Moab? (St. George, Logan, Farmington: sex offender, chapel, mobile home)

[IdaClaire]

My husband and I have spent a week almost every year for the past ten years in Moab, Utah, and have long considered retiring to that area eventually. I'd love an honest opinion about what it's like to live in Moab year round. How are home prices? What is the culture like there? We have spent most of our time there backpacking or camping in the local national parks, so we don't have a good handle on what it's like to actually live in the area. We're non-LDS, so I don't know if that would be an issue, but my sense is that many people there are not native Utahans anyway.

We also love the Grand Gulch area for recreation, which is down near Blanding and Bluff, and I'm wondering about those two towns as well. We live in Chapel Hill, NC, and are accustomed to the college town atmosphere and being near a couple of medium sized cities, so we're wondering if we would have culture shock.

[Trebek]

Hopefully you will get more responses, I have the same questions myself.

[sofam]

I won't be much help either as I don't live in Moab. I've worked there some and my impression is one of almost entirely tourist oriented, river running, slick rock bike riding, camping and hiking which you are familiar with. I would agree that many (most?) in Moab are non native Utahns. The same is not true of Blanding and Bluff. I think you will find the opposite in Blanding and Bluff. Not only are there mostly native Utahns there are many native Americans. Since you have been there before you are aware how isolated the area is. IMO, the nearest medium sized city would be Grand Junction, CO. From Blanding probably Cortez, CO although calling Cortez medium would be a stretch, maybe Farmington, NM. Your other choice from Moab would be the cities along the Wasatch front. There are no towns/cities in Utah with a college atmosphere that would compare to Chapel Hill.

[Bhellman]

I moved from Phoenix to Monticello a year ago and I love it.I am only 45 minutes from Moab.The town is less tourist oriented yet as accessible as Moab.The cost of living is substantially less as well.

[acemoab]

Yes, Moab is a great place to visit, but you wouldn't want to live there. I know because I have been stuck in this stinking dump for fifteen years. I wish I could leave, but my resources are gone. It is easy to make a small fortune here. You just bring a large one and wait. There are no jobs here. There is a urinal cake factory that spews its stench over the town like a meth lab gone all wrong. I feel like a Senator stuck in a toilet stall without even a vice cop to seduce. Forget culture. Unless you think enchiladas made with cream of mushroom soup is haute cuisine, you are out of luck. My property continues to decline in value, so even if I sell I won't even be able to make it to a decent welfare office in a real city. I love all the things that Moab offers. Rocks, sand, sunlight, wind, dust. Did I mention rocks? The highlight of my week was watching cars being crushed two blocks from my foul, smelly home. No one that I know is better off than I, and most are even more depressed, poverty stricken, and desperate. All of the neighbors nearby have moved out, so there isn't even a junkie or registered sex offender around to entertain me, these being the previous occupants of the now vacant houses. The junkies' lovely children kept setting my yard and their house on fire, so actually, I am a bit relieved that they have moved on, although it is difficult to sleep without the screaming and smell of smoke. I miss the sex offender as well. Somehow looking out the window is not as deeply fulfilling now, without seeing him there, staring back. I am the only person I know who actually lives in a real, live mobile home. My better-off friends live in abandoned vehicles, discarded travel trailers, or structures made of things like PVC pipe and clear plastic, mud and straw, or composites of several of these fascinating architectural genres. My less auspicious friends simply live in culverts, or move around for variety. One just stays drunk and lives on the river. He is no longer fully house trained, so I usually visit him. Another one simply lives outside with his mules. He is a famous local artist, so he gets special treatment. Among my friends are engineers, teachers, craftsmen, and other degreed professionals. Our skills are many, but opportunities to use them here are rare. Burglars have the same difficulty here, as well, since there is little to steal. Moab has robbed us of any dignity, self-esteem, or hope that we foolishly brought with us. I have had the sublime pleasure of dumpster diving with two PHD's at the same time. We talked about existentialism as we attempted to find the hidden meaning in the delightful discarded food therein. Sadly, the supermarket now destroys all its expired food. Can’t be feeding the poor. It only encourages them. The hidden meaning was "escape while there is still time."

[recycled]

Acemoab, interesting comments, I guess that explains a bumper sticker that read something like "you can't eat the scenery". I just got home from a "road trip" in southern UT for a week, enjoying that beautiful scenery during this great time of the year. Stayed around Moab a few days, and noticed some of the things you mentioned, but just on the surface. I was surprised that upon leaving the south edge of the business district of town, how things changed rather abruptly. It went from an eclectic tourist kind of town to a pretty ragged collection of homes, singlewides, old RVs and buses and other forms of shelter scattered around. Not something I expected to see in an artsy, mountain bikey, touristy mecca.

I also visited some places south of Moab - Monticello and Blanding. I would guess that living there, people would make the 100 to 120 mile roundtrip drive to Moab to go shopping for many things, given the limited variety of stores in those towns. That's a lot of driving to go shopping! I did like the setting around Monticello, an island of trees and mountains surrounded by the rugged desert terrain. Kind of like Flagstaff without the development. The high elevation in Monticello (about 7500 feet or so) would take a while to get acclimated to.

Overall, SE UT is a stunning place to visit. Since I don't live there, hard to pass judgement about a place I have just a "passing through" knowledge of. If a person has the intention of living a long distance from a major metro, SE UT certainly fits that bill.

[SergeantL]

Originally Posted by acemoab

I have had the sublime pleasure of dumpster diving with two PHD's at the same time.

Well, Ace, look on the bright side; you seem to have sufficient funds for an internet connection and ample time to surf the net.

[The Casselli's]

I love Chapel Hills, North Carolina. Recently went to visit. We were so impressed with Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hills, Cary and Wilmington the beautiful beach and coastal view. Love the historical sites and the the diversity of people is an art in itself. We had a wonderful time there. But it's very different when you just go for a vacation and really haven't known the most important tools that are needed in order to survive. This time I am being a lot more careful as to where I end up. I hate to leave Utah because I did meet some wonderful friends that are like family to me but yet, my heart is like a gypsy (and I say with pleasure). At my age, I just love to travel and living it up. Heck, why not? Life is to short to play with foolish things in life. I can't believe GOD put us on this earth to be Ordinary.

It's funny how some of us want to be where there are others moving from? I live in St. George Utah. It's a beautiful place here. Small town but getting crowed. It's fun though cuz there is more to do. As far as the area that your interested in I personally do not know anything about it since i recently moved here from CA 3 years ago. But if your heart tells you to seek further, your doing the right thing. Good luck on your magical journey to Utah. If there is anything I can assit you with please feel free to PM me. Cheers!

[patfromlogan]

Get off the crack Acemoab! Or is your post a clever way to discourage more people from going to Moab?

I go to Moab often. Our church often has meetings there, or near there. It's a bit touristy, but a fun area and the town has a lot to offer. We have friends who have a couple acres and a b and b, but usually we stay at the Lazy Lizard hostel - it's real nice (it is a hostel, though). With or without our dear teenagers and sometimes with groups of friends we all chip in and get a house from them and go mountain biking and/or hiking, river running etc.

[acemoab]

Get off your money addiction and your rude attitude, PatfromLogan. How dare you accuse me of drug addiction just because I am poor? If you belong to a church, you have a responsibility to help people, at least that is what my church teaches. Hmmm, I wonder if you are a Mormon. The Mormons I know are much nicer, thank goodness, so if you are, you are not a very good example, but rather a bad stereotype. Remember, your God is not green and made of paper.

SergeantL, I could post comments here from the public library if I had not found a perfectly good computer in a dumpster (with three more that I repaired and sold). I share an internet connection with five other people in exchange for computer repairs. So I have spent exactly NOTHING to bother all of you smug, rich (expletive deleted)'s. Go eat a money sandwich and choke, please. But do it someplace where I don't have to watch. I have lots of skills, and so do the people I know, but here is not the place to use them profitibly.