Visiting SLC/Utah in 2 day, what should I do!

[TheKracken]

Howdy all, wife and I are looking for a place to start our family (our little girl is due in less than 3 months!) and after posting another thread a while back about where to think about moving, we have decided that Salt Lake City sounds like a good place for us for a while

But of course we need to visit first!

Leaving very early the 16th in our brand new to us prius! We will be spending 4 days total in Utah, 3 in SLC area.

Where should we visit and spend some of our time? We are coming from Seattle and will be stopping in Boise for the day and spending the night, but then on our way to SLC early the 17th.

Also, any suggestions to a VERY young family for what to look for in a area that you are considering living in?

We also plan to hit up some of the state parks on our last day before we head to Central Coast California to visit family.

 

[MRtv]

Enjoy your trip first of all. While in Boise take a look around and see a very friendly town. Nice place to live! I know, I live in Boise. So if you want a great town for a young family you cannot go wrong here. Prices are good on food gas and houses. Politics are kinda moderate to right in Idaho.

In SLC visit temple square. A fascinating view into the LDS church. You might know them as mormons. There are a ton of films depicting early mormon history. Also films depicting the beliefs of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. There is also the largest genealogy library on planet Earth to see. You come away with a new perspective on the LDS church and why they are a bit different than most of your Christian churches today. They are a very giving bunch. The amount of materials sent around the world during disasters boggles the mind. They have warehouses full of stuff ready to go out on hours notice. They make FEMA look pathetic.

The streets are a bit odd at first. Just keep in mind that the Salt Lake City Temple is considered the center point. All streets are numbered from that point. Once you get that embedded firmly in your mind it is tough to get lost in Salt Lake City. As a out of towner you have first dibs on parking around Temple square. They want to make it easy on you to visit the square. There is also lots of other parking available in the area. Tours are free. Gotta love that price.

If you are looking to move to SLC due to the culture of the religion there bear in mind that Boise also shares in that culture. Every third person you pass in Boise is LDS. It kind of contributes to the friendly nature of the town. There are a lot of conflicted mormons in Boise though when BYU and Boise State are playing football. Boise State Broncos are hugh here.

Boise is a town of faith. Lots of different churches. I love living here because of that. It sure is nice that I have lots of neighbors that attend one church or another come Sundays.

Boise loves its parks. Tons of them all around town. Lots of outdoor activities here. Just outside of town is Bogus Basin. Lots of skiing goes on up there during the winter. Summers they are making bike trails on Bogus Basin. It will become a year round activity go to place.

You will need a GPS in Boise. There is no center point like SLC. Boise and nearby Meridian is laid out in 1 mile grids. So inside the grids streets can wander willy nilly and finding an address can be a challenge without a GPS.

The weather is great here. Lots of sun. Some rain. You would notice if you lived here that there is as much sunny days here as rainy days where you live now. Snow yes but not much. Well except for last winter. We had so much snow. Did I mention we had a lot of snow. More than usual. A lot more. Last time we had that much was back in the early 50s. So hopefully we don't have that much again for a long while.

Anyway enjoy your trip. I wish you luck on searching for a new place to live. Again, I invite you to not leave Boise off your list for a new home. Search for Boise as a city to move to on the internet. I think you will be surprised at what is offered here for families. I grew up in N. California. Humboldt County to be exact. I moved to Boise after losing my job there in Lumber. I have NO regrets leaving there and making a new life here. None of us desire to go back at all. We go back to visit and are reminded each time why we moved. The weather alone between here and there makes us glad we made the move. The friendliness of Boise makes us even more happy we made the move.

Having said all that I don't work for any businesses promoting Boise. I just live here and I love it. Come see and compare us to SLC then decide and move to where you feel is the place for you and your wife and soon to be daughter.

 

[JHZR2]

Two of the most memorable things my wife and I did when in ID, was to go into a blue hole (underground swimming cavern) for a swim; and to drive out to promontory point, with a little excursion through little towns through Idaho. We even saw real Cowboys driving cattle down a street in some little town.

Very pretty out there.

I like some of the restaurants in Park City, which is nice to visit in the summer.

 

[TheKracken]

Thank you for the kind post MRtv, we are considering Boise actually, and that is a reason we are spending a day there. We wish we had more time but we are prioritizing SLC only because when looking up both areas there seemed to be a TON of positive info on SLC, Boise on the other hand had limited info in general and I would say half of it was negative (seemed like the right leaning crowd hated it there).

My wife and I are both conservative and enjoy family values. That is one of the big pluses for SLC compared to most of the country. My wife knows nothing about the LDS church but I grew up with quite a few mormons and absolutely loved them! Nicest people in general I have ever met, I even aspired to join the church when I was younger but the parents were very uninformed when it came to the LDS church.

Having said that, I really appreciate the help and I think I might just PM you for more info on Idaho and Boise. Thanks!

 

[MRtv]

PM sent TheKracken

 

[Superflop]

If it is still around there is an ice cream shop in slc (taylorsville iirc) called leatherbys, stop in for a scoop.

Edit: congratulations btw, my newest son is just past 2 months. Well wishes to you and yours.

 

[MRtv]

https://www.tsheets.com/living-in-boise/neighborhoods-cost-of-living

The most accurate and fast reading site about Boise after a very quick search. Note. They say the North End of Boise is very liberal. That is true. That does not mean that Boise is liberal in general. It just means liberals mostly live in the North End. The rest of Boise is right to moderate. Idaho was part of Trump country. Ada County voters were part of getting him into office. I did read on one site that Idaho is considered the most red of the red states. I would agree. We invite people to come here but leave your blue ideas behind should you have any. Life is good here and we don't need any blue ideas messing it up.

 

[CT8]

I just moved to Caldwell Id. I think it was the proper choice. Utah is very nice.

 

[Lyman]

My Sister moved to Boise a year ago. She loves it there. Then a few weeks ago a good friend of ours moved there. She also loves it. I am going to have to go visit.

 

[dareo]

I would spend the time looking at potential cities and even neighboorhoods you would want to live in. Most rentals that are availiable are brand new luxury type stuff that is very expensive. Finding a nice low cost rental is difficult. If you can get similar employment in Utah County i would suggest that over Salt Lake County. The northern ut county areas like Lehi, American fork, on up to Draper are really booming. Expect plenty of traffic everywhere.

 

[TheKracken]

Originally Posted By: dareo
I would spend the time looking at potential cities and even neighboorhoods you would want to live in. Most rentals that are availiable are brand new luxury type stuff that is very expensive. Finding a nice low cost rental is difficult. If you can get similar employment in Utah County i would suggest that over Salt Lake County. The northern ut county areas like Lehi, American fork, on up to Draper are really booming. Expect plenty of traffic everywhere.


Yeah we were going to try to see about a few of the neighborhoods and near by cities. We will be on a tight budget when we move there so it would be nice to find a lower cost place. We are going to try to stay in Salt lake county though since we have heard quite a bit negative stuff about Utah county (no idea if it is true or not)

 

[CKN]

Originally Posted By: TheKracken
Originally Posted By: dareo
I would spend the time looking at potential cities and even neighboorhoods you would want to live in. Most rentals that are availiable are brand new luxury type stuff that is very expensive. Finding a nice low cost rental is difficult. If you can get similar employment in Utah County i would suggest that over Salt Lake County. The northern ut county areas like Lehi, American fork, on up to Draper are really booming. Expect plenty of traffic everywhere.


Yeah we were going to try to see about a few of the neighborhoods and near by cities. We will be on a tight budget when we move there so it would be nice to find a lower cost place. We are going to try to stay in Salt lake county though since we have heard quite a bit negative stuff about Utah county (no idea if it is true or not)


If I wasn't "of the faith" I would not recommend Utah County.

 

[Nick1994]

As said above, look around the city in the neighborhoods and see which sides of town are nicer.

In Phoenix, you don't want to live in west or south Phoenix, too ghetto. The east valley is nice though (where I live). I don't actually live in Phoenix, I live in a suburb called Mesa. Living on the nicer side doesn't necessarily mean it's too much more expensive.

 

[dareo]

Sure UT county has a higher density of mormons but that isnt really a bad thing. It makes Sundays awesome since many of them will not go to stores, work, ect. I like it down here because its not such a dense metro type of a feel. SLC is very urban. Fun to visit but i prefer to live outside of that noise. Dont worry about the mormon thing. Their numbers are trending downward and many are exiting the church once they are old enough to realize it is a scam. You still have a large population of older, 100% fanatical mormons, but generally people in 20s and 30s are chill and dont care if you drink the kool aid or not.

 

[TheKracken]

I appreciate everyone's comments! We are actually bumping things up and leaving around 8pm tonight. If anyone else has suggestions go for it!

 

[Benzadmiral]

Originally Posted By: dareo
Sure UT county has a higher density of mormons but that isnt really a bad thing. It makes Sundays awesome since many of them will not go to stores, work, ect. I like it down here because its not such a dense metro type of a feel. SLC is very urban. Fun to visit but i prefer to live outside of that noise. Dont worry about the mormon thing. Their numbers are trending downward and many are exiting the church once they are old enough to realize it is a scam. You still have a large population of older, 100% fanatical mormons, but generally people in 20s and 30s are chill and dont care if you drink the kool aid or not.

Compared to living around people who shoot each other over drugs on a regular basis, the LDS people sound good to me. So does Boise.