Salt Lake City Opponauts!

"jkm7680" (jkm7680) 11/03/2015 at 18:37 • Filed to: None

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Some questions;

1. How’s the car culture?

2. Is it an easy city to settle into?

3. Does it feel more like a big city, or a small town?

4. Random pros and cons?

Pictured: Amazingness. (Picture and car not mine)

7:07 > jkm7680 11/03/2015 at 18:45

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If you want to get anywhere in a hurry, use the right lane. Left lane entitlement runs deep here.

jkm7680 > 7:07 11/03/2015 at 18:46

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Coming from the DC area, which is a left lane hogging shit storm.

Alfalfa > jkm7680 11/03/2015 at 18:49

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Compared to DC, you won’t even notice the traffic.

jkm7680 > Alfalfa 11/03/2015 at 18:50

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Which sounds fucking amazing.

TheHondaBro > jkm7680 11/03/2015 at 18:50

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I feel like all you need to know is in the name. Expect a lot of salt, a lot of lakes, and a lot of cities.

Alfalfa > jkm7680 11/03/2015 at 18:53

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Car culture is not bad. There’s a pretty decent Cars and Coffee turnout, along with other good interest groups that meet up.

Utah in general is pretty laid back, settling in shouldn’t be a problem.

Big city or small town, akin to DC, really depends on where you are. There are plenty of suburbs, but downtown is pretty active.

Also, there’s a ginormous VW scene.

HammerheadFistpunch > jkm7680 11/03/2015 at 18:55

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1. Car culture is so/so. plenty of passionate people but the climate isn’t condusive to normal car culture stuff. For outdoors car culture its tops. That being said, I’ve seen some pretty great stuff here in salt lake, F40, LM002, McLaren SLR, R8 v10 GT etc.

2. depends on your perspective. The people that really struggle with settling in are the people who move here in spite of the fact that its a religiously settled state with a high religious population. These are the types that rail against the alcohol laws, or the strange things people do or the generally conservative nature of the state. If you can just put that aside and deal with the fact that we’re all a different brand of weird than you will have little trouble. There are lots of good cultural and social options around, but you definitely have to understand the history of the place for it to make any sense generally.

3. Salt Lake is the perfect city size, imo. Big enough to do stuff, small enough to not be drown out. There is plenty of culture here, and you can almost always find something that interests you.

4. Don’t move here and complain that its cold and snowy in the winter...just don’t. Also, the air quality kinda sucks in the winter...like China sucks...its a geographical phenomenon, to escape simply gain elevation. Personally I love salt lake for its size, good public transportation, history, blending of cultures and the fact that even though our politicians are strange, they have been fiscally smart enough not to bankrupt the state or put people in jeopardy.

jkm7680 > Alfalfa 11/03/2015 at 18:55

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Sounds pretty good to me!

If there’s a ginormous VW/Audi/Porsche scene, I would totally be in :)

I assume that good driving roads are pretty plentiful also?

RallyWrench > jkm7680 11/03/2015 at 18:57

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*waits for HammerheadFistpunch to lay it down...

My quick take from 1 visit there:

Pros: Pretty mountains and Bonneville nearby.

Cons: Weak beer.

jkm7680 > HammerheadFistpunch 11/03/2015 at 18:58

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Cold and snowy, I honestly don’t care about. That just means more Quattro time >:)

I’m willing to set aside religious differences, but that’s my biggest concern. Boulder, Denver and SLC are my three biggest contenders as far as moving goes.

jkm7680 > RallyWrench 11/03/2015 at 18:58

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He’s already arrived, haha.

Alfalfa > jkm7680 11/03/2015 at 19:01

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There are a few good driving roads. Mostly the various canyon roads up to the ski resorts and whatnot.

Also, don’t expect anyone to bat an eye when the snow falls. Nothing stops, unlike DC area.

Also also, if you’re accustomed to east coast humidiy, get some moisturizer, chapstick, and what have you.

HammerheadFistpunch > jkm7680 11/03/2015 at 19:01

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Like I said, there are two type of non-religious Utahns

1. Those damn mormon’s and their ways!

2. Eh, its a cool place to live I can deal with the occasional nutjobber.

As a one of them mormons myself I’m here to say that if you are in camp 1 you will seek out and be annoyed by all the nutjobers and it will be all you can talk about when people mention living in Utah. If you fall into camp 2 then you will find some very cool and very interesting people of both persuasions and have enough sense to know a standout nutjobber when you see one and ignore them.

HammerheadFistpunch > jkm7680 11/03/2015 at 19:02

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This is true, our traffic around rush hour is “bad” but its always moving and you are never stuck in a slow pocket for more than 15 minutes.

jkm7680 > Alfalfa 11/03/2015 at 19:05

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Sounds pretty decent.

I’m just so fucking sick of the DC area. Pretty much what I want is as follows:

1. City, but not too big

2. Decent driving roads

3. Friendly, not completely stuck up people

4. Decent real estate prices

5. Different scenery

6. Car culture

7. Jobs

jkm7680 > HammerheadFistpunch 11/03/2015 at 19:07

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That sounds SO nice.

In my suburb, I could be stuck on a mile long stretch of road for half an hour. It’s simply an infrastructure issue here. The area wasn’t built to hold a forth of the people that it does.

What’s the average commute distance? Could one in the middle class actually afford to live within half an hour of downtown...?

HammerheadFistpunch > jkm7680 11/03/2015 at 19:08

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I know the Porsche owners club is pretty active and they have some great Auto-X each year. as far as driving roads...I’m not sure you could do much better, but you will have to get used to traveling big distances for the best ones.

HammerheadFistpunch > jkm7680 11/03/2015 at 19:11

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I live a half hour from downtown, and I think my house is pretty great (pretty nice neighborhood, 3000 sq feet, the cost of a small one bedroom condo in pentagon city) plus the view aint bad. My commute is considered long.

jkm7680 > HammerheadFistpunch 11/03/2015 at 19:11

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How’s Emigration Canyon Road? I noticed it from Google Earth, hah.

Not having to travel decades to get to driving roads is a biggie for me. Here in my area, on average it’s a 30-60 minute drive to only semi decent driving roads. Of course, they’re all filled with traffic because DC area.

HammerheadFistpunch > jkm7680 11/03/2015 at 19:13

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Emigration to little mountain is always a gamble because its filled with cyclists in the summer, less so up to big mountain because of the insane hills. Google alpine loop Utah...that one is unreal good.

jkm7680 > HammerheadFistpunch 11/03/2015 at 19:18

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I know that feel, one of the only good driving roads near me is filled with them also. They should really just build bike paths and ban them from roads.

V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches > jkm7680 11/03/2015 at 19:18

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Minnesota it is !

jkm7680 > HammerheadFistpunch 11/03/2015 at 19:19

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Wow, that’s a breathtaking view.

Just looking at real estate, I could get a lot more for the money than I can here. I’m just not sure about being able to find jobs.

HammerheadFistpunch > jkm7680 11/03/2015 at 19:19

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eh, I was one of them until I had to sell my bike because of back problems. Utah has a pretty good bike/car balance. Not all bike crazy like portland, and not all “screw you bikes!” as the east coast.

Alfalfa > jkm7680 11/03/2015 at 19:20

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You’ll find a fair amount of both as far as number 3 goes. I feel they generally cancel each other out. And the stuck up ones are usually bad enough that they’re fun to laugh at.

Scenery as you can guess is very different, but still great. Really just a different kind of great from DC area.

I lived in NoVa for about as long as I’ve lived in Salt Lake, so I have plenty of comparison notes...

jkm7680 > V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches 11/03/2015 at 19:20

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Mehhhh

jkm7680 > Alfalfa 11/03/2015 at 19:22

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Ok, that’s even better haha. Mind if I ask a few more questions, haha?

Is the road quality any better?

Did you have to make any career sacrifices, or anything along those lines?

HammerheadFistpunch > jkm7680 11/03/2015 at 19:24

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What’s your line of work? Depending on what you do you could have a pretty good chance. Tech is big, if you have talent in tech it should be relatively easy

Alfalfa > jkm7680 11/03/2015 at 19:26

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The housing market up north about 45 minutes in Ogden is even cheaper, but with a different job market. Jobs in SLC are pretty plentiful, what kind of work would you be looking for?

V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches > jkm7680 11/03/2015 at 19:28

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guh. Why ?

Alfalfa > jkm7680 11/03/2015 at 19:29

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Question away!

I’m sorry to say I laughed at your road quality question. There are a lot of pretty bad ones around. I’ve been here pretty much my entire adult life, so it’s difficult to answer the second question.

The Snowman > jkm7680 11/03/2015 at 19:32

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I moved here about two years ago and love it. Traffic is not an issue at all compared to CA or DC. Good driving roads are not too far away. Housing is cheap. My mortgage for a two bed house with a two car garage in downtown is less than my studio rent in CA. The unemployment rate is 2.9%. If you aren’t working here you don’t want to.

jkm7680 > HammerheadFistpunch 11/03/2015 at 19:33

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That’s where I’m a little lost.

I’m going back to school, but need to get my shit together for the long term.

I originally intended on attending Pharmacy school, but eight years to earn a Pharm D. was a little unsettling to me. I may still though.

jkm7680 > V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches 11/03/2015 at 19:34

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Mehnesota.

jkm7680 > Alfalfa 11/03/2015 at 19:35

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I’m lost as far as career paths go, haha.

jkm7680 > Alfalfa 11/03/2015 at 19:36

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More questions now, haha. I appreciate that a lot.

1. How’s the dating scene? Luuul, I had to go there

2. Does it feel like that big of a city?

3. Just give me a very basic sales pitch if you don’t mind :P

ZHP Sparky, the 5th > jkm7680 11/03/2015 at 19:37

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Only thing I’ll add to Mr. H above (I went to college in Utah) is that if you are into the party scene - Salt Lake, or Utah in general, probably isn’t the place for you. If you just like food, grabbing a beer or a cocktail and whatnot you’ll probably have enough to keep you entertained - and even a decent amount of live music coming through, but if you’re looking for a super lively club scene, it’s just not the place.

Also, personally - more than the religion, it’s the politics (and religion’s involvement in it) that bugged me the most. I had plenty of mormon friends, some of whom I’m still in touch with (it’s been over a decade) - but if you are socially liberal and not mormon there might be aspects of how the state is run that you’d find exhausting.

These are both things that vary from person to person of course - and outside of that it’s a beautiful place to live and a great size city, with lots of natural beauty around - and the economy seems to be doing quite well especially when it comes to tech/e-commerce related stuff.

jkm7680 > ZHP Sparky, the 5th 11/03/2015 at 19:39

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Nah, the party scene isn’t really my thing luckily.

Thanks for the info!

E92M3 > jkm7680 11/03/2015 at 19:40

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Do it! My sister got a pharmacy degree from Mercer. She made $120k a year within a couple years of graduating. She makes a lot more than that now as a director of pharmacy at a hospital.

Spaceball-Two > jkm7680 11/03/2015 at 19:42

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I lived there for 8 years. Great town once you can get past the religious rooted politics.

jkm7680 > E92M3 11/03/2015 at 19:46

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That combined with the fact that I could literally work anywhere in the country and still pull that salary in were both advantages for me.

1111111111111111111111 > jkm7680 11/03/2015 at 19:48

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I drove from salt lake to Ogden during rush hour...traffic was going about 85-90. Couldn’t find a fucking decent beer to save my life, nor a starbucks.

1111111111111111111111 > jkm7680 11/03/2015 at 19:50

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I would personally recommend Eugene.

V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches > jkm7680 11/03/2015 at 19:54

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Ugh

Alfalfa > jkm7680 11/03/2015 at 20:00

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I’ve been out of the dating game for a while, but I rarely hear complaints from my single friends.

It doesn’t really feel big the way DC does.

There’s plenty of bars and live music downtown, if that’s your thing. Utah/Idaho people are generally a lot friendlier than the east coast people. Some people get a little taken aback by it. We have a great race track, although it’s in the middle of changing ownership and no one’s quite sure what it will be like. Tons of outdoor activities. Pretty much anything you can think of that doesn’t require an ocean.

jkm7680 > Alfalfa 11/03/2015 at 20:10

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Sounds pretty good to me! Thanks!

PowderHound > jkm7680 11/03/2015 at 20:39

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Car culture seems to be pretty damn good once you figure out all the clubs and when they have things. Driving roads seem iffy there are some really good ones but are high traffic and low speeds.

The city is a pretty nice size and not too big just lots of sprawl up and down the mtn range. The buildings aren’t very big which seems to help it look small.

The inversion is incredibly bad.

I live up in park city so I haven't actually lived in salt lake.

DogonCrook > jkm7680 11/03/2015 at 20:58

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So I lived there for a year, and I don’t really want to get into the whole religious side of it, but I’ll say this, incredibly nice and welcoming people generally at least outwardly. That said, it’s like no other place in the US, I’d strongly recommend you spend a week there before you move. Personally I hated it with a passion and found the entire experience surreal. Like stepping off a plane and finding out I landed on mars and the locals speak English but the words don’t mean the same thing.

DogonCrook > HammerheadFistpunch 11/03/2015 at 21:10

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That’s simplifying things more than just a tad..

HammerheadFistpunch > DogonCrook 11/03/2015 at 21:12

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Maybe, maybe not. I kinda feel like between e30 and you that you have both my scenarios covered.

DogonCrook > HammerheadFistpunch 11/03/2015 at 21:19

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It definitely is, no offense but it’s kinda like getting an explanation on the state of racism in the south from a white person. I mean yeah some people love the place but there’s bigger problems there than the occasional nutjub.

Edit: and I find that comment pretty typical of what it’s like in Utah as a non Mormon. (Which by the way I had no idea what a Mormon was before I’d moved there, I’d never heard the word) my impressions were formed by the citizens of that state. I’m a very accepting person, I disliked it because I was never accepted. And believe me it wasn’t a subject I ever dared bring up, but even in the most benign situations and conversations it was.

HammerheadFistpunch > DogonCrook 11/03/2015 at 21:22

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Do all these obvious problems just leap out to you? Does it seem like they are all religiously backed? is it your abiding memory of the place? Sounds like #1 to me. Every place has problems but the one type of Utah transplant can’t seem to anything but the problems

DogonCrook > HammerheadFistpunch 11/03/2015 at 21:32

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It literally lept out at me on my cab ride from the airport, and I was able to stash an extra book of Mormon in the drawer of the hotel that night. Don’t get me wrong there’s a ton of that here in Texas where I’m from, but the frequency there is unnerving, something maybe you wouldn’t really understand.

And also maybe the frequency of people who can’t find anything but problems is perhaps a symptom that maybe something is indeed wrong.

HammerheadFistpunch > DogonCrook 11/03/2015 at 21:39

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Having lived in Texas as a Mormon...I might. Like I said, two kinds for whatever reason. It’s not bad advice to spend a week to find out which one you are.

DogonCrook > HammerheadFistpunch 11/03/2015 at 21:53

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Dude if you want to break it down into such a simplistic two types issue knock yourself out. In my case it certainly wasn’t, it didn’t get the reputation it has on entirely unfounded accusations by people who have a bone to pick with mormans. That would actually be somewhat normal, Utah is anything but normal in any sense of the word.