Browsed by
Author: steveahenry

Grand Canyon Arizona

Grand Canyon Arizona

“You’re only human. You live once and life is wonderful, so eat the red velvet cupcake.”
-Emma Stone

WELCOME TO ARIZONA: THE GRAND CANYON STATE

Arizona is one of the most beautiful and dangerous places I have ever seen in my life. While driving through the state, all I could think about was the ocean. I felt like if we ever saw what the ocean looked like without water covering it, it would look close to Arizona. Sprawling vistas. Amazing scenery. Mysterious looking vegetation. And of course, the Grand Canyon itself, which looks beautiful, massive, deep and scary.

I actually went and visited Grand Canyon National Park, which is on the east side of the state. I did not know this but there is only one way in and one way out. I thought I would be able to drive in, take in the sights and move on over to New Mexico. NOPE! And this is where the danger comes in.

Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona
Fanta selfie at Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona.

I ended up driving out of Grand Canyon National Park just after sunset and it was the scariest thing I think I’ve done while driving in a car. Why?

Well, to get out of Grand Canyon National Park, you have to drive about 42 miles. Your average speed is anywhere between 35 and 55 miles per hour. It doesn’t sound too bad but there are no lamp posts, so it’s dark dark dark!

AND … Grand Canyon National Park has signs for deer, bison and cattle crossings so you have to be on EXTRA alert while navigating out of the monument.

I spotted 7 or 8 deer but only 1 was actually in the middle of the freeway. Scared the crap out of me! As it turns out, my high beams were on and I think they are very much attracted to that light. So I used my high beams sparingly.

Consequently, what you see on TV is so true. When a deer looks into your headlights, it just stands there, in the middle of the road until you turn off your high beams or slow down so it can run away.

That was not fun at all.

The end of Grand Canyon National Park had cabins you could rent and places to park your RV if you had one but I didn’t have that kind of time and to be honest, I didn’t know those were options. It’s pretty cool.

Grand Canyon Panorama
Grand Canyon Panorama
Utah – Where my GPS went haywire…

Utah – Where my GPS went haywire…

“I used to want to be a movie star so I wouldn’t have to live in trailers anymore. And now that I make movies, I spend a lot of my life living in trailers.”
-Roseanne Barr

WELCOME TO UTAH: LIFE ELEVATED

After waking up with a wee bit of a stomach ache and spending an extra couple hours in bed, I took another few selfies in Las Vegas and jetted my way over to Saint George, Utah.

It was a pretty short drive. About 2 hours or so.

Welcome to Utah sign
Welcome to Utah!

Although there’s pretty much nothing to do in Utah (or maybe that’s just what it seemed like from this small town), the state is amazingly beautiful. I enjoyed the cool rock formations and awesome scenery.

When the weather is anywhere close to manageable numbers, say, 70 or 80 degrees, I would love to visit both Arizona and Utah and explore more of their beautiful terrain.

While in Saint George, I stopped by a Ross Dress for Less and bought some slippers because I didn’t want my feet sitting in my shoes while the temperature did jumping jacks between 99 and 106 degrees. Boy, it was hot!

I must say, I saw probably one of the most beautiful women I’ve seen so far on my trip in Utah. She was in an El Pollo Loco with her husband and three kids. Jesus Heavenly Father, she was hot. Just like the weather.

It made me want to explore different parts of the state to observe the hotness meter for Utah-ian women.

But alas, I didn’t have the time and zoomed on over to Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona (which by the way had some hotties as well).

Oh, one last thing … when driving through and exploring either Utah or Arizona, make sure you keep a paper copy of any directions you may need. An old school navigational map is not a bad idea either. My Waze app starting acting a fool and didn’t know where the heck I was. Maybe aliens were in the area interfering with my cell phone?

Utah destroyed my GPS

City of St George Utah

Welcome to Las Vegas

Welcome to Las Vegas

“Every day, you have to be better than one person. And what is required each day is always different.”
-Andre Agassi

WELCOME TO LAS VEGAS: SIN CITY BABY!

It seemed like it took forever to get out of Los Angeles this past Friday but I finally made it to one of my favorite cities in the world: Las Vegas.

Fanta helps when it's 113 degrees! (near Vegas in Baker, CA)
Fanta helps when it’s 113 degrees!

My drive took about 5.5 hours. It usually takes anywhere from 3.5 to 4.5 hours depending on how fast you drive (or speed) but I made a couple stops along the way to soak in the ride. One of those stops was Baker, CA, which was beautifully nicknamed, “Gateway to Death Valley”.

It was 113 degrees while I was there and boy, could you feel it. The heat literally slaps you in the face and back into your car.

I always like to stop in Baker because it is home to probably one of the largest digital vertical thermometers in the US. The top of the thermometer read “134” but it was not illuminated. 113 was. Thank goodness!

You know it’s hot when you see scorpions walking around with umbrellas.

Las Vegas was amazing as usual. Friday night, I managed to talk my way past the ridiculous line at Drais nightclub in The Cromwell and watch Nelly perform live. He was actually pretty good.

Nelly concert at Drais nightclub in Vegas.
Nelly concert at Drais nightclub.

Saturday evening, I rode The Linq Wheel (aka The High Roller). That thing was amazing. I managed to buy a ticket online for $47 (if you buy it using your smartphone, you get a discount) and it included an open bar, which was a nice pre-game warmup before going out later that night.

The Linq Wheel aka "The Eye" in Vegas
The Linq Wheel aka “The Eye”

To end my Las Vegas trip, I spent Sunday at Red Rock Resort & Casino soaking up some sun in a Cabana that was rented out by a friend of mine. The pool was great as well. It’s the best thing you can jump into when the temperature outside is 103 degrees.

And finally, my friends Tracy, Marcus and myself rounded out the evening by playing a few games of bowling. As it turns out, Red Rock also had a bowling alley within their facility.

I have to say… it is very dangerous to start a cross country trip in Vegas. I will never do this again. Las Vegas is so much fun that it should’ve been my last stop. And my friends love to drink so I needed to be careful because I have 47 other stops to make and it wouldn’t have been cool if I couldn’t wake up and take my butt to my next stop — Utah!

See you there.

Welcome to my Cross Country Travel Blog

Welcome to my Cross Country Travel Blog

Steve in Paris, France
Drinking Fanta under The Eiffel Tower

Greetings humans.

Thanks for stopping by my travel blog, #WhereIsSteve.

My name is Steve Henry, I am a Computer Engineer and Comedian in the Los Angeles area and I love to travel.

For years, I have talked about my desire to drive across the country and do all of my favorite things while doing so: Perform standup comedy, Play golf, See new sights, See old friends and Make new friends.

Well, I finally buckled down, made some plans, booked some dates and created this blog to capture my journey.

Sit back, relax, enjoy and feel free to chime in, ask any questions or offer suggestions on where one should go while visiting any of the 48 states.

Wish me luck.