A Friday Night

Yesterday was spent mostly outdoors working in my gardens. I pulled weeds and moved this plant and that plant to different areas around the yard. Around 4:00 I left to go to Davis County, a community about 20 miles north of the city. I had signed up to volunteer at the Great Salt Lake Bird Festival representing the Nature Conservancy. My shift at the booth was from 5-7. It was also my first time volunteering with the Conservancy and I wanted to make sure I was there early. Figuring an hour would give me plenty of time to drive 20 miles, I would also be able to read up on what I would be talking to people about. As I got on the freeway, I found myself in an L.A. style traffic jam. I couldn't believe it, but figured it was only temporary until we got around the refinery. HA! Nope, I was stuck in traffic all the way to Farmington! It took me over an hour to go 20 miles! I was shocked!

All along the way, I kept seeing bulletin boards advertising new houses for sale. My first thought was, "so you too can also spend half your life sitting in traffic, but hey you got that new big box to live in!" There is no way in hell I would do that commute. They do have the Frontrunner (commuter train) running now, and by the looks of it (as it passed by me...twice) it is already full of passengers. By the time I actually arrived I was a half hour late. I felt bad. The booth was left empty, but fortunately it was the end of the day, so it wasn't that busy. I just couldn't believe that it took me so long to go so little mileage. I could have ridden my bike in less time. This kind of traffic was something I hadn't experienced since living in Southern California. I thought when I moved to Utah that things would be better. Sure I knew things had changed, the population had grown, but I also thought they would be smarter about how to deal with growth. Guess I was wrong.

The drive home was more enjoyable, noticing the last remaining lots of land that still had horses on them. The horses played and ran, still free and seemingly unaware of the stuccoed nightmares being built up right next to their haystacks. The sun was low in the sky, and the mountains looked beautiful with the snow still on the caps and in the dark crevasses. I came around the mountain and looked at the city. "What a beautiful place to live," I thought to myself. I only hope the greed and consumption doesn't destroy it.