Originally Posted by
Bluto
I was born and raised in the LDS church. Getting displaced to Utah post-merger was a factor in me deciding I didn’t believe it anymore. I raised two kids here and grew up in California. Feel free to PM me for my insights on the area/culture/base or for LDS to normal English translation (some words mean different things in a Mormon context.) having said that, the church stuff drives me nuts, but I still live here and have plenty of options. I must not hate it bad enough to uproot my family and leave.
Yep, you and over a million other non-Mormons seem to tolerate the quirks of the predominate religious culture enough to come and stay. And they just keeping coming. If anything, that would be my biggest factor to dissuade someone from moving to SLC - it is crowded.
The population has roughly doubled over the last 30 years with no sign of slowing down. The state has done a pretty good job of managing the freeway infrastructure in the valley, compared to SEA or LAX (25 minutes from the south valley to the employee lot in normal traffic). But other places are crazy - especially the spectacular "great outdoors" that everyone raves about. Ski resorts are a zoo. There is peak-time lottery entry for some of the National Parks. Little Cottonwood Canyon, Utah's own tiny Yosemite Valley, is so crowded that the state wants to build a European-style gondola to alleviate traffic - and thereby spoil the spectacular views. I do a lot of alpine climbing and remote hiking, so I can still find people-free places in the mountains, but for the casual family outing to the canyons, you'd better get there before sunrise on a weekend morning if you want to find a parking spot.
It's a great place, but it's being loved to death.