Salt Lake City, UT
By Andrew. Filed in Other Parts of the World |
The trains at Golden Spike National Historic Site
I headed up to Salt Lake City, UT Oct 4-5, 2008 to check out a little bit of history, the Golden Spike National Historic Site. For those of you who are not up to par with this bit of Americana, here’s a brief description of what happened.
“This historic site witnessed one of the most important accomplishments of the 19th century. On May 10, 1869, officials of the Central Pacific Railroad and Union Pacific Railroad met here to drive four symbolic spikes (two gold), celebrating the completion of the first transcontinental railroad. ”
I arrived to SLC early on Saturday and it was cold and rainy. Not a good start. After finding a great rate on Hotwire.com for the downtown Hilton, off to the Gateway for lunch at Tucanos Brazilian Grill. EXCELLENT food. One of the better brazilian buffet’s yet with the best price. You’ll then NEED to walk around the Gateway, which is SLC’s main entertainment/shopping complex. Sort of like 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica. Since I checked the weather report on Friday and it was warm and sunny, I wasn’t prepared for cold and rainy so I ended up getting a water resistant sweater thing.
The beautiful Salt Lake City LDS Temple.
A few blocks from the Gateway was Temple Square. The photo above was taken earlier this year when I had my great road trip (which I will add later on) since I didn’t want to break out my digital camera in the rain. No pics for Saturday! Temple Square is mecca for Mormons and it’s actually very beautiful. Twice a year, they have an LDS conference where Mormons from around the world arrive so while it was cold and rainy (did I mention that already?) there was a lot of activity going on. I have ALWAYS heard that Temple Square is spectactular in December with all the decorations they use. Maybe I’ll return in Dec.
Exact spot where the final spikes were driven
On Sunday, off I go to the Golden Spike National Historic Site. This is 88 miles away from downtown SLC and once you turn off the interstate, it’s pretty much farm land. One interesting thing was a place called ATK. I’m not quite sure what this was but the sign says ATK Launch Systems and there seems to be a LOT of security and Area 51 type of STAY OUT signs. Kinda creepy.
Entrance to Golden Spike
After FINALLY arriving to the Golden Spike, I was surprised by 2 things. One was that there’s absolutely nothing for miles around. Second was that there was more there then I thought. I was thinking there may be a nice plaque, some sort of museum, and maybe a monument or two. But there were these full replica’s of the two trains that are in all the photos. And man, they were colorful! And as you can see by the pictures, the weather was picture perfect!
Wood fueled engine 119
The two trains, Jupiter and Engine #119 really added to the visit. There were locals who dressed in character that talked about the trains as if they were their kids. Very fun. Jupiter runs with coal while 119 is a wood burner. And this is exactly what they were feeding the furnace. These were actual running trains exactly the way it was… but then again, I wasn’t there…but it seems to be the way it was.
The trains were truly amazing. Very colorful and the sounds almost gave me goosebumps. Here you see #119 coming down the track and into position at the exact same spot where the original engine stood when they drove the spike.
Engine 119 at Golde Spike
Every August, they have a full celebration with reenactments of the final 4 spikes. I would DEFINATELY want to come back to watch this.
AIRMILES – TRIP: 1,178 TOTAL: 19,114
Tags: Golden Spike, Salt Lake City, Utah