Because I hate snow and winter and cold and everything that comes with this time of year, and because Salt Lake City currently looks like this:

I am posting photos of Utah from other, better, WARMER times of year. I’m doing this to remind God of the bliss of an early spring (hint hint). I’m doing it because these photos make me happy. And I’m doing it because I think they’re purdy and I wanna share. The winter pic was taken from the University of Utah website.

First, Utah outside of Salt Lake City. These first four are all from ScenicUtah.com (and noted as such), which has many, many more if you want to look and/or buy.

This is of my favorite recreational spot, Bear Lake, on the Utah/Idaho border. There are few things I’d rather do than waterski on Bear Lake. The lake really is that blue, and crystal clear, because of the reflection of limestone deposits suspended in the water. I grabbed this photo years ago from a Utah or Idaho state park site:

The rest of these are mine, taken throughout last summer. Obviously, I’m not a great photographer, but you get the idea.

On the left is South Temple, a major downtown street (on the south side of Temple Square - imagine that), on a typical Sunday afternoon. The right is from the otherside of South Temple, looking south down Main Street with the controversial LDS-owned Main Street Plaza at my back. I didn’t wait to take the photos until there were fewer cars - that’s just how it is on a Sunday. And yes, the streets are almost always that clean and litter-free.

On the left is the infamous Main Street Plaza, looking south toward where the above photos were taken. The Salt Lake Temple is to the right, just as it is below:

These last two are among my favorite photos that I’ve taken. They’re downtown and east Salt Lake City from the north, from a pool party on the roof of a friend’s apartment building in the Avenues, an historic residential area of downtown built on the northern foothills. It was dusk on a Saturday in late August. I just quickly snapped two as Patrick and I were leaving the party. I didn’t plan on stitching them together, so you can probably see they’re not meant to be right next to each other. There are really several blocks between the two views. But you can see below that I tried to put them together for a panorama anyway. I’m Photoshop inept and they’d probably look that bad together even if I had attemped a proper panorama from the beginning, so I figured what the hell. You can see the southern tip of the Wasatch Range on the left (east), and the much-lower Oquirrh Mountains behind downtown on the right (west). I wish I’d gotten a shot of the full Wasatch Range from there, because it’s pretty impressive. You can see it in the very first, winter photo above.

So, that’s where Patrick and I live.

Outdoor recreation, year-round, really is as great as its reputation suggests. Too bad we’re not jocks. The political climate is even worse than you’ve heard, but the nightlife isn’t as bad as you all think it is.

But it’s close.