Things I miss about SLC

It's been over 8 years since we moved from Salt Lake City to the Los Angeles area, and after having spent most of my life to that point in Salt Lake I definitely needed a change. Still, it's not like I dislike it there. I'm bothered when people here make jokes about Salt Lake or Utah and generally act like it's an intolerable backwater. But after living away for these 8 years I've realized there are several things that I miss:

• I miss the slower pace of life we enjoyed. It seemed like there was plenty of down time in the evenings after work, whereas here there just doesn't seem to be as many hours in the day. Of course, it might just have been the circumstances of having smaller children who weren't as involved and busy as they are now.
• I miss springtime. I miss the daffodils and tulips and lilacs blooming after a long cold winter. I miss how everything seems to come alive after having been brown and gray for so long. I don't miss the long brown and gray period - just the contrast that seems to sneak up on you. Suddenly everything is green. I miss May and early June, when the days are so pleasant before the heat of summer arrives.
• I miss the grass. It's the kind of grass that just invites you to walk barefoot on it, or even lie down in a shady spot and have a nap on a warm day. Unfortunately, we can't grow the same kind of bluegrass here. Instead we have a type of Bermuda grass that's coarse and nowhere near as beautiful to look at.
• I miss how long the days are at the height of summer. It seems that even after 10pm at night there was still an inky blue glow in the west after the sun set. It makes the days feel so much longer when the daylight lasts so long.
• I miss the summer thunderstorms that would pop up on hot summer afternoons. They seemed to bloom out of nowhere and sweep in with beautiful lightning and thunder - we very rarely have lightning down here. The downside was that it would get everything wet just in time to clear up again and get all hot and muggy.
• While I DO NOT miss being cold, I DO miss seeing the snow fall in winter. Sitting inside where it's warm and watching the birds around a bird feeder is a great way to spend time on a Sunday afternoon. I miss celebrating a white Christmas with family.
• I miss the restaurants. For a relatively small city, SLC has LOTS of great places to eat, and usually more affordable than here. I miss the Iceberg, and Crown Burger, and Rodizio Grill, and the Red Iguana, and...
• I miss the mountains. Yeah we've got mountains here, but they're not the same. I miss how near the ones in the north end of the valley felt, and how majestic the ones in the south end were. I miss family picnics in City Creek Canyon.
• Saying I miss family and friends should go without saying, but I'll say it anyway.
• I miss how people smile and say hi when you walk past them.

This is not to say I don't like LA. The weather is hard to beat (even when it's 100 degrees) and we LOVE going to the beach. There's a TON of things to do (even if they're frequently expensive or a considerable drive) and it's a fun place to be. But there are things I miss.