Moving from Kauai to Cedar City, UT (St. George, Washington: fit in, low crime)

[MAMA42]

BuhByeCalifornia,

Congrats on the 10 years! Glad you enjoyed this special landmark in paradise. It is really beautiful here...making our potential move a difficult decision. Anyway, like you, we know we can always come back and visit friends and the lovely island we have come to call home.

Just heard the baby's heartbeat yesterday!! What an exciting moment for the two of us!!

God Bless and Aloha!

[Badland wonder]

Even though housing has come down a little in price, it seems there is still plenty of construction going on. Cedar City is in a valley with the mountains to the east. The tulips are trying to bloom, but it is snowing right this minute. Cedar is becoming a bigger town with a Wal Mart, Apple bees, Home depot, etc. The college is very nice. They have a Shakespere festival here. The hospital is good and plenty of good obgyns.
Parowan is a nice place. It is very small and you would need to commute the 15 miles to Cedar quite often. Lots of things for sale there right now, but check on the water issues in Parowan.
Cedar has in the plans new subdivisions and an industrial park (light industry). Seems you should do fine living here. The snow is not much of a bother, the wind does blow, and it is high desert with sagebrush in the valley. It is not hot like St George or Hurricane just 4o miles to the south, but a drop in 3000 feet elevation.

[MAMA42]

Badland Wonder,

Thanks for the very helpful info!! About that wind...is this a daily kind of wind or just the storm front kind of wind. Are there a lot of thunder storms in the area? The tulips sound like a friendly landscape and a welcome spring addition after the long winters. PS. How are people resonding to the FLDS "scandal" that is capturing the nation?

Aloha from Hawaii.

[Goldwing]

Originally Posted by MAMA42

My husband and I have lived and worked on Kauai in Hawaii for 20 years. We are originally from Santa Monica, CA. Cedar City looks like a great place to raise a child...what else should we know?

I grew up in the suburbs of LA CA and lived on Maui HI for 12 years and loved the islands.
I now live in the suburbs of Salt Lake City and personally want to move back to CA or HI.

The homes here are still going stronger than the rest of the country, many big tech company's are still coming in.

Stats for 2007 migration show UT with equal exodus as entree.

UT is good for businesses but not as good for the workers with lower wadges not caught up to the real cost of living here.

From what I've read you haven't visited yet?

You need to get here as soon as possible while the weather is still on the cold side to get a sense of the winters here, even though your at a lower
area of UT

Took me two years to adjust to the cold and now I over heat faster with adjusting to colder weather.

62 on the Island seems cold then

Like the Islands they tax your food

All Terrain tires all the time

Land lock susie bars over the wonderful fresh catch fish of the Islands

People on cell phones crowding the white line or going over it because there's no line bumps.

Law that you have to have your ID on you at all times.
Gang activity in the St. George area reported

You'll miss the Hawaiian weather and sea

Aloha and congrat's on the baby on the way

[alexei27]

HI there!!

First off...best of luck with your move and new family. My wife and I moved from Oahu to Utah and adopted 2 babies in the last 3 years so we are well in tune with what you are up to.

I did not live in Cedar City but traveled there quite often for business. It is a nice small city on the edge of the Cedar Breaks Mountains. It is up at around 5500ft so it can snow anytime from Oct through late April. It dies get hot in the summer (100+ not uncommon) but it is rather dry (as is most of Utah)

You will not find the "island lifestyle" anywhere in or around Cedar City :-) Have you considered areas further north...such as the southern end of Utah Valley? Areas like Payson and Santaquin are growing and are quite nice. It is a little more rural east of the Wasatch Mountains...but there are a number of towns in central Utah that would cut your travel time to SLC/Provo down and still give you the beauty Utah has to offer.

I have recently moved out of Utah (due to my job) but am happy to tell you anything else you might want to know. Please feel free to PM me.

[FamilyHistoryGeek]

I went to Southern Utah University and lived in Cedar City for about 7 years.

There is a place north of town called "Parawan Gap" where there are some hyroglyphics. A professor at SUU told the story that the ancient inhabitants of the area came there for a reason. They were about to move, and their wise man was dying. Before he died, he told them to settle in a place where the North Wind and the South Wind blew at the same time. They searched and searched until they found the valley where Cedar City is today. .... Having lived there I would have to say yes, it is very windy there.

Cedar City gets a fair amount of snow in the winter time.

You asked about OB doctors. When we lived there, many OBs discontinued their practice so I don't know today. However, the St. George Women's Helth center sends staff doctors up to Cedar (and Kanab) once or twice a month. So when my wife was expecting, she saw her doc in Cedar City until the time of her due date came close. Then when the time came we drove to St. George for the birth. With one of our kids, we stayed overnight in St George because we thought it was time.

[EdLo]

Originally Posted by MAMA42

Aloha Eddie from Oahu/Kauai!!

Would you believe that I have been a teacher at KHS for almost 20 years at KHS. Work is not a real problem for us here....it is the ability to pay/purchase a home....

I just read today that Hawaii is 49th on affordability to buy a home in the U.S. I wonder what state is 50th? California?



I have worked my entire career here and even married it will be a stretch to purchase a home that isn't single walled structure for less than $450,000.

I wonder how many readers even know what a "single-wall structure" is? We bought a single-wall 4-bdrm home in Ewa Beach for $34,000 in 1971. When the Japanese came in the 80's the price shot up to around $400,000.

SAD! This is a beautiful place....but, now that God is blessing us with a child and life is taking a turn... Cedar City just "feels" right...we've both been through Utah and think it beautiful....we appreciate a small town and Cedar City seems like it might just "meet us in the middle" with affordable housing and 2 hours out of the next big city when we're feeling "rocky mountain feaver".

2 hours is a lot of driving and with the cost of gas may not be a wise decision. Remember, that's four hours total driving. We chose Highland because of it's small population with good schools, close to *everything* and only minutes from three big cities, well actually one. SLC, but that's still only about 30 minutes away. Don't forget, being close to a major airport is a definite plus. As for the "affordable housing" issue, well, Highland may not be the town for you, but smaller towns nearby such as American Fork, Lehi, and even Orem will have nice homes in the $175,000 to $250,000 range.


Kauai is a PARADISE, however, hard to "really" live here unless you are lucky enough to own...and, even then....expensive to travel, etc. and isolated (sometimes in a good way). We are ready to go on this adventure and see what Utah might have in store for us. Still, we have lots of questions...always wondering about the unknown. So far it seems like a great place to go. We will pray for you health Eddie and that you might have the luxury of healing in your beloved retirement destination. Thanks for the hello. I'm going to ask my husband if our pal Eddie is Eddie Lopez....just might be...he sings as far as I know. I'll keep you posted.

We love Kauai and frequently fly there for free using AA miles. And we have plenty relatives we can stay with, so lodging is no problem. But you're right, it is a paradise if you have *lots of money* to take with you, or you already own a home if you live there. Let me know if the Eddie you know is my Eddie. He lives in Kapaa.
And thank you for your kind words re: my health.
Aloha
Eddie

Blessings from Kauai.

..........

[toby04]

I would check here Cedar City Institute of Women's Health - Cedar City Utah
I have no personal ob experience, Dr Sanders has treated me and performed surgery. He is excellent! The staff is great and they are right across the street from the hospital, which is expanding and provides excellent service.
I think you said you were a teacher? Although the pay is lower, Iron County School District is a great place to work. Check www.ironk12.org (broken link).
Also check out The Spectrum - www.thespectrum.com -, there is forum called southern utah moms. Good Luck!

[Aerorick]

While Cedar City is OK as a small town I wonder what it is that makes you even want to consider it coming from Hawaii. By and large it's a somewhat isolated community 45 miles north of St. George and 4 hours south of SLC. It's claim to fame seems to be a very over-rated Shakespere festival, a hospital and a Walmart. Being a mile high it gets very cold in the winter and and can get quite windy. It began, like many remote towns in Utah, as an outpost of Mormons sent south from SLC by Brighim Young in the 1800's. Many of the offspring of those original folks are still there. And if it wasn't for that it wouldn't exist at all. It has a state university that provides a bulk of local employment but graduates have no reason to stay. There's a very nice hospital to have babies at but anything that requires much specialization requires a trip to SLC or St. George. There's a Wal-Mart and Home Depot but what town doesn't have those. It's said that the town is the way it is because the people who have run it for a hundred years want to keep it the way it was. And in that respect they've done a good job.

[Badland wonder]

Originally Posted by MAMA42

Badland Wonder,

Thanks for the very helpful info!! About that wind...is this a daily kind of wind or just the storm front kind of wind. Are there a lot of thunder storms in the area? The tulips sound like a friendly landscape and a welcome spring addition after the long winters. PS. How are people resonding to the FLDS "scandal" that is capturing the nation?

Aloha from Hawaii.

The wind does not continuously blow, but some times you do wonder when it is going to stop!
There are thunderstorms, but not real crackers like some other places (South Dakota, Arizona).
Does not seem to be a lot of commotion here about the FLDS. Maybe everyone is just happy it did not happen in Utah!