The State of Utah: A Review

  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.

Salt Lake City, Utah

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 Mormon temple, Salt Lake City UT

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. 

Gracie's patio

The Bourbon House

Squatter's

We wanted to go Snowboarding at one of the many resorts near Salt Lake City, but it's not very Snowboard friendly there. Everyone is a ski snob, and most resorts did not allow Snowboarding. But we saw Brandi Carlile perform at both Deer Valley and at the Red Butte Gardens, which was a lot of fun both occasions. 

Snowbird Resort, Alta, UT

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).

Arts Fest

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. 

SLC mural

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.

SLC Pride

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.

Utah license plate

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.

The State of Washington: A Review

 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. This means we start with the state of Washington.

I was born in 1979 at a hospital in Tacoma, which is south of Seattle by approximately 30-ish minutes. I grew up, mostly, in Puyallup (pronounced 'Pew-All-Up'), but also the small town of Algona (which is surrounded by other towns so the small size didn't really matter, it was like one giant city in the Seattle metropolitan area). I also lived in the small, desolate central Washington mountain town of Entiat, which was quite an experience unto itself, which I won't get into. I have also lived in the northend in my 20s, in the city of Everett, as well as various other northend towns like Bothell and Lynnwood. I was a southsound gal at heart, though.

I ended my western Washington journey with living in the actual city of Seattle. That was also a whole different type of experience than living in the suburbs. After living in Seattle for 2 years, me and my mate moved together to Spokane, in eastern Washington. 

Seattle, WA

The thing I love the most about Washington is it's ecological and climate diversity. You've got the Puget Sound, encased with the Olympic Peninsula and the rest of Western Washington including Seattle, Everett, Tacoma. There are many beautiful islands in the state, one of which is one of my favorite places to go: San Juan Island - specifically the town of Friday Harbor. The beauty of the islands coupled with the fun experience of traveling to them via Washington State Ferry is always a great experience. 

the San Juan Islands, WA

I also loved going to the Gorge Amphitheater to see Dave Matthews Band. The Gorge is located in the  middle of the state, in central/eastern Washington. It is one of the most sought-after places to see music live. It is on top of a cliff overlooking the mighty Columbia River which cuts its way through the center of the state. It is beautiful, and the acoustics are great. Whenever I go to a concert there, I see license plates from New York, New Jersey, Florida, Michigan, North Dakota, Texas -- just everywhere. Everyone wants to see a show there. 

The Gorge Amphitheater, in George, Washington

In the Cascade Mountains of central Washington, which separates western Washington from eastern Washington, there is a small but amazing town called Leavenworth, which is a Bavarian village. It boasts actual Bavarian architecture and shops (shoppes). There's a gazebo in the park in town that plays traditional German polka music, and the Icicle River is behind the town. My favorite shop in Leavenworth is A Matter of Taste, where you can sample mustards, jams, and hot sauces with pretzels and other goodies. They also sell honey too I believe, as well as other gifts. I only went to that establishment pre-Covid: Even though you're not supposed to double dip, I am sure people do, so it probably isn't very sanitary to do that now, who knows. We planned on taking a trip to Leavenworth in December of 2013 to go dog sledding, but ended up not going - I can't remember why. 

Leavenworth, WA

Western Washington, including the Olympic Peninsula (which boats the Hoh Rainforest and Olympic Mountain Range) is temperate, with large green Evergreen trees surrounding literally everything. A friend came to visit from California once and remarked that being in Western Washington made her feel like she was camping. It is only a 3 hour drive from the Seattle area to the Canadian border, where I spent my weekends, every weekend, for a year. You can even take the international ferry from Anacortes, WA which is located on Fidalgo Island, to Victoria, British Columbia. I went camping every birthday for about 5 years in a row on Mt. Rainier (Tahoma) which was beautiful and a lot of fun. I never did get to traverse the Wonderland Trail which goes all the way around the mountain, though. Always wanted to.

Mt. Rainier, WA

Central Washington is the 'gateway' that gently slides into the brush steppe desert of eastern Washington. Instead of the traditional Evergreen, the central part of the state boasts a lot of pine trees. As you go further east from there, you encounter the desert which doesn't have that many trees (of course). Once you pass over the Columbia Gorge, you are pretty much in farmland, with looming apple orchards, peaches, pears, and other fruit and vegetables although, not as expansive as the apples. You pass by little tiny towns on the freeway on the way to something bigger. Spokane is at the edge of the eastern part of the state, bordering on Idaho. That brings me to culture.

Western Washington, particularly Seattle, is actually pretty pretentious. I will probably get a lot of hate for that, but it is very true. Once while walking down the street in the Capital Hill neighborhood where I lived, I threw a plastic bottle in the trash, and some pedestrian passerby yelled at me, and told me to hold it until I could recycle it. Seattle prides itself on being very "green", climate friendly, and ecologically responsible. To the point where if you're in the city, instead of seeing PE trucks (Penis Extender trucks like a giant Doge Ram or Ford F150 etc.), you will see a lot of bicycles, scooters, and those little electric tiny egg-like smart cars. As soon as I moved away, they got a light rail to join with the Sounder train. I was so upset about it. Why couldn't they have had a light rail system while I actually lived there and needed it? Would've been nice. Speaking of Sounder - they finally got an MLS (Major League Soccer, for anyone else in the world) team in 2009. It was exciting. I was an instant fan of the Seattle Sounders, and went to a few matches in 2009 and 2010. They've won a championship, maybe two, since I left. I am also still a big Seahawks football (American) fan - you can take the girl away from the Seahawks, but you can't take the Seahawks away from the girl. We used to have a men's NBA (National Basketball Association) team, too, called the Seattle Supersonics, or Sonics for short. They wanted a new venue, or to completely renovate the Key Arena where they played, and the city said "Nope" so they left and went to.. uh, Oklahoma. Is that a place? Oh well, at least they have the Seattle Storm, the women's WNBA team that is usually, in most seasons, on fire, and big champions. 

Lumen Field, Seattle, WA (used to be CenturyLink Stadium)

Spokane was a different vibe. No real sports teams to speak of except for Gonzaga University's men's basketball team which always made it to the semi-finals of the NCAA championships but never won. It was very outdoorsy in the hunting and fishing sense. Big PE trucks, rednecks, and trailer trash (in some areas). Also very conservative, and don't care if you throw plastic in the trash. It is still in Washington, though, so as much as it fancies itself part of Idaho, it actually is a lot more liberal than it realizes, which is why it wasn't difficult to live there as a LGBT person. I liked living there a lot. A half hour drive took you to Green Bluff, which is a conglomerate of farms that banded together to create their own little business ecosystem. You pick up a map of all the farms, and drive from one to the other, each with their own U-Pick farms and holiday festivals. It was enchanting. You're also only a 3 hour drive to Montana, or Walla Walla, WA which is a cool wine country town that has 120 wineries. We took a few trips out there and went wine tasting. I still think Walla Walla wine is better tasting than Napa Valley, California wine but shhh, don't tell that to anyone from California, they would get so mad. 

Spokane, WA

Walla Walla, WA

 The state is divided in this way politically. The majority of the geographical Washington is red, right-wing and Republican. But the majority of people live in western Washington, where they are blue, left-wing and Democrat. So it is thus, a blue state, meaning it is more liberal and progressive overall. Which I liked. They were the first state, along with Colorado at the same time, to legalize recreational cannabis use. This was of course, only two years before I moved to Utah, which.. wow. Very conservative in most areas. That's a whole different blog entry... coming up next! 

Washington license plate

Overall, I would say that if I had enough money to still be living in Washington (it has gotten way too expensive now with most houses on the market going for 700k or more) I probably would. Either that or Colorado. But I do miss my family, which is all located in Washington. It is a great state - if you can afford it.