On Feb 14, 9:50*pm, tienshanman tienshanman.
wrote:
Tim,

I have always been interested in Utah but have not been able to really
assess what it's like there with a family if you are not an LDS member.
I have heard that it can be socially limiting, a bit stifling. I was
wondering if you could comment on this.

--
tienshanman

Tienshanman,


As others have commented each place has pluses and minuses. We came
to Utah as non LDS about nine years ago. As with most states each
community is different, in any state there are places you would live
and places you would choose not to. As I said before I prefer
“college” towns because they tend to have a social atmosphere that is
different from most other towns. We had two children that were 4 and
10 at the time so it was a concern of ours, as well as how we would
like it here.

As it turn out it was a non-issue for the most part. Logan has a high
enough percent of population of non-LDS that we were able to find out
own circle of friends without any problems and our children have done
the same. As Mike said there is limited interaction between the LDS
and others mostly due to the time constraints that their religion
places on them. We do not have anyone trying to convert us to their
religion or other things like that. Logan has most of faiths
represented from the Catholic Church to a Synagogue. There are
Lutherans, Methodists and Buddhists.

For me the three areas of the state I would be most comfortable are
Logan, Salt Lake City and St. George. I don’t think I would want to
live in one of the small towns out of the Wasatch front and would
likely not want to live in the Prove/Orem area. But I grew up in
California and am considered a liberal, especially in Utah.

We feel much more comfortable here than in Minnesota, could not take
the “Minnesota Nice” that to the locals in a positive term, but to
outsiders is a negative. When it gets cold in the winter we always
say to ourselves it could be worse, we could be in Minnesota.

Utah has a reputation of being odd, but I think most of it was earned
twenty to thirty years ago; there have been many changes even in the
last nine years that I have been here. We will soon see a brew pub or
two in Logan and hopefully you won’t have to join a club to go in a
bar by next year.

We love the outdoors and being active. I live less than a mile from
the national forest boundary and a mile from a major university. The
local ski resort is only 27 miles away and I can get a season pass for
about $250 a year. Compare that price to what you would pay anywhere
else. One positive in Utah for the non-LDS is that the LDS can’t do
activities on Sunday so the ski resorts, hiking and biking trails,
movie theaters, etc are empty on Sundays. If we have more than a
minute wait in a lift line it is time to move to a different lift.
And yes it is the best snow on earth.

My top list in the west includes Boulder, CO, Fort Collins, CO, Logan,
UT, Albuquerque, NM, Ashland, OR/Montague, CA, Paradise/Chico, CA,
Reno, NV, PASCO, WA and Flagstaff, AZ. I picked the job site and
family friendly part first, but was looking at the soaring
possibilities when I came to Logan. Having a tow available was what
sealed the decision. I got lucky that the soaring was better than I
ever imagined and I am still learning about the potential each year.