I live in the ever-growing town called Layton, located about 30 miles north of Salt Lake City. I call this my home town, meaning a town I call home, not where I’m from. This has been my home since 2009 when I moved from the suburb of Salt Lake City shortly after my high school graduation. It’s the city I’ve resided the longest, surpassing even my hometown in China.
It wasn’t my decision to move here. It was my mom’s and her reasoning are 1) it’s close to the air force base, 2) it’s located approximately half way between Salt Lake City and Ogden, and 3) it has public transportation to take me to Salt Lake City. When I was completing my undergraduate degree at the University of Utah, I would take the commuter train each day and it would take around 40 minutes to an hour to get to class. If I had a 7 AM class, I would had to catch the 5:30 AM train into the city.
To be honest, I’m not sure I really ever liked this place because airplane noises are such a common occurrence and nuisance (in my opinion especially while I’m trying to talk to customers at work). Mind you, it’s not just any airplane. I’m talking about F-35s fighter jets buzzing in the sky. Friends visiting would immediately run outside with their phones raised up high trying to catch the planes while I’d just roll my eyes.
In the last decade or so, I tried twice to move out of this noisy place, to call somewhere else home but with my mom’s persuasion and hold over my life, both tries were unsuccessful. In 2017, she locked me into the permanent settlement by convincing me into buying her then-next neighbor’s house, just to make sure I don’t try to leave her again. So devious, right?
Anyway, other than the mountains rising high above like a wall to the east and the ever-shrinking Great Salt Lake to the west, I’m not sure if there are anything special about this town. Of course, mom will always find something special like it has a shopping mall about a 15-minute walk from my house and every big-box store one can think of – Walmart, Target, Lowes, Home Depot, etc.
I guess as much as I dislike this place, there are places in this town that appeals to my interest like the natural scenery of the Great Salt Lake. Of course, I haven’t been to the Great Salt Lake since the summer of 2021. The reason being the drought, which caused the insect activities on the island to skyrocket. I’ve been to the island during insect season before, you basically can’t walk 2 steps without flapping your arms like a crazy person trying to stop the bugs from attacking you.
I’m sure, though, if you’re a tourist in this town, you will find these things quite charming – Christmas lights display with different themes each year (which I hope to see this week), 4th of July parade and fireworks, and a park which various species of ducks, geese, and mallards call home.
This is Another Story 
Lovely photos.
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Thank you. 🙂
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You’re welcome
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At some point we all come from another place originally (I was born in San Diego but no longer consider it my home town–just a nice place to visit and see family). Aside from jet noise, your area near Salt Lake City seems appealing, Yinglan. I was happy to see the image of the parade, which seems to help embody the small-town feel. Sad about the drought and the dried lakes breeding more bugs! Hopefully our winter out west will help the drought. Have a great week!
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It is an appealing area if one can get over the noise and the inability to ever sleep in especially during the summer. 😀
I agree, the parade feels like a small-town thing. I participated in the parade back in 2019 and it was very fun despite the heat.
I really hope this winter will bring a little benefit to the endangered lake.
Have a great week! 🙂
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Lovely pictures. We used to live 3 miles away from an airbase and Eurofighters (Typhoon jets) going overhead all day. Even the dog got annoyed and put her feet on the fence to bark at the sky.
It wouldn’t have been so bad if they could land in multiples as they took off, but they had to land one at a time, and the remaining ones flew round in a circle over our house until it was their turn. One of the reasons we moved!!
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The dogs in the neighborhood used to go crazy and bark during the summer when multiple planes would suddenly zoom across the sky and make this ripping sound.
It must had been so annoying to have planes circling just waiting to be landed. I don’t blame you for moving.
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We lived there for 7 years by which time the 25 planes had multiplied to 140. Thankfully they were not all in the air at once!!
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Wow, yeah, it’s a good thing they’re not all in the air at once, lol 😆. That would drive anyone bonkers.
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Looks like a really cool place to live 😀
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Thank you. 🙂
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Did you tried earplugs?
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Unfortunately, I need to call clients and conduct meetings when I’m working from home and the noise is often very bothersome.
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That would be hard to live in an area you don’t really like. When I was in college in Portland OR, the campus was right by the airport and that got loud, but we got used to it. Here where live now, some people live near the train tracks. I don’t think it would bother me, but it might.
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I can imagine it being very loud there. I would not like to live in such place.
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