Episode 5 - Road Trip

In Episode 5, Chris and Dar head to Los Angeles to celebrate Father's Day with Chris' Dad and brothers. Chris takes Dar on a tour of where he grew up in the San Fernando Valley and he surprises her with a Valley location that she always wanted to visit. The episode ends with a drive back from LA to Saint George, Utah.

Transcript

Chris: 0:11

I'm Chris from Lala, where I grew up in the Val. That is the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles.

Dar: 0:16

Hi, I'm Dar. I grew up here in St. George, Utah. Chris and I met online in 2018, and we've been married since October of 2021.

Chris: 0:24

And in the last episode, we talked about our thoughts on the Don't worry, no spoilers this time. And you can watch the entire episode if you haven't seen the But our dads, and Dar honored me for Day. And so we took a road trip to LA, Los Angeles. We did. For uh for, you know, we always call the show From La La to were. Today we're gonna take you from La La to Utah by spending a

Dar: 0:54

Yeah, we have a lot of video to share with you today. And we didn't end up bringing our camera and our mics, although it would have been helpful. So you're gonna see a lot of footage from our phones today.

Chris: 1:04

So the magic of Pixel and iPhone.

Dar: 1:06

Exactly.

Chris: 1:07

Living in perfect harmony. Because she's an iPhone person, I'm an Android person.

Dar: 1:12

That's true.

Chris: 1:12

I think Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney sang about it.

Dar: 1:15

Um so this is episode five, and we're calling it Road Trip. So we're gonna be sharing video with you of the San Fernando Valley where Chris grew up, um, some visuals of Los Angeles and the LA our drive home through the Virgin Gorge and into St. George, Utah. Um, we're also gonna take you on a special location uh in the Val. Um that if you are a a member of the Gen X um group and if you this, I think. I think it's a special spot.

Chris: 1:49

Exactly.

Dar: 1:50

So um we're gonna take you there. Um and then um, you know, I just to start the weekend, um, we on um, and your brother Mike said, Hey, you know, let's have a Um, what does everybody think? And who who's free to come? And so, of course, we're on the road and we're like, hey, we'll stop somewhere. What do you need?

Chris: 2:14

Where do you go for snacks and appetizers that you cannot in

Dar: 2:18

Trader Joe's, of course.

Chris: 2:20

Exactly. So Trader Joe's, it's it's interesting. Um, it is in Utah, but pretty much mostly well, it is in northern Utah. You can all go also go there and go to Las Vegas. So two-hour trip, four-hour trip... It is the best.

Dar: 2:36

We don't have one here in St. George to many people's disappointment. We don't have one.

Chris: 2:44

I can I can tell you from my own reporting, the holdup is that from the city of St. George, and the City of St. George isn't willing to give them at this point. So um they kind of feel, at least the leadership, that um Trader Joe's needs to play ball a little bit more. That doesn't preclude, let's say, a Washington City or Ivins or Santa Clara from from uh entertaining them. I kind of predict it might end up in Washington.

Dar: 3:10

Okay.

Chris: 3:10

Um, but for right now, the reason people keep it's always a always go out town and talk to a and a checker who knows It's not like a checker is part of Trader Joe's corporate. Yeah. They're not, they're not, but they always tell them, well, I've heard us come to St. George. And I I've talked to the people at Trader Joe's. They're the it's not imminent within the next year. Right. I can tell you that pretty much for sure.

Dar: 3:37

But when your brother-in-law, when my brother-in-law says bring get them.

Chris: 3:43

And I you know, anytime we're in LA or Vegas, we try to get to We really do.

Dar: 3:47

And we have to limit ourselves because we want everything in the Trader Joe's, you know what I'm about. Like, there's certain chocolate chip cookies that you can only get there. Yes. Um, there's certain like nuts cover, like peanut butter pretzels. Amazing. Like, there's so much just snacks that they they are that are And then that are seasonal too.

Chris: 4:08

Even Lottie. There's a certain, there's a cat treat there.

Dar: 4:17

She does.

Chris: 4:17

If I say, Would you like some Trader Joe's? She asks for the snacks. I I I can show them really quick. Yeah, it's right near the camera here. So I'm gonna get up. So if I tell Lottie, hey, you want some Trader Joe's? I'm surprised she's not she's sleeping here, but she's having a nap. These are them.

Dar: 4:39

Yeah.

Chris: 4:40

Here kitty kitty cats. I just say Trader Joe's and she she knows.

Dar: 4:45

She likes them.

Chris: 4:46

So we have to always also get build up our supply of Trader Joe's cat snacks. Because once again, it's not like we can go anywhere. That's true. So we took some uh I I we you know, we decided once again, this is just our cell phones, but we took a little video.

Dar: 5:01

We did. So I'll I'll share it with everybody. How about that?

Chris: 5:04

So let's take a look. So when you're in Southern California, where do you really need to go?

Dar: 5:09

Trader Joe's, of course.

Chris: 5:12

Yep.

Dar: 5:13

And make sure to bring your bags. Because they have the I mean they don't they'll charge for paper cool bags. They're just awesome.

Chris: 5:24

And apparently, like on the internet right now, the tote bags They're huge. Do not ask me why.

Dar: 5:30

I'm tempted to buy a few extra just for that reason. Seriously.

Chris: 5:34

We're gonna... so, From La La to Utah, Trader Joe's tote bags will be on

Dar: 5:39

No, no, no, no, no. We're collecting them. For our own use.

Chris: 5:41

That's right. We're just collecting them. There you go.

Dar: 5:45

them. Yeah.

Chris: 5:45

Um, so we did the uh barbecue with dad. I have to say, uh, my dad who's dealing with um with liver um

Dar: 5:57

He looked so much better. Yeah.

Chris: 5:59

Yeah.

Dar: 6:02

He's not cured by any means.

Chris: 6:04

No, I mean well, he's he can't be cured. Yeah. It's not something he can't be cured. You try to extend the time as much as you can. Um he's still not the person he used to be.

Dar: 6:14

But he's getting great care. I mean, your brother and uh they're they're making sure that fed out and about, um, getting lots of good sunshine. Monty's with him. Yeah, Monty's with him. His dog, his dog. And so it's just I think he he can kind of breathe a sigh of relief a little bit, knowing that family's nearby and that people are there's people to socialize with, too. I think he was kind of lonely. Don't you think so?

Chris: 6:40

Yeah. And you know, and and it just the biggest thing caring for it is part I think I've talked, I talked last show about just how it's part of the cycle of life that you I it's almost a face f You go, you know, from starting out with your um, hey, I got married and I had kids. And now the cycle, especially of Gen X on Facebook, is watching either people they know who have unfortunately passed, um, or know, and and the issue of for loved ones is a serious issue. I mean, I uh you know, I remember covering this in Vegas just they were talking about the problem back then, as far as to care for their parents. And it it it's it's tough. Um so you know, my my one of my brothers has taken I have to say, just uh a large part of the responsibility caregiver, primary he's doing, um, and and and my and to be fair, I feel like he

Dar: 8:09

It's not like hey, dad's living in Vegas and I'm in LA, and you You know, I think he can kind of breathe a sigh of relief too. As as hard as as it is to stay up on top of everything, I think

Chris: 8:25

The biggest difference is we have a little one of those medical alert things, and it was going off all the time. And in my case, I we we you know, I have one brother who was in Vegas, but still he's not.

Dar: 8:37

Well, he was working full-time too, yeah.

Chris: 8:39

Um and I'd be alerted, I'm the second closest because I was two hours away in in St. George. So he's moved to LA with my in you know, in a uh ADU uh with you know uh at my brother's home. And you know, it's a big difference getting those alerts and he's two hours away for one of the or an hour or you know, it's a middle of work.

Dar: 9:04

Yeah.

Chris: 9:05

Um it's just but still it is no one ever prepared, you know, for in life, whether it's being a parent, whether it's being a 50-year-old, and you're not prepared for dealing with a loved

Dar: 9:24

So my dad um passed away four years ago on this month, June 27th, uh, four years ago. So yeah, we're just coming up on four years. And we mentioned him a little bit last week because of Father's the time.

Chris: 9:39

It was a positive, it was a positive weekend with family.

Dar: 9:43

It's great to see everybody. We had so much food, it was delicious.

Chris: 9:46

And it's time with other family, and also we spent time with talking about uh for me at least, know, people have their I I keep in touch with a couple people, but um the closest I those I I was on the college with um to this day. And we've all you know, one who was an exchange student anyway others in LA, others in others in other parts. Um it's interesting. Um, you know, we're all journalism students. I'm the only one who's pretty much still doing journalism. Others are teachers, yeah. One case one of the most accomplished journalism teachers in She's won a national award.

Dar: 10:35

Yeah. They're your tribe. I mean, I feel like they're they're your chosen family. Um, and I was really, I was lucky enough you guys decided to at Burbank. That's a mouthful.

Chris: 10:55

Bob's Big Boy in Burbank.

Dar: 10:57

Yes, yes.

Chris: 10:57

If you grew up you there, you know, you can say Bob's Big Boy in Burbank. Bob's Big Boy in Burbank.

Dar: 11:03

See, it's challenging.

Chris: 11:05

But the thing is, is when I was in high school, everyone wanted to go to Jerry's Deli, which doesn't even exist anymore. But basically to me, it was overpriced.

Dar: 11:15

It Jerry's not Bob's Jerry's.

Chris: 11:18

Yeah, Jerry's. It was cool because you'd always see a celebrity there. I saw Gary Coleman um bowling once, and next in the alley next to us was the cast of In Living Color. Um, and you'd always see celebrities there, and it was like a but boy, for me, it was always Big With um, you know, when I growing up, my grandpa, who worked at Warner Brothers on the and after that, Hannah Barbera, not too far away, uh, he us Burbank, which had a car hop. Um, they'd just kind of like Sonic, they would serve you in the car. We're gonna talk about that.

Dar: 11:58

Yeah, we'll talk about that, yeah.

Chris: 11:59

But um, this was always a landmark for me. And there used to be tons of Big Boys in LA and around the and just, I think, two in LA, including this one. I think there's a couple in other places. There might be one in Vegas still, if I'm correct. Um, but this was a classic one. This was one, this was one of the originals. I don't know if it was the original, but it's one of the It Um, its architecture is famous, the giant neon sign and all a celebrity spot. When um David Lynch passed away about a year or so ago, um the statue on the outside.

Dar: 12:39

I didn't know that. Wow!

Chris: 12:40

Yeah. So what you're gonna see, we're we're gonna show you our Burbank and hanging with my college a little bit.

Dar: 12:48

So you're not gonna see the college friends because we want to

Chris: 12:52

Their identity.

Dar: 12:54

Yes. But we did, I mean, we met the people that we could in person um, shared kind of a Zoom-like meeting with the others, and it was We we ate outside, and they were they were very kind to include And I just want to shout out to your friends and how I I know how much you care about them. And me being able to interact in person with them, I realize what genuine, yeah, kind people they are and how well they listen, and how what how they really do have each each other's back. Like it really is a chosen family. And people are willing to drive an hour or two to do breakfast or lunch or brunch.

Chris: 13:36

Well, in LA, an hour or two can be like two miles, but still, it but no, it it's more than that. Yeah, it's it's um so and we zoomed with friends from other at

Dar: 13:46

We brought a laptop and out on the patio and chatted, and it was a

Chris: 13:52

So let's take a look at a little bit of uh time at uh at Bob's

Dar: 14:02

We're on the 110 north in LA.

Chris: 14:05

Carpool Lane.

Dar: 14:06

Carpool Lane. Hi, Chris.

Chris: 14:08

Hello.

Dar: 14:09

Father's Day weekend. It's been good so far. Just wanted to get a little LA visuals. Got the June Gloom going.

Chris: 16:33

Coming up on our left if you see that big silver thing, the space My grandpa used to bring me here for the car hop.

Dar: 16:43

The car hop?

Chris: 16:44

He would take me to Warner Brothers Studios and see his new

Dar: 16:48

And explain for the people who are too young to know what a car hop is.

Chris: 16:52

So you park, well, Sonic. You park the car, you know, if you've gone to Sonic, same thing. You, you know, but you park the car, you order your food, they eat in the car. Yeah. Not drive through, you just eat. To the detriment of Dar, it just, especially if you're Chris, it just falls out. And months and months later you've got some Super Big Boy Combo you go.

Dar: 17:21

Please no. Please no. That's the real Bob. This one?

Chris: 17:27

Um hm. That's the real Bob.

Dar: 17:29

Look at all of these celebs right here. Oh, this one here! A of

Chris: 17:36

Well, Lightning McQueen, obviously. They filmed Summer Heat here, obviously. Hey! Hey, Jake! Hey, Jake!

Dar: 17:51

There's one over here. Oh, let's see, you know, The Beatles. It's nice to see The Beatles here. Bob used to come that Bob used to come here quite a bit. Bob Hope.

Chris: 18:00

Jonathan Winters used to frequent in here.

Dar: 18:06

And then now, Chris Reed.

Chris: 18:09

And now. Wow. I I remember late nights here when I was really young with my and table. Like on the chair on the table.

Dar: 18:24

On the bench. Yeah.

Chris: 18:25

I can't do it anymore. So right after that, we uh I took, we were together, but I took Dar on a tour of my old neighborhood where I grew up. Yeah. And what's funny is I grew up on Bellaire Avenue, not Big Bel Air. We were not rich. Um, Bellaire Avenue, B-E-L-L-A-I-R-E in No Ho. Um, North Hollywood. So let's take a look at my old digs. No Ho. Now you'll see it's we're gonna come closer is the movie I saw growing up. This was theaters over here, Valley Plaza.

Dar: 19:09

It's now a Burlington and a Ross and a Target.

Chris: 19:09

This is three stores instead of one. This all was one Sears. I remember when they were building this building.

Dar: 19:09

We've got some tall buildings.

Chris: 19:09

And it was fun as a kid watching them building it. That's So infamous North Hollywood shootout place. You can look it up. Um and um my brother and sister still lived in the and I was whole time. I was covering the LA Open at the time with Tiger Woods playing. We started seeing on the monitors in the media center, and neighborhood. So that took place right over here, the Bank of America's still there. And this on the left is first of all, this building, the Wells bell, like a bell tower, and it it was like our Big Ben. It would play on the hour, you know, dun dun dun da, and you'd And we could hear it everywhere. Um and then at noon every day, it would play a song. I found out later, I always thought it was like a tape or a No, who played like a glockenspiel or up there. He was always live. And it stopped because he died. So he also was apparently the Um but he played music for our whole neighborhood, basically Theater. At first, it used to be a Pick and Save, and then they turned six movie theaters. If you see the mini series the TV series Fallout, the second is this was Fallout Vegas. They turned We'll just keep going there's no reason to really pull in here. So we'll keep going. I always talk about the 7-Eleven I walked to all the time to Slurpee or during the Olympics, the um edition every day Olympics. It's on the right. That's the 7-Eleven I would always walk to from home. Still is a 7-Eleven. This was a Winchell's Donuts, so I think it's Pizza Hut. This is my dad's liquor store, still is, and then right next arcade. Now it's a Mexican market. But that was Too Hip. So we're gonna go up my old street, my old neighborhood, Avenue. These trees were so much shorter. These were not tall trees growing up. This was pretty open area. And now it's better. I was growing up as a kid it would be all about the tree people and grow more trees because it's gonna improve things and it it looks better with trees, Ill tell that's nice. E-bikes. I would come up the street coming up from school. We're gonna go to my school school elementary school. This is my street. Trees once again, much taller than they were when I was a kid.

Dar: 22:53

Trees grow, honey.

Chris: 22:54

Wow, yeah, true. And we planted these right here on the left.

Dar: 22:58

Oh yeah.

Chris: 23:01

These massive trees we planted them. I'm goint to park Yeah, this is my house. It was did not look this nice. And this is a tree I climbed up almost every day. Once again, much smaller. Wow. I mean, it's a completely different house in so many ways, but They really did a nice job with it I have to say. It was my dad got it through a what was called a Calvet loan for being a veteran. Because my parents couldn't afford a house, but they got a Um were what, $20,000 or something.

Dar: 23:51

So what age, how long did you live here from when to when?

Chris: 23:56

From age 2 until I went to college um I lived here. Um officially it was a two bedroom house, but we converted a boys, our bedroom was right there before Mike was born. Jason and me were in a bunkbed on the right side there, and this is where he would do the uh day school, start doing the

Dar: 24:27

Menomina.

Chris: 24:28

Menomina. Um then Mike was born. Um so we turned one of the back rooms into another bedroom, and that became Jason and Mike, and Rob and I stayed in there. Um, and later Rob got when we became a real teenager, he got his own room that was the den, and that became my room in high when I once again I always got the hand-me-downs from Rob, so so he off room. Um, wow.

Dar: 25:02

What does it feel like to be back?

Chris: 25:05

It's like everything. It's um it's like I see it and I still see the memories, and never leave you. So it's not like this is my house now. Someone else's house. But this was my house, and I remember what everything was like, like it was yesterday, even though we're talking, don't tell me it's 40, 50 years ago, but it was 40 or 50 years ago. Um and like I said, in the main front yard, all the trees that these are still here. And dad and the boys, we planted those as saplings.

Dar: 25:48

Yeah.

Chris: 25:49

So they see them. Gosh, what you would say, that's maybe at least 70 feet tall, Or 60 feet tall. And we planted those things when there were little twigs in the ground. Had to be '77 or '78 um before Mike was born. And so we just like you see things and say I did that. Uh, we planted those are the trees we planted.

Dar: 26:16

Want me to get out and show how tall they are?

Chris: 26:24

Yeah. We'll let this car go by. One time my brothers and Mike Pouse used to play catch in the middle of the street and you know, you grew up and you just yell car and you get out.

Dar: 26:34

Of course.

Chris: 26:35

But one time Bert Lancaster, this is before Field Dreams, came by in this big Chrysler. And you know, he literally did the thing from Field of Dreams He goes, Keep playing, boys.

Dar: 26:49

You wanna go?

Chris: 26:49

Wd 'll cross right here. They paved this. It's funny, this is well paved. My dad once tried to pave the backyard. This was the apple tree right here, it's now a fountain. We all got to plant a tree. So the apple tree was Rob planted that. The orange tree that was right here was the one planted for I And Jason planted a plum tree right here. And we and then Mike was a lemon tree, which was made the life. You can see how tall these trees have become that we planted. So, I'm just going to come around here. I would climb up here, Right here, I stenciled C and R. I bet if you look really, really closely, you can see kind of. I mean, I can see. I don't know if you guys see the video. There's a C right there and an R right there, and that's my I the video. I can see it. I can see my C and R. Can you see, honey?

Dar: 28:13

but I'll look at the video.

Chris: 28:14

Okay, yeah. So C R. Yeah, this was a science center. I don't think it is anymore. We used to have tadpole ponds here. Yeah, this was some of the cool classrooms. This was a science center, so we had, ah, they got rid of it. This is where my kindergarten class was. We used to have Pooh Bear , oh, they covered this up. We didn't have these extra buildings. This is my old school. We didn't have that nice playground. Jeez, these kids are so lucky. College and career ready. This is my elementary school. Monlux Elementary. I still to this day don't know who John B. Monlux actually was. Looks like they are doing some work. This is the auditorium. Still the same sign, but not that one, but the one up there. We'll go by our old cafeteria. I fell in love with LAUSD And then Mrs. Gooch adopted our school and it went away in favor of carob and sprouts.

Dar: 30:01

So where are we heading now?

Chris: 30:03

So I'm gonna go left. We're gonna go to my high school. And what's interesting is over there is Mary Ellen Drive, and we went to school with who lived on Mary Ellen Drive. Wow. Oh, remember when you used to tell you about the towers that were, you know, it was like our own little uh Stranger Things um radio station. Even the sign is exactly the sign as name show. Like it's the same lettering and everything. That's cool. Possibly it's inspired by it, but those are towers. So because those towers, you'd go on the phone, you'd always Okay, so we're coming up on the left of the my high school. Wow, they have a sign now saying the Great Wall of Los Let's first, although I'm gonna come back the Great Wall. So it stopped here, and I think they were going to expand it back to that. There's my high school, Grant High. I mean years of many 80s and 90s high school films are in here as well. So for example, Clueless. Must be summer school! We're going to go by my high school football field. We still have a farm. So we have a little farm on campus where goats would go through here all the time going baaah. Oh please stop and say it's here. Or just like the other science center it's gone. And right across the street's community college called Valley so West. Which was like, you know, okay, you didn't succeed if you end college. Now they don't have animals anymore. Could be an animals' rights thing. It's the baseball field back here. So one of the players Rod Beck and a couple others played We didn't have lights. They have lights now. This was the football field I played on. Still the same scoreboard. This is my football field. See, we have a pretty rinky dink football field. And we didn't even have lights, so we had to play nothing And in the San Fernando Valley, it gets to be about 100, 105 110. Like basically St. George weather. And so we had Hell Week in this condition, and we played games have lights. They have lights now, finally. There's always something cool though about you always had to have home day games because the great thing about day game, you were done with the game about four or five, and you had the rest of the night. You can have fun on Friday night. Otherwise, you're playing football on Friday night, and you you know. You're exhausted, you go home. Yeah. This is where I did the karate kick the sack and got away the air with one leg and knocked the It was great. TV. And a couple times under a tree. It was wooden, this is a newer bridge. It's the uh rickety wooden bridge to cross. The LA River, (inaudible).

Dar: 34:26

I can't hear what you're saying.

Chris: 34:28

Okay, so this right here, from there all the way over there, day in the world, it's in the And it's just based on the history So basically we're in the early part of the 20th century right Edison. And they it was done in 76, they added the addition about a that Olympics, and they're gonna that add the history up to 84. And right now they're working on the one more addition for the That'll be everything from 1984 to what 2028. And if you think about it, it's been a lot of history since Um, you know, we got 9-11 in there, you got um, yeah. Yeah, this is the mighty LA River. Now, if it if you get a flash flood, yeah, this thing fills up usually the mighty LA River.

Dar: 35:31

And what's on this uh the other side over here?

Chris: 35:34

I I would assume it's more of the Great Wall of Los Angeles.

Dar: 35:37

Yeah.

Chris: 35:38

Um so then you go World War I. These are the mostly students who paint who painted it. You can see that in 1976. So I'll bring the camera back a little bit so we don't drop the Um yeah, but this is my high school over here. Um I know (inaudible) but I don't see it. Um but it's where I went to high school. We had thousands of students.

Dar: 36:23

Well, I think there was 370 something in my graduating class, ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth grade. So yeah, I'd say about twelve hundred students originally. Yeah.

Chris: 36:35

Yeah. My my graduating class had 1,200 12th graders. Wow. Um the supervisor was Judith Baca uh is the artist who created this, and she's still with us, and she's still spearheading. So first part was in 76, second part was in '84, and the last That's pretty amazing. I mean, this is a hell of an accomplishment, and still the still the world record. Um, and it's gonna be bigger, so yeah.

Dar: 37:05

So after Chris took me around his neighborhood, um, he took me to another location in the Valley that was very special to me growing up. Um, so we're also gonna share that with you. Surprise! Yeah. So we are at a Valley location that if you're a movie buff, this be So I go right then left? No, no, no, left then right, then go it!

Chris: 37:27

Look at those palm trees. Damn! Do you know what that means?

Dar: 37:27

Yeah. Watch out for falling coconuts.

Chris: 38:01

So where can we possibly be?

Dar: 38:03

Yeah, this this I always wanted to find this, and this is the Karate Kid apartment, and they're in apartment twenty one flight up, Open This is the Garden of Eden. They knew what we were doing, they wanted to ruin our shot.

Chris: 38:24

So it's time to head back from LA LA to Utah. And it's about a six or seven-hour drive. We've made it a science.

Dar: 38:32

Um Yeah, we have certain stops that we always love to stop at, and

Chris: 38:41

Or uh and this might be, you know, I hope that the highway patrol is not listening, but we do put on movies like a Netflix or like They are always something that um we've seen a billion times.

Dar: 38:56

Yeah, We're not actually watching the screen. We're not watching the screen. We're basically hearing it.

Chris: 39:00

But basically, considering it's like a six to seven-hour drive, um you know, we know it's it's like a flight.

Dar: 39:09

We call it our in-flight movie.

Chris: 39:10

It's our in-flight movie. Um you kind of dictate it, makes a long flight shorter to have It does. So the same thing. You're just listening, whether it's a Back to the Future, Wars movie. What's funny though is we this is you know the cutesy Chris moment, but we have such good that usually we don't want, you one.

Dar: 39:35

Usually we might pause it and we'll be like, we'll talk about that that we're listening to, or a Or we'll even just pull a question it'll be like something occurs to us and we'll pause it and we'll be like, what do you think about that? And we'll just talk and talk.

Chris: 39:52

And we talk and talk, and suddenly we're just about on the And it's interesting though, when you drive from Los Angeles, George, Utah, you end up going through um three states um Um, and at one time, you're in one state for maybe I don't know, five or ten minutes, um, and you're going between two or three time of the year, because Arizona do Daylight Savings Time.

Dar: 40:27

That's true. I didn't think about that. So it may or may not be the same time zone as Utah, but it's so Pacific, Arizona does its own thing.

Chris: 40:36

Nevada's Pacific still, but then suddenly it's Arizona time but Zone.

Dar: 40:41

Yeah.

Chris: 40:41

And it could literally be boom, bum, bum. So you're true. You know, the modern vehicles like ours, they will automatically do that. I mean, and our phones automatically do that, but in the is it? I have no idea. Um so it but it's kind of cool. Um, you know, you go, you're in California, you're in Nevada, in

Dar: 41:02

Yeah.

Chris: 41:03

But just before you get into Utah, um is and it's the only way it's the quickest way.

Dar: 41:12

I mean, the other way is the old Highway 91, um, which you can It It's maybe 10 minutes longer.

Chris: 41:19

It adds 10 minutes to your drive.

Dar: 41:21

It's not horrible, but and sometimes if The Gorge is full, in The Gorge or a rock falls or it's they're they're doing

Chris: 41:29

And it's certainly an issue because if there's any issue on the 15 between St. George and Las Vegas, it's the only other way. There's no other way. Yeah. I mean, if the if if the f if the 15 is closed in any way if all lanes are blocked, you're not going anywhere.

Dar: 41:44

Um unless you go Highway 91, and that's no, Highway 91 is just

Chris: 41:51

Well, that's true. Yeah, but from Littlefield on, it's just the 15. There's true. Unless you're gonna go off-roading through the desert,

Dar: 42:01

I would love to see a train up the middle of the I-15 or some some alternative route. Um, I'm surprised that there isn't one, but it could it could be how all-encompassing it is. Yeah. Um, because they had to blast quite quite a bit to get through it, but it's gorgeous though.

Chris: 42:18

It really is. I i it it's it's you know, I might just talk about the hidden of The Virgin River Gorge, which people sometimes just drive through, especially if they drive through at night then and have no It it could I I I think I talked about it in the video uh that

Dar: 42:34

Yeah.

Chris: 42:34

I to me it it could very easily have been a national park or That's how beautiful it is.

Dar: 42:42

Um and the first time you saw it was our first date. Our first date.

Chris: 42:46

And I think we talked, I talked a little bit of this last it is a beautiful place.

Dar: 42:54

Nobody's ever mentioned it. Nobody's ever mentioned it.

Chris: 42:56

No one mentions that. Um going um into St. George that people realize um it's funny we watch one of our Keely. Uh they did um a video, they didn't spend much time in St. George other than Zion National Park, but they were in the like a national monument or Like, oh my goodness, it's amazing And you know, they're describing it as if it's Zion but

Dar: 43:24

Honestly, they've said Utah is one of their favorite states, they want to come back. Like, they I think they would be quite happy to live here, and we would be happy to have them. Absolutely.

Chris: 43:35

So let's take uh the last journey.

Dar: 43:37

This is what's like when you're part of the leg, yeah.

Chris: 43:39

Last part of the leg, and we were lucky enough this case that was right around sunset.

Dar: 43:46

So there's smoke in the sky a little bit so it made the sunset a footage even right as we were off the I-15, off the freeway, onto So Hope you enjoy the visuals of um the through the Virgin River George.

Chris: 44:06

This is the last part. This is the to Utah part coming up.

Dar: 44:10

That's right. So, Chris, we're driving through Vegas. Yeah. On our way back home from California. What do you miss Vegas? I know you had a lot of fun here.

Chris: 44:22

It is a great as a resident, as a local, it's a great place to it Especially Henderson in Summerland. It's really weird in that it has a small town feeling. And there are also cool things. Like for for one thing, everything's a 24 hour town, not So you could be in the middle of the night if you have the or go to the market at 3 a.m. and the market's open.

Dar: 44:49

Yeah. Yeah.

Chris: 44:54

And I I remember there's a couple times, especially in the of supermarket, and a performer from du Soleil would just show up.

Dar: 45:03

In costume?

Chris: 45:04

Oh, yeah, they didn't have time to take costume off. So they're in their full Cirque du Soleil outfit.

Dar: 45:09

Just getting groceries before they go home. Yeah. What time would that be? Like midnight or 2 a.m.

Chris: 45:17

3 a.m. Wow. Yeah. And plus I I I did a lot of swing shift here.

Dar: 45:21

Yeah.

Chris: 45:22

It's never a person's never meant to do that. Yeah, it's just really no matter what, your your your brain I don't know how they worked in places where they have midnight sun early.

Dar: 45:35

Right.

Chris: 45:36

Brain says it is night. I'm not supposed to be up to everything.

Dar: 45:40

Yeah.

Chris: 45:41

But you could, you know, it just it really is. I mean, yeah, it's got the heat. It's like St. George in that respect. I mean, it can be really, really, really hot. You know, there's Vegas. Like St. George has four months of perfect weather. So two months of perfect weather, bracketed by four months of in St. George. Really dry heat. Then four cold months. Not quite, you know, East Coast, cold, I mean, like where you feel the season.

Dar: 46:19

Right. Um I don't want to interrupt you, but we have the Allegiance

Chris: 46:24

Check this out.

Dar: 46:25

Yeah.

Chris: 46:25

I love this place. I love the fact that this video screen on the outside, it's so if you're inside the stadium, you just look out and you freeway here.

Dar: 46:34

Yeah.

Chris: 46:35

But we see a video screen. And I'm surprised this place wasn't used for the World Cup it been great for the World Cup.

Dar: 46:42

Yeah.

Chris: 46:43

You have the rooms, you have a really good stadium. It's a great place to watch a game, I have to say.

Dar: 46:48

Yeah.

Chris: 46:48

More than SoFi because it's just it's not as massive.

Dar: 46:51

Yeah.

Chris: 46:54

Um but I remember being here and we didn't have any pro teams, I

Dar: 47:02

Yeah.

Chris: 47:02

Because we have the local base combined with if you're a or if else, and you have to pick which game am I gonna go to. Do you really want to go to the road on the road to watch your to go to Las Vegas?

Dar: 47:18

Yeah.

Chris: 47:18

You know, yeah.

Dar: 47:19

So no shade against Cleveland.

Chris: 47:22

No shade against Cleveland, but you know, it it's but still, I

Dar: 47:26

I'm going to spin around here T-Mobile Arena.

Chris: 47:28

Golden Knights. And first year, I mean, I was a Kings fan, but the first year they go to the Stanley Cup, a team of Misfits, they call themselves the Misfits, and they go all the way.

Dar: 47:40

Yeah.

Chris: 47:41

Um, no team in any sport has ever done that, or you know, I mean

Dar: 47:50

And, man, Vegas loves their Knights. They are loyal.

Chris: 47:54

And because that Vegas will always be the number one team here, Yeah, the Knights. Yeah. Um doesn't matter the Raiders came here, the A's came NBA soon um they just and and it was a fact that was the time of the at the concert. A lot of people died, and everyone here knew someone who was I I had to stay up and help somebody who was near someone who of their life. They still have PTSD about it.

Dar: 48:26

You you walked this person through. They were a co-worker of yours, and you walked them through on the phone. Yeah. Yeah.

Chris: 48:32

And I couldn't go to sleep either because of that whole thing. And so finally, I just everyone that morning, I do mean blood, try to do something.

Dar: 48:43

Wow, that's great.

Chris: 48:44

And so I'm at the blood thing. I ended up being interviewed by the New York Times that day just a human in the universe and the Knights show up, and we didn't I mean, the hockey team hadn't played one game yet, but the to donate blood.

Dar: 49:00

Wow, that's fantastic.

Chris: 49:02

And instantly it's like, well, there are and you would see It's part of as a local, Las Vegas is the biggest small town in the country.

Dar: 49:11

Yeah.

Chris: 49:12

Um, we'd see just players in their cars driving around, and and we'd say hi to them and high back. Vegas is a great place. Yeah, it's a city of sin. Yeah, it's but it's just it's a that shouldn't exist for where it The lack of water, I mean, you talk about the heat in St. George, it's always 10 degrees more here. So it's just it it's it's it's a magical place. You know, and if you like neon and lights like I do, I mean no

Dar: 49:52

Yeah.

Chris: 49:52

Uh but it could be a depressing place at the same time,

Dar: 49:59

Yeah.

Chris: 50:00

If you can't control your sins, it's not a place to be.

Dar: 50:02

Yeah. Too many temptations.

Chris: 50:04

Too many temptations. Uh but boy, I did love living here. So this is the Virgin River Gorge, which really marks the And to me, if this wasn't the road, basically what takes, this be national monument itself. It's just beautiful. It's almost like a mini-grand canyon point.

Dar: 52:48

When was the first time you saw this?

Chris: 52:50

So, I mean, this is the thing. I'm coming to see you for the first time.

Dar: 52:53

Yeah.

Chris: 52:54

And this was really the first impression people get of St. George and Utah.

Dar: 52:59

Yeah.

Chris: 53:00

And they realize this is much more than what they thought it was.

Dar: 53:04

Yeah.

Chris: 53:05

And so immeditely I'm like, where did this come from? Like, wow. I mean, the only thing that comes to mind for many things in as concerned and everything else, is wow. Uh, whether it's this, um Bryce Canyon, Cedar Breaks, the un is Cedar Breaks, of course, Zion National Park. That the scenery is just so awe-striking, I guess for lack of a better term. So it was a preview of what was to come, um, of just how this Um I'll say about any kind of these rock formations in St. George or Southern Utah in general, is that depending on the of

Dar: 54:02

Yeah.

Chris: 54:02

So when people say, Do you ever get tired of these views? I always reply, I've never seen the same view twice.

Dar: 54:09

That's true. Depending on the time of year.

Chris: 54:13

Yeah, where the sun is, the time of traveling.

Dar: 54:15

Yeah. Um and speaking of, I mean, it's 8:35 um on Father's Day Yeah. And yeah, we're just heading back from Los Angeles and went

Chris: 54:33

And that's the other thing. You travel literally through three states um in in a lot of two or three time zones because especially this time of year Arizona doesn't spring back for Daylight Savings Time. So that's another thing you have to. Your time changes, you lose an hour or again an hour, depending on which direction you're traveling.

Dar: 54:57

Yeah.

Chris: 55:00

And because St. 30 at this time of year. We got the Virgin River going right below us.

Dar: 55:19

I kinda missed it.

Chris: 55:27

So that this right here would be a national park in it's own So I moral of the story, is you sometimes the amazing views you have just in everyday life that's not called a national park or a And also the importance of keeping us. I mean, why put houses on these beautiful just I mean just at that's other people who are coming to St. George and say, you know. I've heard people who come through here and think this is Zion

Dar: 56:28

Yeah, I've heard that too.

Chris: 56:29

That's how beautiful it is. Yeah. It's just a Virgin River Gorge.

Dar: 56:32

Yeah.

Chris: 56:33

So if you live in St. George to us, it's just a gorge.

Dar: 56:36

A lot of people drive from Mesquite to St. George every day, or vice versa, right?

Chris: 56:40

Right. But I truly never get tired of these views.

Dar: 56:47

Yeah.

Chris: 57:50

Smoke clouds and wildfires, unfortunately.

Dar: 57:51

I mean, we have amazing sunsets anyway. Yeah. But then you add the smoke. Here, let me see.

Chris: 57:58

This one particular is in an uninhabited area.

Dar: 58:01

Yeah. So this side of town has a lot of the car dealerships. But we it looks like we're gonna run into a really nice sunset Yeah.

Chris: 58:43

I was coming to see you for the first time. Well, we're back and that's it for today's show. If you enjoy we subscribe our video, subscribe to channel, you know, play the background, um on YouTube and Spotify, and please feel free to share our links on your social media with your friends and

Dar: 1:01:11

And in the comments below this video, I would like you to share you episode. Um, have you been to any of the places that we've talked about And you can always reach out to us. Um you can call 435-990-5824, or you can email us at gmail.com. Thanks for being with us today, and we'll see you again on Monday. Until then, have a great week.

Chris: 1:01:36

Have yourself a great week.

Dar: 1:01:37

Thanks.