Travel Well Without Traveling Too Far
When Salt Lake City is your home, all the wonders of Utah are easily within your reach.
Freedom, opportunity, and the means to embrace both. For those prone to exploring, these are the three ingredients necessary to embrace their wanderlust. They’re also three things many senior find themselves in possession of when they transition to retirement. And while many of them scratch that travel itch with far-flung adventures across the globe, there are often times when going halfway around the globe just feels like a bit too much effort.
Fortunately, a truly inspiring excursion doesn’t have to involve months of careful planning followed by a mad scramble to renew your passport. In fact, it’s often a fairly simple task to discover relaxing and/or invigorating adventures just beyond your usual environs. And for those who reside at Summit Vista here in Salt Lake City, Utah, their luck runneth over. Because the Beehive State is, pardon our pun, abuzz with opportunities that make it possible to stay closer to home without feeling like they just stayed at home.
To help get you started down the not-terribly-long road to adventure around Utah, we’ve highlighted a few of the many, many places you can experience, enjoy, and eventually endorse whenever the mood strikes:
Park City – While this idyllic mountain town may be best known for hosting the Sundance Film Festival (and the scores of celebrities that attend each year), its charms are not limited to the cinephiles among us. Nestled in the Wasatch Mountains, Park City is less than a one-hour drive from Summit Vista. Home to world-class ski resorts like Deer Valley and Park City Mountain, the town is no less enticing during the summer when its extensive hiking and mountain biking trails can be put to good use. The historic Main Street — with its eclectic shops, art galleries, and gourmet dining — adds to the town’s vibrant culture.
National Parks – Utah boasts several national parks offering breathtaking landscapes and diverse adventures. If one opts to head south of Salt Lake City, a wonderful driving tour of several of the parks can be easily managed. Canyonlands National Park, with its dramatic canyons and mesas, invites exploration through hiking and river rafting. Within Canyonlands, the Needles district showcases vibrant, spire-like rock formations that you’ve undoubtedly seen in numerous photographs. Nearby, Arches National Park features more than 2,000 natural stone arches. Capitol Reef National Park, just a short drive away, features colorful cliffs and domes, offering scenic drives and hiking trails through the Waterpocket Fold (a literal fold in the earth’s crust). And while Moab and its surroundings aren’t a federally recognized park, they are certainly considered a national treasure to the thousands of off-roaders and mountain bikers who make the pilgrimage there every year.
Uinta Mountains – The Uinta Mountain range, located just 2 1/2 hours northeast of Salt Lake City, is a pristine wilderness known for its rugged beauty and outdoor recreation. The highest east-west running mountain range in the lower 48, it is home to Kings Peak — Utah’s tallest summit at 13,528 feet. The Uinta range offers abundant hiking, backpacking, and fishing opportunities, with over 400 miles of trails and numerous alpine lakes. The range’s dense forests, wildflower meadows, and glacial cirques make it a haven for nature enthusiasts and adventurers seeking a bit more solitude and no shortage of scenic vistas.
Bonneville Salt Flats – Head west about 1 1/2 hours west of Salt Lake City, and you’ll a surreal environment of historical significance. The Bonneville Salt Flats — a vast, shimmering expanse of salt crust — is renowned for its role in land speed testing. Every August, the Flats draw enthusiasts and racers from around the world as they attempt break records during Speed Week. The rest of the year, feel free to drive on the salt yourself as it is open to the public.
To be honest, we’ve barely skimmed the (salt-encrusted) surface of what Summit Vista residents can explore just beyond their own front doors. More parks, more mountains, more art, more out-of-the-way places to relax and recharge abound. So even if you’re one who tends to prefer your final destination include people who speak a different language, consider sticking a bit closer to home from time to time. It will, we believe, make you even happier you decided to call Utah and Summit Vista your home.
At Summit Vista, we believe every one of our residents deserves to experience life at the top. Part of that is helping our residents embrace the joys and wider perspectives that come with traveling — including the use of our community’s Jeep [Model] for those requiring a vehicle that’s a bit beefier (or at least more spacious) than their own. If you’d like to discover what makes Utah’s first Life Plan Community so special, we invite you to contact our team online or call us at 801-758-3138 to schedule a tour or learn more about life at Summit Vista.
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