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I'm sure a lot of these questions have been answered, but would like some options as to what I can expect living in/near SLC.
Background Info
My gf and I currently live in upstate NY in a smaller town (about 20,000 people). I graduated in May with an B.E. in mechanical engineering. My gf graduated a year before with a B.S. in math and has 2-3 semesters left for her masters in special education. Neither one of us have a good job, but we're still looking. We enjoy hiking, canoeing, snowboarding, walking around town and about anything else outdoor related. We also like going to zoos, aquariums and museums. We have a dog and we try to bring him with us as much as possible.
Questions
I'm not a big fan of the cold here in upstate NY and haven't had the best luck finding a job so I've been looking for other places to live. After looking around for a while SLC seems like an amazing place to live. It seems like we can do all the things that we enjoy and have an easier time finding jobs. I'm trying to make sure that SLC is the right place for us before we move out there and realize that we don't like it.
1. There needs to be a number of hiking trails within ~ 1 hr that have green trees (similar to upstate NY scenes....not just canyons/dry mountains). This seems to be possible, but I'm just making sure.
2. Also, during the summer we spend a lot of time with our dog swiming, canoeing and just playing at a river close to our house. It would be great (maybe even necessary) to have access to a river/lake close to our house. Salt Lake probably wouldn't work due to the high salt content, but I'm hoping that there is more water access nearby.
3. We need to be able to get jobs. It seems like we'd have an easier time getting jobs since it's a bigger city then where we live now, but I know that teachers have a hard time finding work in some locations. Again, I have an B.E. mechanical engineering degree and she has a B.S. in math and is working on her masters for special education.
4. If we move before she's done with her masters she needs to be able to finish it and not have a long commute (probably around 80 minutes max)
5. We need to be able to find a house and afford living in SLC. We also don't want a super long commute, so we won't be able to live miles away from our jobs just to save money. I would guess that a 30-40 minute commute is acceptable, but obviously the lower the better.
6. How dog friendly is SLC? As I said earlier we try not to leave the dog home alone too often, so it would be nice to be able to take him to an outdoor restaurant or other outdoor places. It seems like there's quite a few dog parks in the area and based on what I've found a lot of the hiking trails allow dogs.
These seem like the biggest issues. Obviously snowboarding isn't an issue...which I'm SUPER excited about! Please let me know what you think and if we'd enjoy SLC. Based on my research so far this seems like a place that we would enjoy, but I would rather learn that it's not the place for us now instead of after we've already moved there. If you have any questions or concerns please let me know. Thanks in advance!
I haven't seen any restaurents that allow dogs, but I haven't been to every one in the city. I know one neighborhood place where people walk over and tie the dog up outside on the patio railing, then sit next to the dog (Eggs in the City, breakfast-lunch).
The Wasatch Front Range has green canyons. As a SPED teacher, the GF might have better luck in getting a job than without it. Plenty of people walk/jog with their dogs (and poop bags) in Sugar House and Liberty Parks.
Last edited by SouthernBelleInUtah; 11-30-2010 at 10:12 PM..
Your gf should contact the Utah State Office of Education for information about what she needs before she can be licensed to teach in the state of Utah. Her special education background alone would make her competitive in the job market, but in combination with a degree that would allow her to teach math, I think she could pretty much assume that she'd be able to get a job. That's a pretty unique combination of specialities. I would not automatically assume that Salt Lake City is the best location in the state, however. There is a truly critical shortage of special education teachers in areas of southern Utah that you might also find meet your other needs. I have no idea what the market is for mechanical engineers in Utah, but it would be worth looking into St. George (Washington School District) and Moab (Grand School District) to see if she could find a job first, and you could continue to look for something that matches your skills. I would advise that she finish her master's degree first, but if you really want to get out of NY, your gf might be able to finish her master's through one of the colleges in southern Utah. Or, you could move first to SLC and let her finish at the University of Utah or at Westminster College and then consider your options for other areas of the state. If she hasn't finished student teaching, then I would highly recommend Westminster College's School of Education. Utah also has what is called Alternative Route to Licensure which allows people to be teaching while finishing their education. That might also be worth looking into. The State Office of Education, Division of Educator Licensing will be able to give your girlfriend information about that possibility.
I've grown up and lived about 30 minutes outside of Salt Lake almost my whole life. I don't know about the schools and jobs. I would look into The University of Utah.
As for hiking trails- you will find TONS of them and most that I know of allow dogs, but usually need a leash. I don't think it's as green here as there but it's not just brown barren mountains. Utah definitely has some breathtaking scenery. There are lots of lakes, rivers, and streams that would be within driving distance for SLC.
Are you wanting to live downtown Salt Lake? Or in the suburbs around it? One warning I have is that in the winter especially it gets really smoggy here sometimes. It seems to be getting worse and worse as the years go by. It is not always in the winter now. You can see the smog over SLC when you're driving into town. Most days are fine and lots of days there is no smog, but some days are HORRIBLE.
Also, are you religious(LDS in particular)? It may seem like a weird question, but it is kind of important to the whole moving to Utah thing. If you aren't, you may have a hard time fitting in here(I'm not religious). It's not as bad if you are in downtown SLC, but the suburbs are a bit more "cliquey". There are neighborhoods that aren't as bad. Are you wanting a city feel?
The thing that caught my attention in all those qualifications you are looking for is the one about wanting water to canoe and play in. Utah is a desert. There are no equivalents to the water you have so abundantly in NY.
There are certainly lakes in the mountains, many of those close to major cities are hiking destinations. There are also small reservoirs for drinking water with restrictions prohibiting human and animal activity. There are also many larger reservoirs/lakes that are home to waterbased activities such as fishing and waterskiing.
Rivers are another thing all together. I can count the number of rivers available for playing in and it is less than 10. In the SLC area there is the Jordan River, north is the Weber and south is the Provo. (Further south are the Green and Colorado, which ones am I missing?), But I doubt they are what you had in mind.
However, if you are willing to learn to do other things or change the waterbased activities to something more applicable, Utah is very much an outdoor sport state with many options, many of which are dog friendly.
Thanks for all of the replies. I'll try to answer everyones questions. We are somewhat religious with my girlfriend growing up in an SDA household. We aren't as strict as most but we've had exposure so being in a religious community wont be terrible. As far as water activities go it seems like you're saying that it'll be difficult to find a place to swim. Is that because not alot of clean areas are available nearby? This is one of our favorite activities on a hot day because it tires us all out and cools us down. If there isn't daily swimming available what do people do to cool off or for after work activiies when you only have a couple hours max? Is smog something that we will have to live with in almost all cities? Here in upstate NY our air is probably about as clean as I gets without being away from civilization. I would say that we don't want the big city feel as much as we want more to do. It looks like we can do everything that we currently like (except maybe daily swimming at the river :-/) but there is also a zoo, aquarium (looks small), indoor skydiving and probably a bunch of other things that I haven't found yet. Where we live now is nice but we don't like sitting around being bored and if we aren't hiking, snowboarding, at the water or doing something with the dog we are usually sitting around bored. Again thanks for the help.
We have a lot of indoor aquatic centers, open all year. You have to pay but yearly memberships aren't too bad. Our rivers are streams to me, being from the South. Very fast running, not very wide, kids drown if they fall in. The lakes in the mountains are pretty cold - someone else will have to speak to that. Cooling down in the summer isn't really a problem as the summer humidity hovers around 15%. Most older houses, mine included, come with evaporative coolers, swamp coolers, instead of a/c. I never thought I would like it before I moved, but I have to turn it off now and then b/c I get too cold in July/Aug.
It is against the Salt Lake County Health code for a dog OTHER than a seeing eye or medical assistance dog to enter a restaurant. That's not likely to change. Now if I could only find a restaurant that had a code against anyone under 21 entering I'd have it made Come on folks...smile....you know it's just me
Haha, Decisive...I should have seen that one coming. Seriously though, I like to take my (well behaved!!) kids out to eat. Ask Katz, she will tell you they can behave. Surely you can make some allowances, yes?
To the OP-
Just out of curiousity, where in upstate NY are you from? I have family out that way
Have you looked at the Ogden area. If you are actually IN Ogden you have to watch out for sketchy neighborhoods, but there are a lot of good neighborhoods around. That would be a short drive to pineview reservoir where you can swim and play in the water all you want(in the summer of course) and even has beaches. There is also Causey dam that is a bit farther from pineview, but it's really fun to paddle around in a small canoe and even has a few small cliffs to jump off of. You can also camp by either of those. Ogden area even has some great walking trails that run along small streams. I don't think it will be hard to find water to play in. You might have to wait till the weekends to actually go swimming, but you could go let your dog play in the water along the walking trails every day. 9 There is also Willard bay that is just North of Ogden and has GREAT fishing and is really fun to go boating. It's not the most beautiful place, but it is still really fun. I don't think Weber State University(in Ogden) has the right masters program, but depending on where you choose to go(especially if you go a bit north of ogden) Salt lake is still within a 30-45 minute drive.
I would also look into Logan with Utah State University there. I don't know how the job market is there. It has less of a city feel but is a bit colder there because it's nestled in a valley a bit farther up in the mountains. They still get the inversions and smog. The mountains here kind of trap it in sometimes. I don't feel like Ogden is as bad as SLC as far as smog goes, but there are days when it is everywhere. Logan actually gets it just as bad as Salt Lake sometimes.
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Come on folks...smile....you know it's just me
