All told, you could easily spend a week driving through this mountainous state of red-rock canyons and forested countryside and only begin to scratch the surface. Salt Lake and the nearby ski towns are, of course, best known as winter destinations, but unless your main interest is snow sports, consider saving a trip to Utah for the summer months. ALSO ON GAY.COM Head to Colorado for more road trips. But the number of queers living here has increased dramatically in recent years, and today you will find a highly cohesive and visible community, and one where lesbians and gay men generally get along well. Several inns and hotels in Salt Lake are quite welcoming of gays and lesbians.
Rooms facing south have excellent views of the city skyline and the mountains beyond.
The latter sponsors the queer-friendly Sundance Film Festival each January, with films screened in Park City and at the institute. In summer, the institute presents first-rate theater on a magnificent outdoor stage. Continue north from Sundance along U.S. 189, passing by rippling Deer Creek Reservoir. With its backdrop of sensational mountains, the reservoir provides a perfect photo op. A hip, gay-friendly, but overdeveloped ski community, Park City attracts the same Range Rover counterculture types you find at Aspen and Telluride.