The land of strange laws

The state of Utah is at the western part of the USA, bordering with Arizona to the south, Colorado to the east, Wyoming to the northeast, Idaho to the north and Nevada to the west. The state is known for the varied landscapes that include dry deserts, red rocks of many shapes, sand dunes, but also pine forests, mountains and lakes. As much of the territory isn’t really hospitable, there is a concentration of almost 80% of all the population around the state capital – Salt Lake City. The state is also strongly influenced by religion, which accounts for some of the strangest laws you can imagine. It’s best to rent a car or a motorbike if you plan to explore the state, as it’s the easiest way to get around. The public transport is ok, but there’s no freedom you have with your own set of wheels. You may also consider flights, as at the moment they are quite inexpensive and the destinations are plentiful.

The state of Utah has many unusual laws. As most of the population is heavily influenced by the church (the Church of Jesus Christ) and are mostly Mormons, that does play a role in the legislation. This role is mostly seen in the restrictions connected to alcohol and gambling. The youth wanting to party is also quite restricted. It was not long ago that they finally passed a law that people, who are of age, can order an alcoholic drink anytime and anywhere (pubs, restaurants, etc.). This was something perfectly usual in the rest of the US, but not in Utah. Before the new law, according to the Mormon constitution of Utah, only people who were part of the private club could order a drink freely. But there are much stranger laws than this one. The other laws regulating alcohol are that it is unlawful to sell it during the state of alert, individuals cannot have packages containing more than two litters of beer, except if they’re selling it and no alcoholic beverage may have more than 3.2% of alcohol. Other than restrictions on alcohol there are also other strange and funny laws like: you are not allowed to fish off you horse, refusal to drink milk is considered illegal, you are allowed to possess nuclear weapons – you just mustn’t trigger it, birds have the right of passage – even on highways, stepping on the cracks between the tiles on the edge of the highway is a felony,  it is prohibited to have sexual intercourse in the back of the ambulance (while it’s responding to an emergency call), if a husband was present he is held responsible for any crime his wife committed, you are obliged to carry personal ID if you’re entering a store in the evening, etc. And not respecting the law can get you a fine. But there are also other punishments. For example, if you are a woman who is having sex in the ambulance (while responding to an emergency), your name will be published in the newspaper – but if you’re a man, they will let you go. Most of the laws apply to the whole state, although some are just local laws.

Before European settlers arrived there used to be native tribes living here, which we generally called Indians. Most of them lived in the mountains, where they dug or put up straw houses. The most famous native community were the Navajo, who came to the area in 18th century. Their tribes still exist, but their way of living has changed, so do not expect something out of an old western movie. They live an average modern life. I wanted to see their traditional ways, as many other visitors do, even though only as part of a tourist attraction. Unfortunately I only managed to see few open air museums, but they were connected to the white settlers – only lacking any personalities… they only had a few things of the era. 

Beauty doesn’t know any boundaries; neither do the national parks of Utah. Among best known ones are the Bryce Canyon National Park, Arches National Park and Zion National Park. You can visit the parks anytime of the year, as each season offers its special charms. But the visits are much easier than back home. The American life style makes everything easy, so yu don’t have to move much. Even in the natural parks, you can drive in by car and even see the main attractions and take pictures of them without stepping out of the vehicle. There are roads with parking lanes at any attraction, so people don’t need to stretch their muscles to see what they wanted. All of the mentioned parks were interesting, but I preferred a less known part that really made an impression on me – the Dead Horse Park. The river Colorado flows through the park and the legged says many horses died here, that’s how it got its name. The view of the gorge was fantastic and the river makes a fascinating turn. You could just stand there and watch the bare but interesting rocks and the fast river. Utah has a total of 43 parks today that cover 95.000 hectares of land.

he natural beauty is even more interesting if it’s part of an event and it was exactly here that the Winter Olympics took place in 2002, when Salt Lake City hosted one of the most memorable winter games. This has boosted the city’s development and especially tourism, so today Utah is the home of many famous ski slopes (at least the mountains to the north are).

Unlike most of the nature parks, there is one that stands out and it’s on the island placed in the salt lake. When early explorers reached Utah and found the salt lake, some believed they’ve already reached the Pacific coast. They, naturally, didn’t. They’ve found a large salty lake that stretched as far as the eye could see and they were surprised by it being salty, so that’s what confused them. Settlers soon followed and trade routes from east to west crossed here as it was a good place to rest. Mormons found this places quickly as its remoteness suited them. They could practice their believes without much interference. So a city by the salt lake – the Salt Lake City – came to be.

Utah is a land that many would call to monotonous. The changes in nature are slow, especially if you travel the long strait roads. There are stretches of road with nothing but red rocks on each side. But after a bit ore driving, you will notice the changes. You can visit Utah any time of year, but do keep in mind that winters are really cold and summers really hot. The national parks are always a pleasure to visit and the biggest attraction of the state. And Utah is not only a developing tourist region, but also it’s becoming a more and more favourable place to live. It’s the fastet growing state in the US, which is a good reason to move into it.