Editor’s note: I have been to Moab once, to spend a single day in each of the two local national parks. Sam, however, has spent more time, and has some wonderful recommendations for the area that make sense given his status as a Utah resident. For more of Sam’s amazing writing, click here. I am…
Editor’s note: what a wonderful story of bonding with a newborn through travel! Sam’s adventures may be changing, but I have no doubt that his stories, while a bit different, will be just as inspiring to all of us. For more of Sam’s incredible writing, click here to visit his index page. As everyone knows,…
Page, Arizona sits at the northern border of the state, just a couple miles south of Utah, where Glen Canyon Dam (and bridge) allows passage over the Colorado River. To the east lies Lake Powell. To the west is a mysterious area called the Arizona Strip, the northwest corner of the state that is separated…
It is one of the most iconic photos on Instagram, seeming to come right out of a Windows background. Horseshoe Bend, where the mighty Colorado River makes a perfect U-turn, is a bucket list destination for so many people, myself included. But it is just one part of a much larger system, defined by the…
In 1996, President Clinton set aside nearly 1.9 million acres of remote land in southern Utah, land so remote it was the last to be mapped in the country. In 2017, President Trump reduced those protections, cutting the size of the land set aside in half. But what is the story of Grand Staircase -…
Editor’s note: Thank you to Sam for another amazing story from his Utah home. For more tales of Sam’s travels, near and far, click here to visit his index page. The Great Salt Lake is the largest lake in the United States outside of the Great Lakes and it is from this lake that Utah’s…
Editor’s note: I have been pressuring Sam for a while to write more about his home as a break from his amazing worldwide adventures. Today, he indulged me, and I’m so glad he did! To read more from this incredible writer - and person - click here to visit his index. For three years, I…
Editor's note: Our resident national parks expert takes us to a less traveled one in Utah. For all of Christian's posts here on The Royal Tour, click here. When I travel alone, I have a habit of showing up at dusk to a town I’ve only known existed for the last few hours, and parking…
Tourism to religious sites normally isn't associated with America. The holy sites of Jerusalem, St. Peter's and the Vatican, the mosques of Istanbul, or temples and shrines of Japan or Thailand, these are known around the world for being destinations in and of themselves. But in the US? It's hard to imagine someone visiting Washington…
The Joseph Smith Memorial Building looks like an old luxury hotel, which is unsurprising because it is, in fact, and old luxury hotel converted to offices, conference halls, and banquet rooms for Salt Lake City's most famous entity: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). Members, formerly referred to as Mormons as a…