Salt Lake

So Spencer and I just got back from a fabulous family reunion in Utah. I hope you all know I adore Tucson. Nothing beats the incredible lightning/thunder monsoons, the enormous rainbows, the desert smell, or the relaxed feeling that perpetually hangs over the city (since more than half of its population is retired) . But Salt Lake still strikes the "home" part of me because
-the mountains are so sudden and close they could almost fall on you

-the freshly cut lawns and flowers full of petunias or whatever make the whole city smell like a greenhouse
-the city is full of dogs, not cats...sorry Sally!
-December or July, you can always see snow somewhere
-it has a usable freeway!
-along with the greenhouse smell, there is always the BBQ smell in the evenings
-the tinkertoy downtown

-white streetlights (it sounds like a little thing, but they only allow yellow ones here in Tucson because of the nearby Telescope, so it always looks like the setup for a scary movie in the dim light...)
-brick or wooden houses with slanted roofs, ivy growing up the sides, a lawn in front, and a porch swing
-car radios blast country more frequently than Spanish rap
-there are actual creeks and canals, rather than creek and canal beds
-I walked to the gas station by my house for candy everyday of the summer until I was nine
-Saturday mornings you wake up to the sound of lawn-mowers
-Quaking Aspens
-the sound of crickets at night
-the view from Wasatch Boulevard
-and...not that I'm complaining, but getting above 105 is unusual up there!
Anyway, who knows where we'll end up--Tucson, Boston, Portland, or maybe Jamaica. But in addition to wherever I'm living, I'll alway call Salt Lake home...