A Side Trip on the Way to Idaho

As we were figuring out the trip to Rupert for the funeral, Gary and I were looking at the map to see if there was anything we wanted to visit on the way up as the funeral was in the afternoon.  Gary suggested the Golden Spike National Historical Park, a place we have wanted to go since moving here in 1998, but have never been.  Since we love trains, it was perfect.

Photo from a morning walk in Syracuse before we left

This is the place where the two railroads met coming from the east and west.  It was an amazing task like all of these huge building projects were before bulldozers, computers, and other modern building tools.  They were "making it up" as they went.  The stories we learned about were incredible and I would suggest reading a bit about them if you are interested in such things.

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This was a sample in the visitor's center about how the spikes were placed to hold the rail and a bit of history about them.  The last spike was gold.  However it is no longer in the spot but was removed and placed in a museum at Stanford in California.

Here is what it looks like.

   

This was the spot of the final spike on the rails---

They have two steam engines on site a few miles from the visitor's center.  They are huge and it was fun to learn a bit more about them.  At Christmas time, they have a special show where you can see the steam engines in action and because of the cold, it makes an amazing sight of the steam puffs coming out of the engine.  We are hoping to see that this upcoming weekend.

These are replicas of the famous engines involved in the original celebrations of the completing of the railroad. 

Gary stopped on the way out of the park for me to "take a picture of the brown sign."  That is a throw back to all of the signs I photographed during our Oregon Trail/Mormon Trail trip. Glad to add this one to the mix.

I am not going to lie.  I had no idea that Gary loved trains when we got married.  So many things to cover when you are getting ready to get married that the subject of trains (and thousands of other things) did not come up.  So glad that he loves trains like I do so we can enjoy these little things together--not earth shattering or even critical--just pure fun to be together, learn something new, and be happy.

Choo-Choo------