When driving my van out of a parking lot in St. George UT today, I did something I can't ever remember doing: I played 'chicken' with an inexhaustible stream of cars, in order to get into the driving lane. It seemed crazy at the time, but otherwise I would have been there until 11 pm. And the cars behind me would have been furious.
This is proof that 'reputation is a lagging indicator.' People still think that St. George UT is some kind of paradise that they need to retire to.
They see glossy real estate brochures, showing people playing golf in January, wearing shorts, and with red rocks in the background. They are told that St. George is the 'Baja' of Utah. There are a few palm trees around here, in fact. And they will soon have heater tapes wrapped around them.
In fact this place is just a traffic jam. It has three weeks of good weather in autumn and one week in the spring. (except for the hellish winds.) In the summer it is 100+ for months on end.
I remember the town from 20 years ago. It was a small sleepy western city back then. Today it is totally unrecognizable.
Of course, the naïve retirees moving here think they are going to be in paradise after they see a couple postcards of the red cliffs of Zion national park -- like that matters for day-to-day living.
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