay, so the photos down here will leave a lot to desire regarding image quality, but they are the best I have to offer.

Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico

Yay, more poor-quality cave photos are just what everybody wants and needs, right?

Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico

Okay, how about stacks of generic lunches that are just as uninspired as their packaging?

Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico

Speaking of those bowels of the Earth here after lunch.

John Wise, Caroline Wise, and Mark Shimer at Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico

We have emerged back on the surface and will go north in search of dinner and aliens.

Robert Bell in Roswell, New Mexico

Robert found the aliens right where you’d expect to find them. Welcome to your anal probe at Walmart.

Thanksgiving to Roswell – Day 1

JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

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

JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

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

JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

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.

Disneyland

JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

Robert Bell, Caroline Wise, and Grant Wiggins at Disneyland in Anaheim, California

Robert Bell, Caroline Wise, and Grant Wiggins at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. We arrived in California a day early as we were going to Siggraph at the Anaheim Convention Center the next day; why not play a minute at the Happiest Place on Earth first?

Robert Bell and Caroline Wise at Disneyland in Anaheim, California

There are other photos from this trip but the poor nature of the images are better left accumulating digital dust on some hard drive, but the memories elicited from photos of friends and family are worth sharing.

John Wise at Disneyland in Anaheim, California

I look huge in this image; it must be the low pixel resolution.

Grant Wiggins at Disneyland in Anaheim, California

Caroline Wise and Grant Wiggins. I met Grant the year before while he was working for the Scottsdale Airpark News; he interviewed me for an article about our work building computers and some of my thoughts regarding Linux and how it could be a platform for education (if I’m not mistaken).

Caroline Wise, John Wise, and Grant Wiggins in Space Mountain at Disneyland in Anaheim, California

Waiting to ride Space Mountain.

Caroline Wise and John Wise at Disneyland in Anaheim, California

Watching the parade at Disneyland back when we were young. Caroline was 32, and I was 36.