Two years in Chicagoland

What’s up everyone?

Wasatch Mountains

Well we here at the Adventure Dairies are celebrating an anniversary.  Its officially two years since we moved from our hometown of Salt Lake City to the suburbs of Chicago.  There are usually two question that people tend to ask us: 1) What are the differences between SLC and Chicago? and 2)  What do you miss the most since you left?  I thought for this post I would address these question.  Of course this will be my experience and thoughts.  I can’t speak for Erin, but I feel that some of our answers would be similar.

Lets tackle the first question.  What are the differences between the two?

View of the Salt Lake Valley

Lets get the obvious one out of the way, population.  The Salt Lake City-Provo-Orem Combined Statistical Area or CSA for short is made up of 10 counties with a population of about 2.5 million people.  On the other hand, Chicagoland is made up of 9 counties in Illinois and 2 in Indiana with a population of about 9.4 million people.  Definitely a noticeable difference.  With a denser population there is an increase of cars on the road and heavier traffic.  At rush hour it can be about a 2 to 3 hour drive from where I live to get to Chicago, which is about 30 miles.  Not as bad as L.A. which takes you 2 to 3 hours to go 5 miles.  Its not uncommon to be at a dead stop on the highways.  While we’re on the subject of the roads, I do have to add that they have tollroads.  That was something that we had to get used to.  Luckily they offer a little device that deducts the toll automatically when passing through the sensors, making it so that you don’t have to stop at the booths all the time.  That would increase the hassle of driving on them and travel time.

View of Chicagoland

Erin and I have had different experiences when it comes to the people.  I will say generally the people that I have interacted with have been a little standoffish.  No, thats not the best term.  More like reserved, yea more reserved than that of their western counterparts.  They tend to have their guard up until you get to know them and then all bets are off.  Still not quite the friendly, do anything for your neighbor, people of Utah.  Its not bad, just different.  To be honest I kinda like it.  I tend to keep to myself and I don’t like to be bothered, so I guess in that way I fit in.

People in Chicagoland are more diverse than that of Utah.  Lets face it, in Utah there’s not a lot of diversity.  They do have a decent population of Hispanic and, funny enough, Polynesians.  Other than that not much, but slowly they are becoming more diverse.  Here we get them all.  Different areas of Chicago have been founded by immigrants from around the globe.  Many are still migrating over.  Its fairly common to walk into a store and hear several different languages being spoke as you traverse the isle.  Its something that I’m not accustomed to, but its refreshing to know that I’m part of something bigger.  Even though we appear to be different, in the end we’re all the same.

Red Rocks of Moab, Utah

One thing that I took for granted while living in Utah was the mountains.  I never realized how much I would miss them until I moved here.  I’m not trying to take away anything from Illinois.  For the most part it is a beautiful state, with its many forest preserves, lakes and rivers.  The drawback is that its flat here.  I mean very flat, about the only thing that gives you any elevation are the small hills scattered about and the elevated highways. Illinois doesn’t even stand a snowballs chance in hell when it comes to the diversity of Utah’s wilderness.  Mountains, forests, deserts, red rock.  Yea, Utah has it all.  What can I say, I’m kinda bias when it come to Utah’s outdoor scene.  I was pretty much raised out in it.  I have a lot of fond memories of Utah’s backcountry.

One last thing before I put a nail in this questions coffin and thats the food.  Chicago is a destination for any diehard foodie.  Its a no-brainer that with the influx of immigrants that Chicago has that they would bring there traditions with them.  I’ll be honest, I haven’t explored the food side of Chicago as much.  I’m kind of a picky eater, so I tend to stick with what I know and like.  Luckily, thats where Erin comes in.  She loves to push me out of my comfort zone, so most likely, we’ll be trying something new and wonderful.  Hopefully.

What do you miss the most since you left?

Starved Rock State Park, IL

Once again let get the obvious out of the way and thats family and friends.  For me it has become quite the change of pace knowing that if I want to see my family or friends I either have to drive for 22 hours or catch a plane and fly for 3 hours.  They are no longer that 15 minute drive away.  I guess thats alright.  It has forced me to become more independent than what I was previously.  That made it sound like I was reliant on them, which I’m not, but it was nice to know that they were not that far away if I need their help.  Technology has made a big difference for us though.  We could always call if we needed to, but sometime you need more of that human element, for the lack of a better term.  Thats where Skype and FaceTime have earned their keep in this house hold.  It is always nice to see their smiling faces.

I would have to say that the biggest thing that I miss is the activities that I used to do back in Utah.  Yea, I going to head back to Utah’s outdoor scene.  Sorry, but not sorry.  I’m referring more to our motorized outdoor activities: Jeeping and ATV riding.  We’ve been doing this long before I can remember.  Like I mentioned above, I was raised driving on the red rocks of Moab and blazing across the sands of Little Sahara Sand Dunes on our ATVs.  We have explored many parts of Utah that most sane people would consider unreachable.  There was nothing better than to wake up on a Saturday morning and decide to load up the ATVs and head out.  We have done this on countless occasions.  Now it not quite that simple.  We didn’t bring out any of our off-road vehicles since we didn’t think that we would use them once here.  But thats okay, we still get to use them once and awhile when we are back in Utah.  It just takes a lot more planning and consideration on our part.

Utah Backcountry

Well this was just a few of answers to the questions we tend to get asked.  Both Utah and Illinois have their good and bad.  It all boils down to what you make of it.  It has been a crazy 2 years for us.  We are excited to continue exploring our new home and sharing our adventures with you.

As alway, thanks for stopping by.  Until next time.

Josh