Everyone knows that Salt Lake’s housing market is hotter than a two-dollar pistol. Home values have gone up 24.7% over the past year, with median home prices hovering around $485,000. Even so, buyers are lined up to purchase homes while interest rates are low — even if it means overpaying for a home — which many people are willing to do. In fact, more than 55% of … [Read more...]
A Ghost Plays Piano in the Old Mormon Church in the Middle of Night
Graveyards are notoriously scary places, especially after dark, and the same is true of old church houses. Churches, despite being houses of God, can also attract opposing forces, making them concentrated gathering points for both good and evil. My first experience with the darker side of churches came right after high school. After taking a vocational floor covering class … [Read more...]
Millcreek Residents Fed Up with Road Work on 3900 S
The Road Work That Never Ends. When will 3900 S in Millcreek be complete? It only took 20 years to build the Great Pyramid at Giza, but many Millcreek and Holladay residents are wondering whether they’ll live long enough to see the completion of 3900 S between 2300 E and Wasatch Blvd. — a mere mile-and-a-half section of road. With only one lane in each direction, it’s not … [Read more...]
Neff’s Cave: Utah’s Best-Kept Subterranean Secret
Sometimes the best-kept secrets are hidden in our own backyard. For example, if you were to ask an experienced caver from France to name 10 of the top technical caves in the world, he would more than likely include Neff’s Cave among them. He might even tell you where it is. He may have even been there. On the other hand, if you were to ask random Salt Lakers about … [Read more...]
Utah Cycling: Back in the Saddle Again
I turned 62 in April of this year, and I climbed back on a bike for the first time in more than 10 years. My butt didn’t touch a bike saddle for the entire decade of my 50s, and I make that confession with a great deal of embarrassment and regret. I loved riding my bike as a kid. I don’t remember the bike I first learned to ride on, but the first bike I could call my own … [Read more...]
Moab’s Old Uranium Roads – Perfect Mountain Biking Trails
From Mining to Mountain Biking Moab, Utah, is surrounded by stunning natural beauty, attracting recreation seekers from around the world. With Canyonlands and Arches National Parks and Dead Horse Point State Park just a stone’s throw from town, Moab has blossomed over the last 40 years into an outdoor-lovers Mecca. But it wasn’t always so. Back in the 1940s and ‘50s, the … [Read more...]
Tiny Houses May be the Solution to a Big Problem in SLC
Tiny homes to the rescue! Salt Lake City, like most metropolitan areas, has an affordable housing crisis along with a growing homeless crisis, and tiny houses may be the solution. Mayor Erin Mendenhall has plans to “make measurable progress on a tiny home pilot project by facilitating at least six work sessions with community partners and using the findings to chart a path … [Read more...]
CHEMICAL REACTION: How Our Green Lawns are Hurting Us
Once upon a time, every American wanted the same thing: a house in the suburbs with a lush, green lawn surrounded by a white picket fence. It was the American dream. For many, it still is. But are all those green lawns really necessary nowadays, with their excessive water consumption and chemical runoff, and what are the alternatives? After WWII, chemical companies were … [Read more...]
Beavers Make a Splash in Utah: Reintroducing Beavers to Restore Watershed in Utah
The resounding “Smack!” of a broad tail on tranquil water is how beavers signal to one another that danger lurks nearby. Beavers confronted their greatest danger in the mid-19th Century, at the time of the early fur trade, when they were hunted and trapped to near-extinction. Highly prized for their water repellency and warmth, beaver skin coats and hats became … [Read more...]
How To Beat The Virus Without Feeling Like a Prisoner
On Sunday, I was sitting at home with Nemo, my cat, minding my own business and practicing social isolation. (How’s that for an oxymoron?) As a single man, I’m accustomed to being alone, but I am not good at being forced to participate in the sort of unprecedented paradigm shift into social disintegration we are experiencing now. I had two options: Stay at home and fret … [Read more...]