Living in a resort town...

Whenever we leave Park City and go to a large metropolitan area, or visit some rural places, we're always surprised to see how old and frozen in time, everything seems to be.

The fast-paced change and constant evolution that applies to a tourist place has little currency in locales that don't need to show their best faces at all time in order to survive economically. On the other hand, resort communities or any places that receive a large share of visits from outsiders are always called to re-invent themselves all the time. Of course, they need to keep up with competition and this creates a very healthy and progress-oriented emulation, but their local governments are also richer through larger than normal tax revenues of all kinds, which give them the material means to keep investing in beautification, infrastructure and events of all sorts. This also serves as inspiration on the rest of the population and creates a positive cultural current.

These special circumstances put resort places on the up and up from the get go. So what's the downside of all that? Cost of living is one of them (mostly in terms of housing,) job opportunities is another one, large income disparities causes pressures of all kinds, and raising kids may bring a host of special problems in these “tiny paradises,” but by in large all these pesky little hurdles are more than compensated by a wonderful quality of life, and this, after all is the main benefit!