Writing about Utah is difficult for two reasons. First, I was there one time, albeit for two weeks, but I have no recent memories of the state because my only trip was in 1999. A lot has changed since then. Second, all of the photographs of my Utah trip are nondigital and thus my photographs are not as crisp at they should be to do justice to the breathtaking scenery. I loved the time I spent in Utah. It is a beautiful state and it deserves to have better pictures posted of all the memorable places we visited.
We started and ended our Utah trip in Salt Lake City. The first week of the trip was spent at a work-related seminar on Law and Economics and was held at a ski resort in Park City, a little over one- half hour drive from the Salt Lake City Airport. The seminar took place in July and there was no skiing involved, but Park City was still a lovely place to visit. https://www.visitparkcity.com/ We rode the ski lift to the top of the mountain and hiked down to the lodge enjoying the beautiful views of surrounding mountains. There were interesting places to eat in and around Park City, plus we were able to go to Salt Lake City and even to Great Salt Lake a couple of afternoons when classes finished early. The trip to Great Salt Lake was especially memorable because I remember being surprised to find all that water in the middle of the desert. It is amazing to think of Brigham Young and the Mormons coming through that mountain pass and seeing all that water and believing they had reached the promised land. I wonder how the settlers felt upon the realization that the lake, as beautiful as it is, was a huge salt water lake. Of course the Mormon trek was intended as a journey to a place nobody else wanted in order to escape the persecution that had plagued them in the east. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/mormons-settle-salt-lake-valley Thus the Great Salt Lake Valley became their promised land, even if it was not a land of milk and honey. Today there is a state park at the lake and it is a great spot to spend a July evening. https://stateparks.utah.gov/parks/great-salt-lake/
Salt Lake City itself is an interesting town. It has the wide streets and grid like organization of many western towns. The elaborate visitors’ center and building complex of the headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints provides the leading tourist attraction in Salt Lake City. https://www.visitutah.com/things-to-do/history- culture/mormon-heritage/temple-square Of course non-Mormons may not enter the actual “church” but usually the public is allowed to attend a weekly presentation of the choir performed in an acoustically perfect tabernacle. We enjoyed our time in Salt Lake City, but the most perfect part of our Utah trip was the second week when we took a road trip around the state and visited the Big Five national parks. https://www.travelinusa.us/utah-mighty-five/
Our Great Circle Route around Utah brought us to all five of the famous national parks, Arches, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, Zion, and Bryce. I cannot begin to describe those parks in my allotted 1000 words and of course a simple google search will give you a wealth of information about each park. I can’t recommend one over the other. We stopped at each park and took hikes into the desert. All five are spectacular. I can tell you that if you visit in July the smartest thing you can do is get up before sunrise and be on the trail as the morning is breaking. Hiking in the heat of the day is not recommended. However, if I had to pick one place in Utah where I would like to return, it would not be to one of Big Five parks. My absolute favorite spot in Utah was Cedar Breaks National Monument. At over 10,000 feet it was cool on even the hottest of July days. When we reached the ranger’s station a fire was burning in the lodge – in July. Cedar Breaks in and of itself makes a trip to Utah a delight. https://www.nps.gov/cebr/index.htm
One further park tidbit I must add before I leave Utah. I mentioned the North Rim of the Grand Canyon when talking about Arizona and New Mexico. Websites describe the North Rim (which is wholly in the state of Arizona) as being on the Utah side of the canyon. We actually visited the North Rim while making this Grand Circle through the Utah parks. It was a bit of a detour, but any visit to the North Rim is going to be a bit of a detour. https://www.nps.gov/grca/planyourvisit/directions_n_rim.htm My advice is don’t miss the opportunity to include the North Rim on your Utah visit.
At this point my story has passed through 6 decades, starting in the 40’s and progressing to the 90’s, and I have described my memories in 26 different states up through the present time. That means I still have 24 states to explore on this blog. I have already visited 23 of them. The fiftieth state will hopefully be visited sometime soon, but time will tell. As you know by now, visiting a state means planning some sort of adventure there, and while I have passed through that fiftieth state a couple of times, getting there for an adventure is challenging for me. In the meantime, the scenery is about to change again as we wander into the new millennium with a lot of travels during the first two decades of the 21st century and 24 states left to visit.
Memories - A Second Chance at Happiness 