Personal Blog 2: Salt Lake City in Winter/Living Without a Car

I have only lived in Salt Lake City since the end of August, and have moved here without a car. I reside on the University of Utah campus. Living without a car has presented me with some challenges in transportation, but has also helped me to discover many aspects of the city which I would not have known if I had spent most of this time traveling around in my own personal metal box.
I absolutely love Trax. It took me about a month to get over the anxiety of getting to the Trax stop on time, before I realized that I just need to budget time into my trip, knowing that Trax tends to run sporatically. Using trax to travel downtown has really allowed me to spend time looking out the window onto 400 South and the downtow area. I thoroughly enjoy the people I meet on Trax, wether it is the rowdy croud that jams in after football games, the University students making their way to, and leaving campus, the vagabonds that tend to congregate around the public library stop, the teeny-boppers who enter and exit by the Gateway, or the commuters that make the trek to the Sandy Line or to the Frontrunner train.
I have gotten on and off trax on every single stop on the downtown to university line, for various purposes. Trax passes by a lot of things that are ethier necessary or just enjoyable to my downtown experience. I have also used trax to get to Sandy and other points in southern Salt Lake. From the transportation hub, I have taken various busses to areas of the Salt Lake valley, and have also taken the Frontrunner train to Ogden, Roy, and Woods Cross. Trax has proven very valuable in my transportation experience, and influential in where I choose to spend time and do my business.
Biking in Salt Lake is a completely different culture than it was where I was growing up in Iowa. In Iowa, there is rarely such thing as a bike lane, and even rarer, a biker using that lane. In Iowa, I used my bike for transportation throughout neighborhoods, and for country bike rides. In Salt Lake, bikers are seen as just another form of everyday transportation, and much more things are made accomadatable to bikes. Even on busy streets, I have been able to navigate my bike with ease due to specially built lanes, turn lanes for bikes, and general awareness of drivers. Because of the ease of the grid system, I have ridden my bike out to Sugar House without trouble, and experienced bike lanes the entire way.