More Utah Observations

We're still getting used to our new surroundings here, and I've come up with a few more things that are different being back home.

1. Blonde people everywhere. Actually mostly blonde women. I've heard people comment about this before and never thought much of it, but I've noticed it much more this time. I'm not sure how much this is a result of the dominating English and Scandinavian heritage in Utah as opposed to women that have decided they want to be blonde. There are also more red heads, which seem to mostly be kids at school, so I assume they aren't getting their color out of a box.

2. The drivers are still fine. I'm not going to give them any awards or anything, but they're fine.

3. The Utah accent. My favorite phrase to strike my ears on a regular basis comes from the moms walking their kids to school who so cheerfully say "Good Morneen!" to me as we pass.

4. The roads are blessedly straight, but all under construction.

5. Fall is nice, but Utah is still pretty brown. Does not compare to fall in Illinois, which likewise does not compare to fall in Michigan.

6. And what do brown plants get you? No wildlife. In the suburbs of Chicago we had birds all over the place at the crack of dawn waking us up. And geese pooping on everything. And deer practically in the mall parking lot. And heron. And squirrels in every yard in every tree. In Utah, such things are relegated to the mountains. So far on my morning runs through the neighborhoods the only wildlife I've seen are dead skunks and stray cats.

7. But the dogs are much better behaved here. 37 runs through the neighborhood and I've had exactly 1 dog try to chase me down, and he was on a leash. I'd get chased by an unleashed dog at least a couple times a month in Illinois, and there were a lot more that looked like they wanted to come eat me. There are fewer dogs here, but what dogs there are have clearly been better trained.

8. When we moved here they seemed to put our records in the wrong ward. A week or so later it was fixed. Another 2 or 3 weeks later they split the stake and renamed the ward. So technically we've already been in 3 different wards here. I think this is slightly less than typical in South Jordan, actually.

And one more bonus thing:

I was on campus at BYU a few weeks ago, and we happened to be walking across campus in the ten minutes between classes. I think it was 2:55pm, which is a pretty busy time of day. It was silent. There was almost no conversation as everyone was plugged in to their phones. (Probably texting the people right next to them, right? Those darn Millennials.) (Are they even Millennials anymore, or have we moved on to another name?) I don't know that this is a Utah thing, just kids doing kid things.