Kevin and I both come from pioneer stock, so it is delightful that our state celebrates the pioneers with a big holiday!
I was itching for an adventure, so we took the boys to the Golden Spike National Historical Site since Kevin had the day off work. We had never seen the joining of the rails and Bobby loves “choo choos” so it seemed like the perfect adventure. And it was, other than being so stinking hot!
You can go out most any day and see the trains that met in northern Utah as the transcontinental tracks were completed.
They bring the Jupiter and the 119 out a couple of times a day.
They are full-size regular steam engines restored to look like the original engines.
The boys were pretty impressed as they came puffing out.
Some more than others. Some were just too hot to get excited. Next time we need to remember the water!
But only a few times a year do they actually do a reenactment of putting in the golden spike.
Because it was a holiday, we got to see this and it was pretty cool (actually, remember it was hot, but … anyway). These gentlemen give the speeches that were given and recreate the excitement of what these two trains meeting meant for the country.
I don’t know how much the boys got out of it, but I was very much impressed.
The boys got to hold the golden and silver spikes.
Even though they were melting, the boys were very well behaved and even acted interested! I’ve got good kids! Once the show was over (you can see it HERE – it lasts about 25 minutes), we got some food and had a picnic at a park in Brigham City.
We had fun feeding this seagull fries and Ricky got really close to catching it. Or maybe it came close to stealing his hat. Either way is good with me.
I am glad my husband humors me in my need for adventure once in a while. I sure like him!
That night we were invited to join our good friends in a BBQ pot luck. The boys love playing with these friends and there was a lot of good food and good visiting. Bobby learned the wonder of Pop-its (those white fire-cracker type things that you throw on the ground and they pop). Kevin is guilty of introducing him to those!
Our friends still had fireworks left over from the 4th of July, so we bought a few more so we could have a fun show. The boys enjoy the fireworks, but they love sparklers.
We also bought some fireworks that shoot a parachute in the air and the boys had a great time chasing after the chute as it floated down.
It was such a fun day and evening. I love summer adventures!