After a short trip to Salt Lake City I make some quick observations: the city is changing. Growing up, we spent a week or two in SLC every summer. Once I gained a skeptical perspective in my teens I started noticing the sea of blond WASPS with their tasteful t-shirts hiding bare shoulders and realized: every one is mormon. And with that assumption comes the stereotype: white, straight, conservative, and more white.

But Ok, now that I’m a homeowner, living in an urban neighborhood, struggling to make it in this world I look at SLC differently. Despite being “Bush Country” it is absolutely beautiful. The streets are clean, the sun shining brightly, the temps easily 80 degrees. I felt myself thawing out. Because my grandfather bought his house fifty-something years ago his neighborhood has evolved from being middle class to upper-class. Mature trees line the sidewalks, everyone takes care of their lawns, flowers bloom from window baskets, dogs rest on porches, the place felt like a Norman Rockwell painting. Despite the sad circumstances (my grandpa’s health has started a slow spiral south) the place felt irresistible. Why couldn’t I transplant my friends, the Freedom Dancers, U.P, Annex Theater, and everything else HERE? Or at least to the Rocky Mountains? Sigh, you can’t have it all.

Despite the landscape I noticed other changes. There used to be no coffee shops in SLC, but now there are plenty (and every SUV drivin’ maven was sporting a Starbucks mug). I spotted two black people at the breakfast place down the corner. And then I spotted a first: two visibly gay men waiting for a table at the Paris AND I think our waiter was gay. This is big.