Golden Spike, Great Salt Lake, and the Fair

More fun adventures of the Farnsworth family. Tiffany has been wanting to go to this since we got into the valley. We finally made it out to the Golden Spike National Historic Site at Promontory Point. Tiffany found a day where we were able to get in free and watch the reenactment of the two rail roads coming together.   

This was the place that the Union Pacific Railroad and the Central Pacific Railroad came together and formed the Transcontinental rail line going all the way across the country.  The final railroad spike driven was a Golden Spike.  The rail lines met on May 10, 1869.  

The whole day we were there was full of fun activities for everyone. They started off with the re-enactment of the rail road meeting. We watched the two trains chug into the station and meet across from each other just like they did originally.The two trains used were made almost exactly like the real ones. Pictured first is the Jupiter from the Central Pacific Railroad from the East.  (Logan called this train "Thomas").

This second train pictured is the 119 from the Union Pacific Railroad from the west. (Logan called this train "Stephen" one of Thomas's friends.)  In order to make these trains the designers went off of old black and white pictures of the original ones. The people who owned the Promontory Point asked Walt Disney if he would make the trains but he turned down the job and suggested a friend of his do it. The bid was for $750,000 for each train, but the people who built them spent over 1.5 million for each of them. The ranger who was there said they were only a 1/4 of an inch off of the original specs. Before and after the re-enactment we were go inside the train and see inside. The Jupiter was a wood driven stream train and the 119 was a coal burning steam train. We found out that coal driven was better because the coal burned hotter creating more steam so the trains could go further and haul more than wood burning trains.

The reenactment of the rail road coming together was pretty fun to watch.  The actors were so funny. They had the four spikes that they drove into the ground. Two gold spikes and two silver spikes. The show was really good. 

Logan's favorite part was of course the choo choos, he would say, "Mom, Dad here comes Thomas and Stephen." Colby loved see inside the trains and his eyes were big when he got to see how big they were. Emily loved the trains also, but she was all about the activities.

Here are some of the fun activities they had. They showed how everyone in the United States was able to know that the stakes were driven in and they did it by a telegram operator who was sending out the message as the people were talking. The coolest part was once the last spike was in, the last telegram went out to the President and the message said D.O.N.E. The whole U.S. got to celebrate together. 

We also got to ride on a gas driven rail cart called a Speeder; we got to ride it up and down the track. 

Some other fun activities were relay races, junior ranger activities, and board games from that era. There was also a timed wood tossing contest. In this contest, the kids got to throw logs into the trains firebox to see who could do it the fastest. Colby was the funnest to watch. He put on his tough face and off he went to work. He did a great job throwing those logs in. Emily and Logan also had their turn and each did a great job. They each got a certificate with their names on it and their times.

 Another funny contest was a buffalo pie throwing contest. The kids threw actual buffalo (or cow) pies!  Yummy! Emily was sure glad there were gloves she could wear or I do not think she would have done it.

We had a lot of fun at the Golden Spike Site.  We want to come back again on May 10th, on the anniversary of the actual reunion, when they do an even bigger celebration and re-enactment.

After leaving Golden Spike, we decided that since we were so close to the Great Salt Lake, we would visit that too. 

We went to the Spiral Jetty on the Great Salt Lake.  This Jetty was built by Robert Smithson in 1970.  It was really cool to see.  The water levels in the Great Salt Lake fluctuate so sometimes the Jetty is surrounded by water, submerged, or visible.  When we went, the water levels were low so we were able to see the entire Jetty and also walk all around it on dry ground.  The ground around the Jetty was all encrusted with crystallized salt.  After exploring the Jetty, we continued walking out to the Great Salt Lake.  It was so crazy walking out to the Lake because the ground we were walking on was pretty much all hard salt.  In fact, you will notice in the pictures, the ground was all white and it looked like snow!

I have never been to the Great Salt Lake before and I have always wanted to go.  This was a fun experience.  It was also really crazy how much salt was everywhere.  I knew the Great Salt Lake was salty (obviously because of the name), but I really pictured it being more like the ocean.  No it was not like the ocean; it was much more salty!  In fact the water actually felt gritty in your hands and when the water dried on your hands, your skin instantly dried out, was itchy, and left a salty film.  

All around the water was this salty sea foam.  The foam was like nothing you have seen. It would disintegrate into salt as soon as you touched it, the wind would blow it around like a ball, and it was gritty to the touch.  The kids had a blast playing in it.   We could even pick up handfuls of salt off of the ground.

Russell decided to venture out into the salty lake just to see what it was like.  He said the ground was really hard and rough on his bare feet; nothing like sand.  When he came back, his legs were all dried up and powdery from the salt.  We decided that next time we come, we will bring our sandals so we can wade out in the water a little more.  We will also bring some extra water to wash ourselves off afterward.  If you look at the last picture above, you will see what I meant by the shore around the lake being white like snow because of the salt.  The ground was also very flat which I guess is why they call it the "salt flats!"  The water of the Great Salt Lake was pink!  Weird huh!  The reason it is pink is because of salt-loving microbes that live in the water.  

When we got back to the parking lot near the Spiral Jetty, Colby found this awesome rock mountain to climb.  He was King of the Mountain!

We were so tired after playing all day so the kids slept most of the ride home which was only a little over an hour.    Even though Russell and I were ready for bed, we had been promising the kids we would go to the Cache County Fair all week.  With this being the last day of the fair, we told them we could go.

They loved seeing all of the animals in the livestock and 4-H areas.  It is funny to compare the Washington County Fair to this fair because the Cache County Fair is definitely more agriculture based.  There were all kinds of animals from cows to sheep and pigs, and even chickens and pigeons!  

A couple really awesome animals we were able to see was two elephants!

These guys were huge!  We were all in awe as the elephants walked passed us and we were able to see them.  They elephant owners were offerings rides on the elephants but they were quite a lot of money so we just watched them instead.

After looking at all of the exhibits and vendor booths, we decided to hit the rides.  We each got to ride one ride.  Colby chose the motorcycle ride and, as you can tell from his face, he loved every minute of it.

Emily chose the Ferris Wheel.  Logan wanted to ride the motorcycle ride too but couldn't because he was too short.  He was able to ride the Ferris Wheel with Emily though as long as I rode with them.  He seemed okay with that.  Emily loved the ride and so did Logan.  Each time we went around, they would yell and wave to Colby and Russell on the ground.  The Ferris Wheel is not my favorite ride so I, on the other hand, was okay as long as we were going around but did not like it when we had to stop at the very top to let the passengers on the bottom get off.  I just don't like being that high up without a safety belt or anything to hold you in...  Oh well the kids loved it so it was worth it to let them have fun.

We had such a fun day today.  I am glad we were able to make fun trips and memories like this every once in a while.