Golden Spike Anniversary Day

The Golden Spike was driven on May 10, 1869. We just HAD to go to the 144th Anniversary so we took along our adventurous Grandma Rainey and Ross (a REAL railroad man!) We left home at the crack of dawn to get there before the trains did.

Those trains are loud!

The kids met the master of ceremonies

Ross dressed up for the period photo where they recreate the champagne photo from 1869. Can you see us in the official reenactment photo? Here's a hint:

The kids said they had champagne in their water bottles for the rest of the day. Laraine and I resolved to track down some hoop skirts for next year.

Only Jovie would pose for the family photo by the park sign. We didn't stay for much of the reenactment and traditional ceremony because we are movers and not sitters. The rangers told us they had 1000 visitors on our way out of the park just before 11 am. The other times we've been there with about 20 people. It was crazy!

This is the first time we did the auto tour and it is not to be missed. We walked over to the last cut and couldn't believe the amount of human labor that was invested in making a smooth railroad grade.

We took a little pause at the Chinese Arch. Ross had just spotted a big lizard and was showing Jovie his best tracking techniques. Ross is quite a hunter and can get just about anything.

We had a picnic lunch and we were bugged by bugs and an ex-con introduced himself to us. It was very exciting.

Then we took Ross to a place he'd never been - not easy to do! - the ATK rocket display.