After I graduated from high school, I did my first two years of college at Snow College in Ephraim, UT. I really had a good time there - I lived with friends, I enjoyed my professors and classes, I got to go on tour to Europe with the orchestra, and I felt like I got a great value for my money. I would recommend Snow to anyone who isn't going to mind being stuck in a small town with not much going on outside of the college.
However, there is one thing I do NOT miss. Ephraim is in Sanpete County, a place otherwise known as the turkey capital of the world. Okay, maybe not the capital of the world, but seriously, there are lots of turkeys there. There aren't just more turkeys than people in the county, there are many times more turkeys than people.
And turkeys stink. They make a foul odor (fowl odor?) that is carried everywhere in the valley. The closest turkey farm from the campus was several miles away on the edge of town, but everyday walking to class smelled like you were next door to one of those huge turkey sheds.
My favorite Ephraim moment had to do with the unique turkey odor. I was still in high school and taking a tour of the campus. Our tour guide was telling us all about how the campus was fun, and there are tons of things to do, basically trying to sell us on the school. Well, right in the middle of his spiel, two girls walked out of the student center building and had this conversation. Girl One, "Augh, it stinks!" Girl Two in a resigned of voice, "It's Ephraim, it ALWAYS stinks." Watching the perky tour guide try to recover from that was pure joy.
Wait, did I say that there are more turkeys than people in Sanpete County? I don't think that's actually accurate right now. You see, every year around the beginning of October, a magical thing happens. The turkey sheds, which previously were overflowing with big-breasted birds, are suddenly empty and abandoned. The air smells of normal fall things like wood burning stoves and not putrid bird droppings.
Yes, the turkey harvest had come at last. I always felt a little bit sad that so many turkeys going to meet their maker at this time of year made me so happy, but the feeling usually passed when I thought about the roast turkey and stuffing I'd be enjoying on Thanksgiving Day.
HAHAHA! I just read this and it makes me happy, mostly because I totally understand! Did you ever drive behind one of the turkey trucks? That was always an experience, trying to dodge any poor fellow who tried to escape! I don't know which is worse, staying in the truck to go have your head chopped off or escaping out of it only to bounce around and try to not get hit by the car following you!
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