I have lived in many places. Six states and about a million cities/towns. I decided I'd like to write a 'review' for each state that I have lived in. Maybe it will help others decide where to go, or just entertain those who want to know more. My life, in terms of moving, has been quite an adventure. I have much to say about the 6 states I have lived in; their differences, their similarities, and everything in between. So I will go from first to last. That means next here, we have: Utah.
Ok first of all, you're asking yourself, "Utah? Where the Mormons live? Aren't you gay though?" And yes to both.
From Spokane, WA we decided to move to Utah. The reason why, is that my Mate, L, had gone and got a post-bac in Audiology at the Washington State Riverpoint campus in Spokane, and one of the closest schools for a degree in Audiology to WA was in Salt Lake City, Utah. We took a Greyhound there (for fun AND lack of funds) and ended up liking it. It was beautiful, first of all, with the city up against the Wasatch Mountain Range, which were part of the Rockies. They boasted the best skiing in the country, and overall it had a nice vibe. My job working for a pathology lab company also had a joint venture in Salt Lake City, so we worked there when we moved.
First of all, it is definitely Mormon land. The vibe in the city is so weird though. You are either a Mormon, or you are strongly anti-Mormon, and very vocal about it. Not much in between. The Temple in Salt Lake, the main and foremost place of worship and other things Mormon, is located in the middle of the city and it is beautiful. In winter, they decorate every inch of that place for Christmas - it is truly a sight to behold. Very well done. One of the best displays of Christmas lights and decorations I've ever come across.
The alcohol laws, as a result of the Mormon influence, are very strict and kind of weird - for instance you couldn't buy alcohol at a restaurant unless you also ordered food. I don't even remember the others, I just remember being inconvenienced many times by the strict laws regarding my favorite beverages. But... due to the strong anti-Mormon influence, the city had some great bars and drinking establishments. The Bourbon House was one of my favorites. It was down in some basement of a building, and played hosted the best Jazz bands. The vibe was classy but down to earth, the wait staff was nice, and we had fun drinking and listening to the bands play. Gracie's was another favorite, particularly their patio which was amazing. Squatters was another favorite.
On my birthday in 2014, we decided to check out the Great Salt Lake, which obviously is a lake with salt water. It turns out, you can't swim in it due to chemicals and gross stuff, and no one boats on it. It isn't really a recreational lake. It smells like sulfur, too - rotten eggs. Gross. It also turns out, that when you seek shade in 100ºF, you probably won't find it anywhere on Antelope Island - but you will find a random, weird diner out in the middle of nowhere that sells Bison burgers. They were pretty good.
We went hiking a lot in Utah, but apparently everyone else had the same idea, because the trails were crowded which made it not as fun. We walked up to a rather Alpine type of lake once, behind a group of maybe 30 people and in front of a group of another 30 more. The lake, nestled in the mountains, was picture perfect and beautiful, but the amount of people tainted the experience somewhat.
We went to the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, UT in 2017. We were part of the first Women's March, by accident. Chelsea Handler and Laura Dern lead the way, and L saw Laura Dern by nearly walking into her and didn't realize who it was until much later. We froze our assholes off and decided to try going inside an establishment to get warm. L put her gloves on her feet to keep them warm by the fire, where we took off all of our outwear to get it dried off from the snow.
We went to Arts Fest, a huge outdoor arts festival in downtown Salt Lake City that was one of the best festivals I'd been to. It was huge, and had every type of art you can imagine, not to mention a huge stage where the likes of Slow Magic, a Symphony, and Beats Antique performed as the headliner (at 10pm and we had to work the next day so left after 3 songs.. boo hiss because I really like Beats Antique).
The more immersed in the culture we got, the stranger it felt. The city itself, with its Mormon owned City Creek mall, and the giant Mormon Temple was juxtaposed with the artsy, craft beer feel of the city. Definitely a weird clash. SLC had a lot of neat murals, too. Overall I had fun while living there, but it began to feel too small to me. Outside of Salt Lake, you had a few smaller cities like Ogden, but nothing of note.
When we first moved there, we lived in the Wasatch apartments, right across from an oil refinery. There were lots of those in and around the city, and it caused a huge inversion, especially in the winter time against those Wasatch mountains. The Republican politicians sure liked to blame car exhaust for it though. Anything to keep the oil refineries in business, right? Money money money.
Politics. It was a red state, and probably always will be due to the extremely large number of Mormons, who are right-wing extremists that do not tolerate LGBT people or any other fun stuff. The Pride Parade was a lot of fun, though, and pretty large. My favorite part of the parade was when the Mormons for Pride came out and just gave everyone hugs. Made me spark a tear or two, really.
I didn't come across any discrimination being gay, except for ONE incident. I'd called ahead to the Melting Pot for me and my mate's anniversary and when our waitress found out it was our anniversary and not like a birthday or something, suddenly she was no longer our waitress, and switched with another waiter. She didn't end her shift, or anything, just suddenly was no longer helping us any longer. We knew why.
The quality of safety and lack of crime went downhill though, and we left our Wasatch apartment due to someone trying to break in to our apartment from the alley through our bedroom window - while we were home. Three different times. Meth heads were living in our parking lot, and strange people came from the mountains to use our community laundry room. So weird. So we moved into an apartment complex in a 3rd floor apartment across town, closer to our workplace, but it was a crummy layout. You couldn't put furniture anywhere. We just weren't feeling the vibe anymore so we decided to move. To Arizona! That will be the next entry.
Overall, if I had a choice, I would not move to Utah or live there ever again. I would, however, LOVE to visit Bryce Canyon and Arches and Zion national parks. It looks beautiful. Also, Lake Powell that borders Arizona looks really pretty too.
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