The Summer Project: Pioneers? (2020)

"It was 20 years ago today ..."

Lori and I arrived in Utah on Pioneer Day -- the day the Mormon settlers arrived in the Salt Lake Valley -- on July 24, 2000.

Not being from Utah, we didn't realize that July 24 was a holiday. We thought it was just another day, and even though the executive secretary from The Salt Lake Tribune had told me we were coming on a holiday, we didn't understand what the big deal was even when we parked our Corolla at the Little America hotel, in downtown SLC.

After a day and a half of driving, we emerged from Interstate 80 and the Wasatch Mountains into the valley, with a view of another mountain range on the other side. We navigated construction traffic, made it downtown, walked to Macaroni Grill for dinner, and took it all in. In retrospect, we should have driven to find some fireworks, which would have been a fitting welcome to our new home.

The next day, we visited several apartment complexes around the valley to find a place to live. The one we picked was in Cottonwood Heights, with a balcony and a view that impressed us Midwesterners. We went for dinner at Cafe Rio on Fort Union, then drove along the mountains to get the full effect of our new locale.

Lori flew back to Madison the next day, and I moved in the limited belongings we brought in the Toyota into new apartment a couple days later. My first couple weeks of work were spent learning a new system and getting used to the night shift. I went to Target after work, the day I moved into the apartment, and bought provisions as well as an inflatable bed to sleep on. That night, I burned a frozen pizza, not realizing cooking times were a little different at altitude.

Those first few summer weeks on my own were interesting. I discovered how hot Utah was in the summer, amplified by the little car with not the greatest air conditioning. I attended the newspaper's annual picnic at the Cottonwood Club and met a bunch of new people -- but I had gotten lost along the way and ended up in Sugar House. I found us a new health club. I played Liberty and Death on the Super Nintendo and watched HBO on the 20-year-old TV we still had (and still have ...). I  went to the apartment complex's pool only once in that time. I bought the Vertical Horizon CD and listened to "Everything You Want" so many times it became my official memorable song of this time.

This time, from our arrival to flying back to Madison to complete the move a few weeks later, was an adventure but also a bit surreal. It wasn't like when we first moved to Madison in 1995 and I felt empowered, like I had arrived. This felt unsure, even a little alien. But we were so ready to make the jump to the next chapter in our lives.

I've written about our last few weeks in Madison and how tough leaving was. Not having Lori there for the first few weeks after she flew back didn't make the transition easier. I'd like to say that once we settled in, we never looked back, because we weren't totally sold on Utah until at least 2001, maybe even 2002. Our original plan was to stay through the Olympics, then move to a bigger city. And there were days we really missed the Midwest.

Yet, along the way, we came to love Utah. We decided to stay, buy a house in the city, and have kids here. Twenty years have passed since we landed in Salt Lake City -- that's longer than I've ever lived in any one place.

I could talk about how those 20 years have zipped by, how those first few weeks remain so vivid despite being two decades ago, and how in some ways, this place still feels new. Instead, I think about what has changed of our adopted and longtime home between Pioneer Day 2000 and today. The mountains, the canyons, and the views still awe us. The heat is still as hot. Summer in many ways still feels the same.

However, we have changed. We could not have imagined then what our lives would be in 2020. The journey you travel and the places you call home are such unknowns. All you can do is figure out what you need to make progress and thrive, look ahead, learn from the past, and enjoy the view.

Our boys will pioneer their own paths that could take them away from Utah. And maybe, they'll look back on Pioneer Day and wonder, like we did, why was this such a big deal?