City search

Orem man has visited 460 of the 465 cities, towns and residential areas in Utah

OREM — Unless you are very new to the state, you've probably heard of Brigham City, Heber City, Kaysville, Nephi, and maybe even Marriott-Slaterville— all cities and towns named after people. But how about Abraham? Or Adamsville, Benjamin, Clawson, Elwood or Faust? They are also Utah towns bearing people's names.

You probably know about Springville and Spring City. But how about Spring Glen, Spring Lake or Springdell?

Do you know that Utah has a Center Creek, Blue Creek, Duck Creek Village, Oak Creek, Silver Creek and two Clear Creeks (one in Box Elder County and one in Carbon County)?

There are also two Enterprises (one in Morgan County, one in Washington County) and two Manilas (one in Utah County and one in Daggett County). There's a Mills, a Mills Junction and a Millville. And a Cleveland, Columbia, Hyde Park, Jerusalem, Plymouth, Providence and Wales.

Do you know there are 17 towns that start with A, but none that start with Z. And none with Q or X, either. But M is the most popular letter for starting town names, with 47; followed by S with 45 and C with 40.

Lynn Sessions knows all this and more about Utah towns and cities. And he's not only compiled lists — he's also visited them.

What began a few years ago as both a genealogy search and "an excuse to go out and take pictures" has turned into a quest to visit every city and town in the state for Sessions. He's made good progress. Out of a list of 465 cities, towns and residential areas that he's compiled, he has (as of the end of 2004) visited 460.

"My brother David and I were doing some genealogy that took us to some little towns. Then we'd go back a while later and notice that something had changed. Things had been moved or torn down. So I started taking pictures to record what we saw." And out of that came the desire to visit every town in the state. Eventually, he began putting together a Web site — www.dreambreeze.com — that lists the places he's been alphabetically. You can click on any town and find a picture from there.

One thing he's learned, he said, is that every location has something unique, something that gives it a special character. He's also come to appreciate the diversity of the state. "I don't think there's anyplace in the world with more unique environments and diverse landscapes in such a small area. You can be in the mountains and an hour later be in the desert."

And not just one kind of mountain but everything from Alpine mountains when you can ski to barren red-rock cliffs. And not just one kind of desert but everything from high plateaus to dead salt flats.

"That's what I love about Utah." But he's also come to love more than the landscape, said Sessions, who grew up in Vernal and now lives in Orem. "I've met a lot of people, and I'm amazed how friendly they all are. We've never been shot at," he added with a grin, "even though we've taken the wrong road and ended up in someone's front yard more than once."

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