In 2010, when I moved to Provo, Utah to attend Brigham Young University, I was not particularly keen on the town, to say the least. I called Provo “Prov-ew”. To my credit, back then, there wasn’t much to do. My general take on the area was a few American western style buildings downtown—which weren’t my taste—stroads, and so many billboards (on the interstate).
Years later now, one of my favourite holiday movies is Klaus, in part because I really related to the main character, Jesper’s, feelings about the town he’s sent to. I definitely felt similarly when I first moved to Provo as a new adult. In the film, the town, Smeerenburg, feels off-putting, strange in a decidedly bad way, and his interactions with people on the street are negative. At one point, before Todd and I got married, we lived by a bunch of rundown buildings; and we frequently got yelled at by rude drivers while out for walks. I didn’t have a lot of good feelings about Provo.
I did enjoy BYU campus, and, during my time there, made a lot of great friendships. However, I always looked forward to the day when I would finally get out of Provo, or, more especially, Utah. And we did get out of our college town. Right after I graduated, Todd and I moved to Pleasant Grove. That was around when the Center Street area was having life breathed back into it, big time, and we started going down to Provo once or twice a week to hang out, eat out, or get ice cream. So soon after we moved away, suddenly, this lame college town wasn’t looking so lame (I was contrasting it with Pleasant Grove, which, especially now that all the nice pastures are just doterra warehouses, is excessively lame nothingness).
A few years later, when we were looking to to buy our first house, I put a lot of thought into where I wanted to live, if we were to stay in Utah (for Todd’s job). I didn’t have the words for it then, but I do now: I wanted a to live in a place that was similar to places I’d visited on vacation. Someplace with taken-care-of historical buildings, where you could park your car once, and then walk to a park, out to eat, and to shop, or do whatever else. Easy to go places with kids. I wanted a place that had an arts scene, and good restaurants. And Provo was it.
Once we moved back, with a desire to be there, having already started a family, I just found more and more to love about this town. Yes, it doesn’t have the variety of a big city, but for a mid-sized one, it does so much of what I want it to.
Obviously, the food scene is pretty great. I have my favourite restaurants, and dessert spots, but there is a l o t of variety of cuisines here, making trying something new super accessible. There’s also fun and unique things to do, like The Wick Lab, the Mural Walk, and the Farmer’s Market. I mean, I am a parent, and I’m me, so partying is not anything I care about. But we have several really cute shops, and places to do fun things. And all of those places are in historic downtown, so it’s exciting, and beautiful to walk around.
Over the last half-decade, as we’ve tried to swap out car trips when we can, we’ve really appreciated the biking infrastructure Provo has, and that they are getting more and more done to make transportation methods, other than driving a car, more viable.
We also have great access to nature. We’re just a couple of minutes from the Bonneville Shoreline Trail, right on the mountain. Since it’s not shady, we don’t use it a ton, but I like that it’s so close. Recently, we took the kids up there at 10 pm to watch the International Space Station fly overhead. We enjoy Rock Canyon, too—a terrific spot to let you toddlers wander around in nature!—and love going up Provo canyon by car, or by bike. Provo Canyon itself is one of my favourite things about our town. Since we were dating, Todd and I have loved hiking and picnicking up at the various parks there.
There’s also the Provo River trail, which we can get to easily enough. I love biking on the shaded areas during the hot summer; taking the kids to the trail with their own wheels; using the playgrounds along the trail; and even biking the length of it up the Bridalveil Falls. The PRT, to me, is a treasure.
So, yes, this is the town where I grew into adulthood fully. I’ve lived in this valley so long, that I am very comfortable navigating around it. It’s where I met a l l of my friends. I’ve done most of my family-raising here (I even birthed my son here, at home). During most of our time back here, we were neighbors with some of our best friends, which was an indescribable treat. And, even though I was out of school, and thought I’d never make a best friend again, this is where I met my other best friend, as our children played together. We’ve put down roots here.
It’s not a perfect place, and I am excited for the improvements I hope to see in coming years, but it is a really good place. But, now, it’s kinda my place? And I love it.
At the end of Klaus, when our main character has put down his roots, and seen how a place can change for the better, he says, “Someone would have to be pretty stupid to want to leave this place now.” And I absolutely know the feeling.
