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My wife is looking into moving to Evanston. We have four children. What are the pros and cons to this town? She is trying to sell me on that it is on 45 minutes to Park City.
LOL ... 45 minutes driving what? A high performance SUV without regard to the speed limits? It's about 70 miles from Evanston's West environs at I-80 to Park City ... and that's not in town to in town, just city limits. The UTHP is rather aggressive about enforcing the speed limit (which is reduced) in the I-80 area as you enter UT and along the stretch by Echo Lake heading southward. An hour would be a very optomistic driving time in clear road conditions ... and this area does get some pretty good snowfall and storms for many months of the year. I've driven this stretch of I-80 many times when 45mph was pretty aggressive in a well set-up winter equipped AWD car or station wagon. There's also times when the tourist traffic can really slow you down on the two-lane windy roads along I-80 there ... and it's pretty pastoral scenic looking at all the farms along the corridor. If your attraction is the skiing at Park City, then you'd be better off to access it from SLC up Parley's Canyon than coming from the NE area of Evanston.
But ... more to the point ... what's the attraction of Evanston? Do you have a job/housing lined up in the area? It's a nice little town and the regional center of commerce, but the emphasis is on a "little town" here, a fuel and food stopping point in Wyoming on your way to somewhere else for most people. While it's among the largest towns in Wyoming at 12,000 population, it's still definitely small town living with limited services/commerce. Living in Evanston, you'll be heading to SLC for much of your shopping, entertainment, medical, and other services.
If it weren't for the through traffic, Evanston's limited economy would be somewhat depressed compared to a lot of Wyoming's boom town areas that benefit from current large scale extractive or tourist industries; the area has a lot of ranching and some farms .... when you drive through Evanston's commercial areas, there's a lot of vacant storefronts and a host of very old motels. There was a boom decade some time back locally with natural gas drilling, but the long term jobs are relatively minimal now that the wells are in place.
They do have a nice rural airstrip and good folk at the FBO, however ... and the folks at the local car dealerships are very accomodating to weather stranded pilots enroute. Due to the regional topography, Evanston may many times be the last clear area in Western Wyoming before much of the more serious storm fronts or dense pollution of the Wasatch range builds up to the West in Utah.
It's difficult to be helpful re your question of pro's and con's of the area ... unless you can be a bit more specific about what you are seeking in a move to Evanston. Do you need jobs? what do you do? Ages of your children? any recreational or other interests to be met? medical concerns? educational needs/wants? what type/size of housing/residence are you seeking? and so forth ...
My wife is looking into moving to Evanston. We have four children. What are the pros and cons to this town? She is trying to sell me on that it is on 45 minutes to Park City.
Thanks
I lived in Evanston from the time I moved to Wyoming in 2002 until 2007. i moved to the Cody area only because I couldn't find a suitable country propperty. I often miss living in Evanston. The crime rate is extremely low, even for Wyoming although larger numbers of illegal aliens are in evidence. Certain business interests have kept the Evanston Police Department from taking training programs to allow them to enforce federal immigration laws. The city council has plans both silly and grandiose. For example, they do not allow any livestock, even chickens. They're more sophisticated, they think, than New York City. They also want to make Evanston a center for kayaking.
The people are great; the city is very much a family place. Many of the bars close long before the legal closing hour for want of business. There's plenty of shopping for day to day needs.
The Park City exit from I-80 is about a forty-five minute drive; the downtown Salt Lake exit is about sixty minutes. Downtown Ogden is about forty-five minutes on I-84. The road to Park City is entirely four lane. The Utah State Patrol is very courteous as far as speed is concerned. Once when I unthinkingly rolled up to a bit over eighty on I-15 north of Salt Lake a patrol car accelerated, entered the lane in front of me, and illuminated the large top sign some of the cars carry to say Speed Limit 65.
The Summit County, Utah police (Park City) apparently aren't so nice.
Overall, it's a good place, hard to do better. The motto is "Fresh Air, Freedom, and Fun".
My family of 3 (myself, husband and stepson 15YO) are about to celebrate our first year in Evanston having moved here from Northern Arizona last August. For the most part, we are not looking back - we really love it here. We enjoy a wonderful quality of life, the people are super nice, cost of living is lower (ex., gas is about 30 cents cheaper/gallon than where we came from; natural gas heat is much more reasonably priced than propane), and we got twice the house our real estate dollars would have bought in Arizona. The high school is much more well-rounded and well-funded than what we were dealing with in Arizona. They don't seem to "dumb down" to the lowest common demoninator here and the "LA Gangsta" look with the baggy/saggy trousers is NOT tolerated - yaaaaaay! They do allow the baseball caps tipped in the wrong direction, which I think looks dorky, but what are ya gonna do?
In short, Evanston has lots of "pros" and one "big con": 6 months of winter! Our first winter here was longer and snowier than average, with our front yard being buried under 3' of snow by season's end. Memorial Day weekend saw two storms blow through, each dropping 6" of the white stuff - put a major damper on a motorcycle event scheduled for that weekend. But summer days are absolutely exquisite, rarely cracking 85-90 degrees. We have a motorcycle, and there is a sizeable bikers' community here; with the short riding season, they come out in droves once the weather stablizes.
The secondary "con:" the job market. The economy here took a hit like it did everywhere else, albeit later than a lot of places. Unfortunately that probably means it will be the last to rebound. So if you have a job and/or other income streams that are notdependent on where you live, that's a huge plus. In my case, I was able to bring my job with me as I have a very specialized/interesting skill set, plus we have two rental properties that generate income and/or provide a tax shelter.
As for
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Many of the bars close long before the legal closing hour for want of business
, that wasn't how it was last winter! A new bar opened called the Painted Lady Saloon, which occupies part of the former Old Mill building. The new owners did an amazing job of decorating it and their drink prices are very reasonable. I think this winter was so brutal that people took any opportunity they could to cut loose - all ages! I'm a musician (bass guitar) part-time and from October through February, we were busier than one-armed paper hangers.
Good luck in your choice - we certainly made the right one for us.
I am looking at a position with the local hospital and would have stable employment. We currently live in Alanta and my wife is looking for a small town near a ski area. We have four children age 8-12. We also would like to have good schools. This is sometimes tougher to find in a smaller city.
I am looking at a position with the local hospital and would have stable employment. We currently live in Alanta and my wife is looking for a small town near a ski area. We have four children age 8-12. We also would like to have good schools. This is sometimes tougher to find in a smaller city.
Given your interest in skiing, you'll have a much better access to Park City along the SLC I-80 corridor from the Utah side ... which also opens up more opportunities with the other ski resorts located in that area.
With the emphasis on education in the area, good schools for your children shouldn't be a problem.
I'll not get into a contest with other posters about realistic commute times from Evanston to points West ... but will suggest you do your own research on MapQuest or similar sites. My I-80 Evanston to SLC area, or Heber City, travel times appear to be significantly longer than what others here are asserting ... and their travel times don't jibe with MapQuest or make a lot of sense given the posted speed limits and distances.
Yes, I-80 is a four-lane divided highway from Evanston to points West. However, the two lanes of I-80 through the mountainous/canyon areas are winding roads with posted limits less than the 75 mph in Wyoming ... and the tight curves with the mountainous grades are not very confidence inspiring to a lot of tourists/flatlanders or some truckers. A couple of those turns where somebody has difficulty staying in their lane ... this is in clear/dry road conditions, and they slow down appreciably, particularly when the signage indicates another curve ahead with an advisory posted speed of 10-15 mph less than the posted speed limit. All it takes is a couple of vehicles traveling more slowly than the posted limits due to their driving insecurity to reduce everybody to their common denominator. For whatever reasons, many of these folk are unable/unwilling to yield the road on the grades/turns, and the traffic becomes a slower parade even though it's an interstate highway.
Add to that the road surface conditions that present during the winter months ... black ice being the most difficult ... and you'll not be maintaining a prudent cruising speed at the posted speed limits.
OTOH, Parley's Canyon has an interesting mix of traffic speeds. I've driven it many times when the prevailing traffic speeds were in the high 80's mph ... with everything from high performance SUV's and 4x4 pick-up trucks weaving through that traffic to pass others. At that, the curves are somewhat daunting to many drivers. As well, when the inclement weather conditions suggest a prudent reduction below the posted speed limits, I've seen the same behavior ... a fair number of vehicles weaving through the traffic at substantially higher speeds. Highway Patrol seems to take two positions on this ... as long as the faster speed prevailing traffic flow is moving smoothly, they don't seem to stop many vehicles. And so I've made a fair number of trips through that area at well over the posted speed limit. But then you'll encounter some number of days where the powers that be have apparently decided that the speed has become excessive or they have an excessive number of accidents ... and suddenly, there is ZERO TOLERANCE for over the posted speed limit enforcement. You'll see a number of patrol working a stretch of road and they get very aggressive about stopping everybody over the speed limit for a momento of the event. I've never been able to predict which situation I'll encounter, so I tend to stay in the right-hand lane and use my GPS to assure myself that I'm not over the limit ... moving over, of course, to pass slower moving heavy traffic (or intimidated flatlanders) as needed. Oh ... signaling a lane change is also prudent, but especially so when the highway patrol is doing a sweep on this stretch of road.
As I mentioned, Parley's Canyon (I-80 from the hills down to SLC) can be a crapshoot for speed enforcement, but in all the last decade of my travels from Evanston .... once past the fork in the road leading to Echo Lake ... speed enforcement on I-80 has been consistent and fairly heavy handed. My radar detector gets a good workout with all the unmarked patrol in that area, and they tend to be "sneaky" with locating in dips in the center median where you can't see them and they've got "instant on" radar units, along with unmarked patrol cars of all kinds of vehicles ... not just the cars you associate with the patrol, but a mix of vehicles that will surprise you as you get nearby and notice the lightbar or a uniformed patrol driver at the wheel. I've had many trips through this area where I was thankful to have my GPS to assure my traveling speed accuracy because I've seen the patrol bust speeders at just a couple mph over the limit ... and there are straight stretches of I-80 there with lower than 75 mph limits that appear well capable of being driven much faster. It almost seems like the lower speed limits are arbitrary in comparison to the areas where 75 mph is posted. Your experience may vary ....
I'd urge you to come visit the area you are considering for an extended stay ... and not just in fair weather months, but in February/March/April time frame. You need to see what the weather holds for you in this region and how it can/will affect your daily life and your expectations for shopping, commutes, schools/activities for your kids, and so forth. I'd also suggest you do a google search for I-80 winter driving conditions ... there's a fair number of you tube videos now posted which are fairly representative of what it's like in this area. Contrary to so many folk who think the I-80 regional issues are deep snow which should be removed by the DOT, the real adverse inclement weather driving conditions are the black ice/slick roads with limited visibility, perhaps aggravated by strong gusty winds. When the visibility is down to a few feet in front of your hood and the road is obscured by the drifting snow across it ... even a couple inches of total snowfall in a storm is exceptionally hazardous; these conditions can persist for days after a frontal passage of snowfall due to the strong winds blowing the snow back and forth. For many drivers from out of the area, the first time they've ever seen "snow fences" along the highways is seeing these structures along various terrain fronting I-80 ... they're there to retain snow drifts from becoming a huge obstacle on the highway.
I'd also reiterate my concern for suitable housing for you in the Evanston area. Many towns in Wyoming that have been on the extractive industries boom/bust cycles of prosperity have a somewhat inflated housing market compared to the real wages and costs of living that present. Even after a boom cycle run-up of housing prices, the vacancy rates and costs of housing don't fall very much afterwards. With 4 children, much of the Evanston housing market for you will depend upon your expectations of what is a suitable size and quality of house ... you may find that your housing dollar goes a lot less in Evanston than in Atlanta. You'll also find that the local shopping marketplace for hard and soft goods in Evanston is more expensive because everything gets shipped in so much further and into a smaller commercial market ... hence why so many folk in the area make routine shopping trips to SLC. By Wyoming standards, an hour + trip each way is a modest distance for this aspect of living.
First, people coming from Evanston do not go through Parley's Canyon when driving to Park City. Parley's Canyon is between Park City and Salt Lake.
Of course not; I mention Parley's as the I-80 route as between SLC and the ski resorts to the East ... as an alternative area with small towns and better access to Park City than Evanston to Park City would be. Shorter distance to Park City, more opportunities for medical employment, and still has good schools/shopping/recreation and a small town atmosphere in a lot of those towns to the East of the SLC metroplex.
Second, driving times are based on about 7 mph over the speed limit.
OK, now we finally get a little better picture of how you're driving. As an experienced driver on these mountain roads and conditions, you have an advantage over most flatlanders. I doubt most folk coming from Atlanta would be comfortable matching your speeds driving a 6-passenger vehicle through the area and the winding roads with turns that are beyond your sight radius ahead. You can tell the folk that don't have implicit trust in their vehicle and driving skills and always assume a clear road ahead when they step on the brakes at every turn along the route ... especially when they see the yellow caution signs advising a lower speed for the turn ahead. This is at freeway speeds on an interstate highway to see them braking all the time on dry roads, accelerating and then slowing down ... and it gets much worse when there's inclement road conditions and they're always "testing" their brake response to the roadway, even on the straight portions of the road. It is an intimidating stretch of road for many drivers ....
This doesn't even begin to address the concern of exceeding the speed limit to a point where you're fair game for the highway patrol to want to have a chat with you and perhaps document the encounter. You've apparently been fortunate to have the patrol give you a "heads up" advisory about your speed, but that's not to say you couldn't have gotten a ticket with your 7 mph average speed over the limit. FWIW, to maintain a 7 mph average over the limit for the journey requires that you exceed the speed limit at times by even more than that from time to time to keep up the average speed ....
I should also mention that Evanston doesn't have much wind compared to many places in Wyoming. Severe winds are unusual.
True ... Evanston itself doesn't have the continuous winter winds and strong gusts that characterize much of the I-80 corridor to the East in Wyoming. But Evanston doesn't exist all by it's lonesome in the region ... the N-S mountain range which sits between it and the SLC valley has some days of strong winds gusting through every winter. I've had more than one trip (and I spent most of the past decade commuting once or twice a month from Cheyenne to SLC) where the winds were gusty enough to be blowing cars off the slick roads, even as close by as just past the Wyoming Port of Entry (just a few miles West of Evanston) and entering the canyons into Utah. OK, it wasn't as severe as say going past Elk Mountain ... or along the Cheyenne Ridge south of Cheyenne, or up by some of the nasty stretches north of Cheyenne on I-25(like Chugwater) ... but the results were the same. It's frequently a difficult stretch of road during the winter months.
Making the driving conditions more difficult for a passenger vehicle is that the semi-truck drivers, who may have better forward visibility than you, keep up fairly high road speeds in the inclement conditions and throw up a lot of obscuring spray/slush through which you cannot see the road ahead. It's pretty daunting trying to pass one of them as they slow down on a grade and you can otherwise keep up a higher speed ... when you've got a moving storm front of zero visibility to pass through ... and then on the downhill or flat road ahead, they pass you again so you can repeat the process in another couple of miles.
I'll again point out to the OP that they really need to come visit the area, especially during the inclement weather months to find out for themselves if the area offers the jobs/housing/amenities that they could be happy with. It's a real culture change to come to this area from a riparian low altitude area of the country, especially a major population region such as the Piedmont area I-85 corridor. The wide open spaces and rural nature of Western Wyoming have an entirely different reality of living about them ... even when comparing "small towns" in the major population regions where it's a couple of miles to the next set of commercial facilities/shopping/recreation/schools against driving for hours to reach same from a large remote town such as Evanston. There's a lot of major differences that take place ... for example, if your children are in to school sports, you may find that they are bused quite a few hours away for those activities; with 4 children, you may find yourself running in many directions with jr high and high schoolers and their activities ... and having to prioritize which ones get supported on any given day. It wouldn't be uncommon for you to want to be in several places hundreds of miles apart at the same time ....
Thinking on Moving to Evinsgton, What should I know? From Michigan. have kids, attorney
Curious about Evingston WY Whats is the catch
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Originally Posted by Happy in Wyoming
I lived in Evanston from the time I moved to Wyoming in 2002 until 2007. i moved to the Cody area only because I couldn't find a suitable country propperty. I often miss living in Evanston. The crime rate is extremely low, even for Wyoming although larger numbers of illegal aliens are in evidence. Certain business interests have kept the Evanston Police Department from taking training programs to allow them to enforce federal immigration laws. The city council has plans both silly and grandiose. For example, they do not allow any livestock, even chickens. They're more sophisticated, they think, than New York City. They also want to make Evanston a center for kayaking.
The people are great; the city is very much a family place. Many of the bars close long before the legal closing hour for want of business. There's plenty of shopping for day to day needs.
The Park City exit from I-80 is about a forty-five minute drive; the downtown Salt Lake exit is about sixty minutes. Downtown Ogden is about forty-five minutes on I-84. The road to Park City is entirely four lane. The Utah State Patrol is very courteous as far as speed is concerned. Once when I unthinkingly rolled up to a bit over eighty on I-15 north of Salt Lake a patrol car accelerated, entered the lane in front of me, and illuminated the large top sign some of the cars carry to say Speed Limit 65.
The Summit County, Utah police (Park City) apparently aren't so nice.
Overall, it's a good place, hard to do better. The motto is "Fresh Air, Freedom, and Fun".
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