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I love Utah.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again  I love Utah.  See?  I don’t love everything about it, but that list is far shorter than the things I do love about it and I want you to love it to.

1 . The National Parks

Utah has five National Parks – Arches, Canyonlands, Bryce, Capitol Reef, and Zion.  I visited three last year, and all five this year.  They all have different things to offer and there’s so much to do at all of them!  Arches has a zillion arches to see.  Canyonlands has three whole different areas!  Bryce is awesome no matter what the weather is like.  Capitol Reef has arches, gorges, and goosenecks.  And Zion has some of the best hikes around like the Narrows, the Subway (which you need a permit for), and Angels landing.  And that’s just to name a few things.

2 . Everything that isn’t a National Park

Goblin Valley.  Little Wild Horse Canyon.  Highway 95.  Lake Powell.  Escalante.  The Dixie National Forest.  Burr Trail.  The Henry Mountains.  Valley of the Gods.  Buckskin Gulch.  Butler Wash Ruins.  Coral Pink Sand Dunes.  Kanarraville Falls.  And this is all just in the south.  The north has the mountains.  The Salt Flats.  Dinosaur National Monument.  Flaming Gorge.  Great Salt Lake.  Fantasy Canyon.  I could go on forever.

3 . The Mountains

This is pretty self explanatory.  I like them all.  The Henry’s, the Abajos, the La Sals, the Wasatch, and the Uinta Mountains around Salt Lake just to name a few.  Of course I like them the most with snow on them, but they’re quite enjoyable all the time, really.

4 . The Wildlife

I saw so much wildlife this summer!  Rattlesnakes, tons of kit foxes, a coyote, a bobcat, giant beetles, a pronghorn, huntsman spiders, a tarantula, mountain lion tracks (not an actual mountain lion), way too many jack rabbits, all the lizards, even a frog, and quite a few deer in Capitol Reef.  All I needed to see was a mountain lion and one of the buffalo in the Henrys.

5 . Salt Lake City 

As far as cities go, this is one of the prettiest I’ve been to, rivaling Antigua, Guatemala.  Both have the striking landscape of mountains and volcanos or mountains surrounding them.  It has all kinds of super cool coffee shops that I can never resist.  The City Creek mall it super pretty and has an awesome view of the Temple.  The streets still confuse me, but I still really enjoy the city and can’t wait to go back.

6 . Lake Powell

I might be biased about this one since it was my view for six month, but Lake Powell is awesome.  The Canyons are endless.  The cave are plenty.  And Houseboats are fun.  It may be a controversial lake, but it really is one of my favorite places now.  The whole Glen Canyon area is definitely worth a visit.  It’s a National Recreation Area, so it may count under the first point, but oh well.  It gets its own.

  

Have you been to Utah?  What did you do there?  Did you like it?  Do you want to go?  What is your favorite thing about it?