Utah!

I'm not ashamed to admit that I love Utah. I love the mountains. I love the brilliantly blue skies. I love the canyons. I love the red rocks. I love that they try and maintain roads there (unlike here, where every major road is riddled with potholes). I love the down-to-earth, selfless people. I love that new businesses can thrive there. I love the temples. I kind of love that high schools and colleges engrave their initials on hills and mountains (which they do in Britain, too, by the way). I love that cities there aren't bankrupt the way Detroit is.

But I don't love everything about Utah. I don't love that 4th graders are bussed to Promontory Point to celebrate the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad in the middle of nowhere. Why did they have to finish in May. And why did my mom have to put freezer-burned ice cubes in my water bottle so that I nearly died of dehydration when we went because I couldn't drink my nasty water. I don't love that I-15 is kind of the only way to get north and south and that it always has construction. I don't love the inversion.  I don't love all the fault lines along the mountains. I don't love all the billboards, especially the ones about plastic surgery. I don't love that some places are kind of weird in that they do Twilight-themed Activity Days for 8-11 year old girls.

Despite its faults and fault lines, I think I would like to end up in Utah. However, sometimes I hear anecdotes that make me wonder if I would fit in. What if we ended up in a ward where people cared a lot about appearances? What if it were difficult to maintain certain standards because we didn't want to come across as self-righteous?

I was talking to a friend about it and voiced some of my concerns. She said that she wasn't too worried about ending up in a ward like that. She felt that even in a ward like that, there would still be a lot to learn from other ward members. And hey, if you don't like the culture -- fix it! If you don't like people from Utah or Utah County or BYU or wherever, be one of the ones that people can like.

So that's my response from now on to people who hate on Utah. Because Utah is awesome, no matter what you say.

After all, there's this!

and this!

 and this!

 and this!

and this!

hi kevin

and views like this!

And where else but Utah would you get fabulous music like this?

Hooray for Utah! And Happy Pioneer Day!