Thoughts on Utah

I had occasion to visit the Salt Lake City area over the 4th of July weekend. Herewith, some random thoughts.

1. The greater Salt Lake City area is very north-and-south. All of metro Salt Lake and thus the majority of people in the state are jammed into a strip of land around 10 to 15 miles wide between the lake and the Wasatch Mountains. The later are shockingly steep, in many places being barely less than cliffs. As a result, there is really one main north-south road, I-15. If things are flowing on that road, traffic is good. If not, well, you’re stuck.
2. Utah has funny laws regarding the sale and consumption of alcohol. Before the law changed in 2009 most places serving alcohol were at least nominally “private clubs.” Now, as I understand it, Utah has three classes of places serving booze to the public., to wit: Bars. These are over-21 only places, and they allow you to actually see the booze like in a regular bar.  Restaurants. These can let in all ages, but you must order food and the drinks are brought out from a back room, even if they have a physical bar area.  Taverns. These can serve beer only. Many local microbreweries (of which the SLC area has a lot) have this class of license which means they only sell their beer.
3. Utah is a desert. (Yeah, news flash.) Salt Lake City is a high desert (around 4,500 feet high) and so gets cold in winter. In summer, it gets hot (90s) but there’s so little humidity that if you can find some shade and/or a breeze it’s quite comfortable. At night, it tends to drop off pretty quickly, which again makes for comfortable evenings.
4. I learned the high-low desert difference at the Natural History Museum of Utah, which I visited on Sunday. The museum was well worth the admission price. (https://nhmu.utah.edu/)
5. Also while in Utah, I visited Temple Square, which is the heart of the Mormon Church and right in the middle of downtown Salt Lake City. It was a surprisingly small area, although pleasant enough. Architecturally, it’s just okay – the buildings are either uninspired copies of European church architecture or modern buildings. Having said that, when in Utah one does what Utahans do.