Salt Lake City, Utah?
Mar 31st 2008, 5:44 pm
#31
Just Joined
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 12
Re: Salt Lake City, Utah?
Here's My 2 Cents
I'm British... have been out in Utah/SLC on and off for 3 years, until I finally got my E-2 visa in June 07, whereby I have since been out here full-time.
The perception of Utah is often a little biased to the religious side. I am not Mormon, in fact I don't follow any religion... so I can very much be considered an outsider in Utah. I currently don't live in Downtown Salt Lake City, but spend a lot of time there for both business and social reasons, and am planning to move to a southerly suburb of Salt Lake within the next few months. Salt Lake City is a great place. I really hope that your views are not strongly influenced by a few people who have passed through here on a holiday or short trip and have not found it to be to their liking. Having lived in a number of different cities, and having grown up in London I am used to a very cosmopolitan, do anything city.
It has taken a little while to uncover the good places in Utah and Salt Lake City, but I can assure you they are here. It depends what kind of lifestyle you are looking for. It certainly is a much more relaxed, outdoor lifestyle than living in London, but, once you accept that everywhere/anywhere you live is a compromise, I sincerely beleive it is a city that offers a great balance between the quieter city lifestyle, the outdoor lifestyle and lot of the flair of a bigger city, if you know where to look.
Then if you factor in that Utah is probably the outdoor adventure capital of the USA, with world class skiing, hiking, rock climbing, general scenery etc and well located for short trips to CO, CA, WY (Yellowstone, Jackson), NV (Las Vegas) and WA (Seattle) and much much more, it really is a great hub to base yourself.
Then the fact that Utah's economy is pretty much the top performer in the nation (percentage wise, not overall size wise) and that it is one of the cheapest places to live in the US... it all adds up rather well.
Just the other day I was getting very stressed with work, so I decided to take a few days off and head down to Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon, in Southern Utah. A short (in US terms!) 4 hour, no traffic, drive to some of the most incredible scenery I have laid my eyes upon (and being of the traveling generation, I have seen quite a lot in my short time on this earth). There are not too many places where you can lay claim to being able to achieve that, unless you already live in the middle of nowhere.
If a person lets small things like the fact that the alcohol laws are a little different (although there are some very cool bars in Salt Lake) and the fact that there are a lot of Mormons around outweigh the incredible positives of being out here, then I really strongly suggest they spend more time thinking about what they want to get out of the place where they live.
Oh and I forgot to add... I know a number of people out here who have also moved out to Utah from other states as well as from abroad... all non-Mormons, and for there own and different reasons, they really like it here, and would have to think long and hard before they would leave Utah.
By the way - I am in know way affiliated with the Utah Board of Tourism!
Hope my thoughts help
Lawrence
I'm British... have been out in Utah/SLC on and off for 3 years, until I finally got my E-2 visa in June 07, whereby I have since been out here full-time.
The perception of Utah is often a little biased to the religious side. I am not Mormon, in fact I don't follow any religion... so I can very much be considered an outsider in Utah. I currently don't live in Downtown Salt Lake City, but spend a lot of time there for both business and social reasons, and am planning to move to a southerly suburb of Salt Lake within the next few months. Salt Lake City is a great place. I really hope that your views are not strongly influenced by a few people who have passed through here on a holiday or short trip and have not found it to be to their liking. Having lived in a number of different cities, and having grown up in London I am used to a very cosmopolitan, do anything city.
It has taken a little while to uncover the good places in Utah and Salt Lake City, but I can assure you they are here. It depends what kind of lifestyle you are looking for. It certainly is a much more relaxed, outdoor lifestyle than living in London, but, once you accept that everywhere/anywhere you live is a compromise, I sincerely beleive it is a city that offers a great balance between the quieter city lifestyle, the outdoor lifestyle and lot of the flair of a bigger city, if you know where to look.
Then if you factor in that Utah is probably the outdoor adventure capital of the USA, with world class skiing, hiking, rock climbing, general scenery etc and well located for short trips to CO, CA, WY (Yellowstone, Jackson), NV (Las Vegas) and WA (Seattle) and much much more, it really is a great hub to base yourself.
Then the fact that Utah's economy is pretty much the top performer in the nation (percentage wise, not overall size wise) and that it is one of the cheapest places to live in the US... it all adds up rather well.
Just the other day I was getting very stressed with work, so I decided to take a few days off and head down to Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon, in Southern Utah. A short (in US terms!) 4 hour, no traffic, drive to some of the most incredible scenery I have laid my eyes upon (and being of the traveling generation, I have seen quite a lot in my short time on this earth). There are not too many places where you can lay claim to being able to achieve that, unless you already live in the middle of nowhere.
If a person lets small things like the fact that the alcohol laws are a little different (although there are some very cool bars in Salt Lake) and the fact that there are a lot of Mormons around outweigh the incredible positives of being out here, then I really strongly suggest they spend more time thinking about what they want to get out of the place where they live.
Oh and I forgot to add... I know a number of people out here who have also moved out to Utah from other states as well as from abroad... all non-Mormons, and for there own and different reasons, they really like it here, and would have to think long and hard before they would leave Utah.
By the way - I am in know way affiliated with the Utah Board of Tourism!
Hope my thoughts help
Lawrence
Last edited by ljstevens; Mar 31st 2008 at 6:02 pm. Reason: Addittional info
Mar 31st 2008, 5:50 pm
#32
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Jun 2005
Location: Oz -> UK -> San Diego
Posts: 9,912
Re: Salt Lake City, Utah?
Wonderful post - I'm booking my ticket right now!
Mar 31st 2008, 5:54 pm
#33
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Feb 2008
Location: Back in the UK!
Posts: 1,097
Re: Salt Lake City, Utah?
Sounds good to me. Utah is one of the states I've been thinking about because, as a Planner, it's good to work in growth areas. That's a handy summary and very useful, thanks.
Mar 31st 2008, 10:11 pm
#34
Joined: Oct 2006
Location: Reno Nevada
Posts: 15,917
Re: Salt Lake City, Utah?
[QUOTE=ljstevens;6137850]Here's My 2 Cents
I'm British... have been out in Utah/SLC on and off for 3 years, until I finally got my E-2 visa in June 07, whereby I have since been out here full-time.
Yes thank you for taking the time to write such an interesting and charming reply, as I stated earlier in the thread great place and look forward to visiting again I would have no hesitation in moving there.
I'm British... have been out in Utah/SLC on and off for 3 years, until I finally got my E-2 visa in June 07, whereby I have since been out here full-time.
Yes thank you for taking the time to write such an interesting and charming reply, as I stated earlier in the thread great place and look forward to visiting again I would have no hesitation in moving there.
Mar 31st 2008, 10:47 pm
#35
BE Site Lead
Thread Starter
Joined: Aug 2004
Location: MA, USA
Posts: 92,170
Re: Salt Lake City, Utah?
Cheers for that, much appreciated 
Probably should have mentioned though that Utah is now off the radar job wise, turned out the influx of modelers really meant animators instead, but did a bit of digging and there's a little more bounce than I first thought of. It would have been for either Disney studio out there and there's also EA, Sony and then a handful of studios that do shovelware.
Shame, as there was a good tax break for the industry to set up shop over there for Disney so would have been pretty stable and some pretty good projects.
Probably should have mentioned though that Utah is now off the radar job wise, turned out the influx of modelers really meant animators instead, but did a bit of digging and there's a little more bounce than I first thought of. It would have been for either Disney studio out there and there's also EA, Sony and then a handful of studios that do shovelware.
Shame, as there was a good tax break for the industry to set up shop over there for Disney so would have been pretty stable and some pretty good projects.
