Stay Utah Rentals, Vacation Rentals in Utah

Utah is a Rocky Mountain state bordered by Idaho and Wyoming to the north, Colorado to the east, Arizona to the south, and Nevada to the west. The state is located in the center of the Rocky Mountain region and is halfway between Canada and Mexico. With an average elevation of 6,700 feet, it is the third highest state in the country. Utah's landscape includes snow-covered mountains, lakes, valley oases, salt flats, deserts, and a plateau country with interesting rock formations and multicolored canyons. Utah is named for the Ute Indians, one of many tribes that lived in the region before the Mormons settled there. The state has several nicknames. It is known as the "Salt Lake State." Utah was once named "Deseret," meaning "honeybee," symbolizing the appreciation that the state's residents have for hard work. Another of the state's nicknames is the "Beehive State," which is a tribute to its people's industrious spirit.

In 1776, as Americans battled for independence from England, Catholic Fathers Dominguez and Escalante explored and documented Utah's terrain. They were followed by other Spanish explorers and Mexican traders. In the 1820's fur trappers, including Jedediah Smith, William Ashley and Jim Bridger, discovered northern Utah's abundant trapping opportunities. During 1847, 1,637 Mormons migrated to the Salt Lake Valley seeking religious freedom, followed by soldiers, miners, and sheep herders. By the time the first transcontinental railroad was completed at Promontory, Utah, in May of 1869, more than 60,000 Mormons had come to Utah by covered wagon or handcart. Utahans, regardless of varied ethnic and religious backgrounds, share a sense that Utah's past is an important part of the state's future. From early settlement days, the cultural arts have been an important component of cities and towns across the state. Today, this tradition remains. Many communities produce pageants, plays and other events that showcase Utah's culture and heritage. Some of these productions have religious or historical themes; some are satirical and poke fun at our unique culture.

The climate of Utah is generally semiarid to arid. Temperatures are favorable along the Wasatch Front, where there are relatively mild winters. At Salt Lake City, the normal daily mean temperature is 11°C, ranging from –2°C in January to 26°C in July. The record high temperature, 47°C, was set at Saint George on 5 July 1985; the record low temperature, –56°C, in Peter's Sink, on 1 February 1985. The average annual precipitation varies from less than 5 inches in the west to over 40 inches in the mountains, with Salt Lake City receiving 16.5 inches per year during the period (1971–2000). The annual snowfall is about 59 inches and remains on the higher mountains until late summer.

Salt Lake City: Sat in the void between two mammoth mountain ranges, Salt Lake City is something of a hill-lovers Mecca, having hosted the Winter Olympics back in 2002.

Park City: Park City, Utah is a mountain town just 30 minute drives from downtown Salt Lake City. Close by but a world apart from the rest of the Utah culturally.

Moab: Never heard of it? There’s no reason why you should have: Moab’s just a tiny dot on the sizable Utah landscape, but it’s not the town that would bring you here.

Saint George: St. George is a small community located in the southwest corner of Utah approximately 120 miles northeast of Las Vegas.

Springdale: Springdale is the gateway city at the southwest entrance to Zion National Park. This is a small community reliant wholly on the National Park and the large numbers of people who visit the park for its existence. And with Zion’s beauty, this little community has provided much of the lodging, dining, and other travel needs and services for the park visitors. Nearly the entire town is along one main two lane road.

Kanab: This small town of 10,000 or maybe less sits in the center of the southwest’s national parks and amazing geological scenery, with coral pink cliffs, sand dunes, volcanic craters and lava flows.

Bryce Canyon: Bryce Canyon National Park is a national park located in southwestern Utah in the United States. Contained within the park is Bryce Canyon.

Wendover: Wendover, Utah is on the western border of Utah along I-80. The town consists of cheap motels along the main road and the Wendover airfield.

Mexican Hat: Located just north-east of Monument Valley, this extremely small community of less than a hundred has made a name for itself due to a stone feature that looks like a sombrero or hat.

Tourism is also important to Utah's economy. Float in the state's Great Salt Lake, the largest salt-water lake in the Western Hemisphere. Water in the lake is saltier than ocean water and, because of this; people can easily float in it. Listen to the famous Mormon Tabernacle Choir in Salt Lake City, the state's capital. Salt Lake City is also famous because, in 1861, the world's first transcontinental telegraph message was sent across wires that met there. Many people visit the state for its natural landmarks. See oddly shaped and beautifully colored rocks at Bryce Canyon National Park and Zion National Park. Witness an automobile racing trial at Bonneville Salt Flats.

I-15 and I-80 are the main interstate highways in the state, where they intersect and briefly merge near downtown Salt Lake City. I-15 traverses the state north-to-south, entering from Arizona near St. George, paralleling the Wasatch Front, and crossing into Idaho near Portage. I-80 spans northern Utah east-to-west, entering from Nevada at Wendover, crossing the Wasatch Mountains east of Salt Lake City, and entering Wyoming near Evanston. I-84 West enters from Idaho near Snowville and merges with I-15 from Tremonton to Ogden, then heads southeast through the Wasatch Mountains before terminating at I-80 near Echo Junction. I-70 splits from I-15 at Cove Fort in central Utah and heads east through mountains and rugged desert terrain, providing quick access to the many national parks and national monuments of southern Utah, and has been noted for its beauty. The 103 mile stretch from Salina to Green River is the longest stretch of interstate in the country without services and, when completed in 1970, was the longest stretch of entirely new highway constructed in the United States since the Alaska Highway was completed in 1943.

TRAX, a light rail system in the Salt Lake Valley, consists of three lines. The Sandy line begins in the suburb of Sandy and ends in Downtown Salt Lake City. The Mid-Jordan line begins in the Daybreak Community, a southwestern valley suburb, and ends at the University of Utah. The West Valley Line begins in West Valley ending in Downtown Salt Lake City. The system is undergoing an expansion that will see the completion of 2 additional lines by 2014. The line to the Salt Lake International Airport is especially anticipated. The Utah Transit Authority, which operates TRAX, also operates a bus system that stretches across the Wasatch Front and west into Tooele, and provides winter service to the ski resorts east of Salt Lake City. Several bus companies provide access to the ski resorts in winter, and local bus companies also serve Logan, St. George, and Cedar City. A commuter rail line known as Frontrunner operates between Salt Lake City and Pleasant View, and is undergoing an expansion south to Provo. Amtrak's California Zephyr, with one train in each direction daily, runs east-west through Utah with stops in Green River, Helper, Provo, and Salt Lake City.

Salt Lake City International Airport is the only international airport in the state and serves as a hub of Delta Air Lines. The airport has consistently ranked first in on-time departures and had the fewest cancellations among United States airports. The airport has non-stop service to over 100 destinations throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico, as well as to Paris and Tokyo. Canyon lands Field, Cedar City Regional Airport, Provo Municipal Airport, Saint George Municipal Airport, and Vernal Regional Airport all provide limited commercial air service. An entirely new regional airport at St. George opened on January 12, 2011, replacing the old airport that existed on top of a plateau and had no room for expansion. SkyWest Airlines is also headquartered in St. George and maintains a hub at Salt Lake City. Frontier Airlines recently began daily non-stop service from Provo to the airline's hub in Denver. The service has so far been successful.