Tell me about SLC, possibly relocating there

[Flower of Bliss]

What do you love?  What do you hate?  How crunchy friendly is it (home birth, BF in public, no-vax, homeschool, etc)?

My DH will be flying there next week for an interview, and I'm trying to research how willing I would be to live there.  While I know that SLC is "only" about 50% LDS, that is still certainly a high percentage of one religion, and I know that it greatly influences the culture of the area.  We are not LDS (we're actually Unitarians, and I see there are UU churches in SLC).  I have a lot of respect for the LDS lifestyle, and have nothing but positive things to say about any of the Mormons I have known over the years.  The idea of living in a very family focused area with lots of families with many kids really appeals to us.  We have 2 littles and plan to have more.  I'm a SAHM.  We are very liberal politically speaking.  We hardly drink at all, and would welcome a culture less focused on alcohol.  I am quite a caffenine addict though .  I NIP without any cover well into toddlerhood.  I'm very very social, and my girls are too.  I'm concerned that as a non-LDS I may be an outsider socially.

I'm also concerned about the cold, having lived in the deep south my whole life, and the air quality (though living in Houston, it may not really be that different... I need to research that...).

Any and all input welcome.

[A&A]

It depends on where you live.  SLC proper is quite liberal, but a lot of the outlying suburbs (Sandy, Draper, South Jordan, etc.) are conservative.  Lots of people breastfeed, and Utah supports homeschoolers.  You can get a personal (philosophical) exemption for vaxes.   Homebirth is not as supported.  SLC has an awesome Farmers' Market in the summer.  I also love the culture of Salt Lake---sports, music, arts, etc.  (Of course you have a lot of that in Houston.)  

It does get COLD, as you mentioned, and there are definitely days with bad air quality.   Also, if you're coming from Houston, you'll find it really dry (not humid).

Edited by A&A - 3/4/11 at 5:01am

[athenamum]

My family will also be relocating there this summer from Oregon. My folks moved to Park City (20 minutes East) about 17 years ago so I have a decent idea of what to expect. Over many visits and through talking with friends, the most liberal area to live is in Sugarhouse, which is the neigborhood that surrounds the 3 miles around the U of U. There is a rich amount of cultural, ethinic, and relsious diversity,as well as a strong  LGBT community in SLC. As the previous poster stated, that only applies to Salt Lake itself, not outside areas for which fitting in socially would be more of an issue for non LDS families.

We have 5 and 7 year old boys and feel the sports available in Utah as well as the focus on family life will be a pretty good fit. Good Luck!

[myfairbabies]

I hate the horrible air quality, the dryness, the extreme heat/cold. Those are the biggest reasons we will be moving away as soon as we can afford it (have our business so we can go anywhere, but stupid housing market, grumble grumble). I live in West Jordan, way too conservative for me, but almost all my friends breastfeed (including lots of toddlers), several delay vax, babywear, extend rearface etc. None are even very crunchy, well, except for my LLL friends, but I'm just talking about my neighborhood. I bf without a cover (my 21 month old), even in our LDS church and no one has ever said a word or given a bad look. I'm not very discreet either. And you'll be right at home with a caffeine addiction ;) so many LDS women can't live without their diet coke (not me, but it doesn't have anything to do with religion). I love sugarhouse area and the public transportation. I love love my LLL group, so many awesome mamas. SLC is way way more crunchy friendly than where I'm from in California, or North Carolina. I've also heard Utah has the highest homebirth rate in the country, or at least it's up there. Great Farmer's market, lots of people have backyard chickens, lots of farms and csa's, and lots of things to do with the kiddos.
 

Originally Posted by Flower of Bliss 

What do you love?  What do you hate?  How crunchy friendly is it (home birth, BF in public, no-vax, homeschool, etc)?

My DH will be flying there next week for an interview, and I'm trying to research how willing I would be to live there.  While I know that SLC is "only" about 50% LDS, that is still certainly a high percentage of one religion, and I know that it greatly influences the culture of the area.  We are not LDS (we're actually Unitarians, and I see there are UU churches in SLC).  I have a lot of respect for the LDS lifestyle, and have nothing but positive things to say about any of the Mormons I have known over the years.  The idea of living in a very family focused area with lots of families with many kids really appeals to us.  We have 2 littles and plan to have more.  I'm a SAHM.  We are very liberal politically speaking.  We hardly drink at all, and would welcome a culture less focused on alcohol.  I am quite a caffenine addict though .  I NIP without any cover well into toddlerhood.  I'm very very social, and my girls are too.  I'm concerned that as a non-LDS I may be an outsider socially.

I'm also concerned about the cold, having lived in the deep south my whole life, and the air quality (though living in Houston, it may not really be that different... I need to research that...).

Any and all input welcome.

[littlehoneybee]

I lived there for two years and loved it.  DH and I are LDS, but consider ourselves a bit more liberal than most.  I was concerned that the people there would be sooo conservative, but I was very pleasantly surprised.   We lived in Cottonwood Heights.   I was in a MOMS Club and there were more non LDS than LDS.  It was very homeschool and breastfeeding friendly.  My good friend did delayed vaxing with no problem.  I'm not sure how homebirth friendly the area is, but there were a number of birthing centers that did non-medical births. 

I loved how family oriented the area was.  There were so many things to do with kids.  I loved living close to the ski resorts.  I actually liked how dry it was there, but I've been a east coaster most of my life so I hate the humidity.  It actually didn't feel as cold there in the winter.  I loved all the cultural events downtown and the farmer's market there is awesome!  The library system was very good.

The bad--the long winters can get a little old.  We had snow that covered our grass on June 10.  The air quality can be bad at times.  All the smog gets trapped in the valley .  The road construction on I-15 south of Salt Lake is pretty bad right now.  They are widening the highway and replacing bridges.

[Angelorum]

We're living near the U of U right now and love it!  Mostly because I used to commute a long ways to school and being close is so much easier!  But as for SLC in general, I love the sunny days (we're from Seattle), the library is awesome and has the coolest kids section, the public transportation is great.  The extreme temps don't feel as extreme without the humidity, it's amazing the difference that makes both in how hot you feel in the summer and how cold you feel in the winter.  I do have to use a lot more lotion in the winter or my hands crack.  The bad air quality days kind of worry me, but I personally don't notice a difference in how I feel those days, I know some people do though.  I nip without a cover everywhere and have never had a weird look, even when we lived in a much more conservative city south of  SLC.  I had a homebirth here, but with an out of state midwife (my MIL actually), but I have met a lot of other women who have also had homebirths with local midwives.  Lots of them at LLL or the AP playgroup I used to go to, but randomly there were 3 or 4 homebirthers in my small knitting group. 

One thing I have noticed about Utah is that there seems to be more of a focus on appearance here.  Maybe it's because I'm from Seattle, which is a really casual city, but I was kind of surprised to see billboards for plastic surgery and laser hair removal etc all down the freeway.  I think it's more pronounced if you're single and in the dating scene, I was already married when I moved down here so I don't really feel much of that kind of social pressure.  I've had several single friends tell me that they never felt uglier than when they lived in Utah.   Another friend who moved here from Seattle was shocked at the number of mothers wearing high heels to the grocery store with 3 little kids in tow!  Has anyone else noticed this?

[Angelorum]

Oh yeah, also things close earlier here than in WA.  I was used to stores like Target or Best Buy staying open until 11:00, but here they mostly close at 9 or 10.   Restaurants close earlier too, Dh and I were in the middle of downtown Salt Lake and couldn't find a restaurant open at 9 pm on a weeknight.  It also seems like there are fewer 24 hours grocery/drug stores.  There are a few, but  not as many as we were used to when we moved here.  

[Flower of Bliss]

Thank you all for your replies.  DH went out last week, and the "interviews" were really all focused on selling him on the company, the team he'd be working on, and the location.  They're supposed to get back with him with details of an offer on Wednesday the 16th.  I'm totally panicked and conflicted.  We've lived here for 8 years.  We own our home.  We are part of a community here.  We have roots here.  We're also only a 5 hour drive from both sides of our family, and moving tto SLC we'd have to fly to get to family - a pretty big change.  We know no one in the area.  We'd be starting from scratch.

However, here DH has a 60-90 minute commute each way.  Being able to cut down significantly would be a big very positive every day life change for all of us.  I just can't decide if it would be worth it.

We're hoping they'll give us long enough to decide that we could do a short trip out to check out the area as a family.  We're also consulting with a realtor about the possibility of selling our house...  So scary.

DH does have a job here, that he could stay in indefinitely.  He's also interviewing with a local company, but won't have an offer from them until likely the 22nd.

So, all advice is very very welcome at this point.

[A&A]

You also have to think about comparing COL.  Here is a website to help you do that:

http://www.bestplaces.net/col/