Apart from a few visits as a kid, I've been to;
Kansas; Mmm... religious. Met some nice people, it's a very big flat place with lots of sky... the next few were on a six-day dash to the Grand Canyon, so can't comment with any accuracy on the people.
Oklahoma (where the sun comes rushing up the plain) and Texas; travelling through the pan handles, again, big flast place with lots of sky...
New Mexico; cool. Dry, grand in a 'I've been this way a long time', wonderful places to visit... the Painted Desert I think is one. You actually see Native Americans. If you like American Indian art you'll be in heaven. Really magnificent, big, but not flat.
Arizona; see the Grand Canyon. The only worth thing saying about the Grand Canyon is you have to see it. Writing doesn;t wok, nor does TV or pictures. Rest of the State also beautiful, varied from mountains to dry plains.
Utah... ok, there's this place called Four Corners, which is a spot-on-the-map-tourist-trap at the join of Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona. There's a place you can be on all fours and be in each of the States... I think there's a law you HAVE to have your photo taken like that, as everyone I know who's been there, American or otherwise has one.
Not a lot of Utah then... but Colorado is mountains, lovely, liked the people there, Durango is pretty... and then, on the way back east to Kansas, Colorado runs out of mountains, becomes big, flat etc., and smells of cow.
Other trips; South Carolina. Warm people. Humid as hell. Soft and green and pretty, lots of trees, but on a scale that even dwarfs the big central plain in France.
Seatlle. Yes! Fave American city, cosmopolitan people, very varied (it's a very kinky town), I could live there. Climate is little better than England, just more extreme, but other than that it's lush, and has so much outdoors it defies belief. Mount Rainer is a very cool backdrop for a city, and like many cities on water, it's attractive.