Golden Spike

We went to the reenactment of the Driving of the Last Spike. Everyone in the family was able to come, except Jayson, who had his last end-of-the-year exam in Salt Lake City. It was a bit windy, but happily there was no rain or snow. We arrived in plenty of time to get close to the action. We set up our camp chairs right up to the rope. Some people were in period dress costumes, which was fun to see. John and Jo were able to talk with a ‘railroad representative’ and hold one of the spikes they later used.
They welcomed everyone and we said the Pledge of Allegiance and sang the National Anthem. I always love doing that. Kyle Wyatt, Historian, spoke about the “binding together of our nation with ribbons of steel.” They laid a memorial wreath and had a moment of silence. The taps were played. Then it was time for the reenactment.
The Locomotives Jupiter and #119 showed off their engines, speeches were given and spikes pounded into place.
The kids had fun. It was interesting to see the engines up close. When we got on #119, I took a picture of John with my cell phone. It took me a few seconds to get it to camera mode. The engineer onboard asked me if I was texting. I laughed and thought, yeah, I’m going to climb up an engine, following my kids, and be so disconnected as to be texting while I’m doing it!?
It was fun and something everyone should do—at least once.