LOGAN — Unannounced, I drove down Main Street of one of the hottest towns in America.

Logan, in case you hadn't heard, is having a very good year.

Just this month, Outdoor Life Magazine rated Logan the 12th best outdoor town in America.

That came on the heels of a report in January that Logan's unemployment rate of 2.4 percent is the lowest of any of the 369 metropolitan areas in the country.

Which followed news that house appreciation, at 8.75 percent, ranks ninth highest in the nation.

And local gas prices are below $2 a gallon.

OK. That last one's not true. But the rest are. Logan is on a real roll.

Elsewhere, people might be losing their jobs and eating beans and house prices might be plummeting. Here, the biggest problem is people working so much they don't have enough time for the fabulous fishin' and huntin'.

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In an attempt to see how the locals feel about living in Shangri-La, I pulled into the parking lot of the Cache Valley Visitors Bureau and walked inside. A friendly woman named Julie Hollist, the director, greeted Logan's recent good news with a practiced definition of the word "Cache."

"It's a French word meaning to store or hide one's treasures," she said. "We have so many hidden treasures here that the word is getting out."

I don't think that's the first time she's used that line.

But who could argue? As Julie pointed out with a wave of her hand toward the mountains, "Five minutes from right here, and you're in the great outdoors. And I mean that literally."

Outdoor Life placed Logan No. 12 on its list of the top 200 outdoor towns in America because of its closeness to trophy fish and game, good public-land access, permissive gun laws and overall quality of life. (Other Utah cities making the magazine's list are Richfield 11th, Cedar City 15th, Vernal 23rd and Price 105th).

And at that, said Julie, the magazine didn't mention the opera, the theater and Logan's plethora of artists.

"We're like a haven for the arts," she said.

Just then a local Realtor, Karen Layton Stone, walked in, replenishing the supply of business cards she keeps on the counter.

She was more than happy to speak about the healthy condition of the local housing market.

"We've stayed on a very steady rise in home appreciation for some time now," she said. "Our bubble didn't burst because we didn't have a bubble to burst."

The average Logan home costs about $190,000," she said, flashing a 6 percent commission smile. "And stays on the market a mere 64 days." Or only slightly longer than a loaf of bread.

I thanked my virtual Logan tour guides, as it were, and turned to go. But Julie had a postscript before I left.

"You know, you don't have to tell anyone about any of this," she said.

"I thought you worked for the visitors bureau," I said.

"That's exactly right, the visitors bureau," she answered. "I want them to visit, spend their money and keep on going."

Otherwise, before you know it, you'll turn into California.

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Lee Benson's column runs Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Please send e-mail to benson@desnews.com and faxes to 801-237-2527.