City Mouse and Country Mouse

Yesterday, Rocky and I took the day to drive around and visit different areas that we want to live in.  No, I am not talking about driving around Sandy, or South Jordan.  We drove to Morgan, Heber, and then to Lehi.  It was a lot of driving.  Rocky seems to have got it in his head that we need to move to a smaller town.  I am a little afraid of this.  I have never really lived in a small town.  OK, Tulsa is not all that metropolitan, but it is larger than any of those towns I previously mentioned, and it was not my favorite place to live.  (and yes, I know that Lehi doesn't qualify either, but we really aren't considering moving to Utah county.)  Our first stop was Morgan.  I don't know how I first heard of Morgan, but I have a feeling it was when Rocky decided he wanted to move to Liberty or Eden.  Neither of these are really that close to Park City (where his office will be).  So I looked at a map, and discovered Morgan.  I did some research online, and found that home prices are pretty decent, and I researched the schools. Didn't seem too bad, but still, I am hesitant.  I am just a little terrified to live so far away from civilization.  Morgan is about 40 minutes from Park City, and maybe 20 from Ogden.  So that means it is a good hour to Salt Lake.  That just seems like a long drive.  But to my surprise, I actually liked Morgan.  I was really surprised.  We stopped to eat lunch there, and there were many young families, and none of them looked like hicks.  No one had wranglers on, and I didn't see one cowboy hat.  We even talked to a couple about living there, and they only had good things to say.  We saw some really cute houses as well.  And according to the internet, the schools look pretty decent.  In the 11th grades tests, Morgan school district scored 3rd in the state (pretty good, I think).  There is a lot of new construction, and it is just a pretty area.  One of the main reasons I am even considering leaving is due to pollution.  You may think this isn't a big enough problem to leave, but Caden has been on a nebulizer since he was 9 months old.  On bad pollution days, I notice a definite difference in his breathing.  So our hope is to help him get better by going to an area with little pollution.  It was so pretty, and so quiet.  Our next stop was Heber.  I have been to Heber before, but usually just to pass through.  I was so surprised at how it had grown!  It was so busy, with people EVERYWHERE.  No so small town.  However, Heber is expensive.  We can hardly afford anything.  And the places we can afford, although they are newly built, are the ghetto.  The yards are all full of dandelions, or they have just removed all the grass.  There are also cars parked everywhere!  Besides having 2 car garages, they would have another 2 cars in the driveway, plus maybe another on the street, and one on the dandelion/dirt yard.  Not somewhere we really want to live.  Since Rocky's office will be in Park City, Heber is a logical choice.  We cannot afford anything in Park City, and Heber is the only city around that I will consider.  I hope no one reading this comes from any of these places, but I refuse to live in Coalville, Hoytsville, or any other ville up in that area.  I once worked in Park City, and I worked with some people from these small areas, and there are not too many things nice I can say about them (Nicole C., I am sure you remember them).  They were everything I couldn't stand, and embodied all that is evil about small towns.  So you might understand my hesitancy to move to one of those places.  Also, we noticed a haze around Heber.  It seems as though the SLC pollution is making its way up the mountains.  I know it is better than SLC, but still, if we are getting away, shouldn't we pick a clean air place?  Lehi was just a stop to see some new golf course homes.  Rocky did some work for the builder, so we get a discount and wanted to check it out.  We are both really against living in Utah county, but these houses were really cute, but so out of the way for a commute to Park City.  So that was our day.  All in all, we both really loved Morgan.  That is probably our first choice, but we are not moving anytime soon.  I am waiting for Rocky's office to be permanently there (he is still in Sandy for the time being).  And I wanted to know if any of you had grown up in a small town, and if you liked it.  I just worry about the kids, and if this would be beneficial to them, or not. And I worry about being bored.  No gym, no movie theatres, no nice restaurants . . .  Oh well, we aren't moving yet, and who knows if we will.  Just something we are considering.