Desert Destination: Golden Spike National Historic Site

 With our son's love of trains and a desire to see as many National Park Service units as we can, we headed to Golden Spike National Historic Site over Memorial Day weekend. It's open seven days a week (important to know in trip planning, as so many places are closed on Sundays in Utah). It's about an hour's drive from Ogden, Utah. The first "Golden Spike" sign we saw was not inspiring, so I felt relieved when I saw this cool park sign.

 From the visitor center we could see the two engines, Jupiter from the Central Pacific Railroad and Engine 119 from the Union Pacific Railroad out on the tracks, gleaming in their recreated glory to celebrate the meeting of the Transcontinental Railroad. This was a key moment in our nation's history, as it reduced travel time to get from the East Coast to the West Coast from weeks or months (by horse and wagon or sailing around Tierra del Fuego) to about six days.

 The original engines were used as freight engines after the historic meeting, then later scrapped for about $1000. So the engines out there today are not originals, but they have been rebuilt to the original specifications.

The attention to detail is fantastic. I had to point out the flag to Desert Boy and ask him if he noticed any difference between it and the one at the visitor center. He didn't quite see that there were a lot fewer stars on the 1869 flag.

Every day during the summer Golden Spike has steam demonstrations, starting up the engines. They said Jupiter has a square wheel (something I don't quite understand), so they were only using the 119.


The ranger warned us it could be noisy. (Desert Girl's fashion choices amuse me every day.)


We all stood back as engine 119 departed.

 Then it chugged onto a siding near the visitor center, then backed up and returned to its starting place. The demonstration was just the right length to keep the kids interested. On Saturdays they do a reenactment of pounding in the golden spike (there were actually four spikes pounded in the ceremony).


We tried for a family photo. Some day the kids will appreciate these, even if they don't at the time we're taking them!


Then it was time for Desert Girl to work on her Junior Fireman booklet (ages 3-5) and Desert Boy to work on his Junior Ranger booklet (ages 6-12). They both had quite a few activities, which meant that we learned more than we would have without doing them!

Next it was time to get the books checked and get their badges. It was the first badge Desert Girl had earned, so she was mighty proud.

From there we went to take the West Auto Tour route, but for some unknown reason, it was closed. I would have liked to have continued on to the Spiral Jetty, but we were in our van and the road becomes high clearance for the last three miles, and I really didn't want to walk with two kids that were starting to get whiny.

So we turned back and took the East Auto Tour Route, which follow along the old railbed.

 From the drive we could see the flats with their occasional pools of water. This is quite a desolate spot, and if it weren't for the meeting of the railroads, very few people would come out this way.

 Can you see the two cuts in the photo above? The two railroad companies built miles of parallel track to increase the amount of government land they received. Finally, Congress put a stop to it and declared they would meet at Promontory Summit. Nevertheless, the land still bears the tales of this competition nearly 150 years later.

 We stopped so Desert Girl could climb by the Chinese Arch. It was difficult to get and keep railroad workers during the construction, as mining enticed many would-be workers with promises of quick gold. The Chinese were instrumental in completing the railroad.

 Desert Girl doesn't care if she's wearing a dress, she'll still climb.

 Life is good.

After leaving Golden Spike, instead of turning back towards the Interstate, we turned the opposite direction and drove about a mile. I had read on the blog Tips for Family Trips about the ATK rocket display and figured that might be fun.

 My husband was absolutely enthralled! Desert Boy had fallen asleep, so Desert Girl and I wandered around. She wasn't too excited about rockets, but she really, really liked the pink rocks.

 She also like balancing on the curb (clutching the rocks and with her new badge attached). It's nice when we can all find something to be happy about!

Day 1 - Tooele Valley Railroad Museum

 As we continued our vacation to Yellowstone/Grand Tetons last week, we  saw more views of the Clay Springs Fire as we headed north from Delta and the Great Basin Museum. More than half the mountain range burned.

 The kids were good travelers, although we had to take a couple impromptu bathroom breaks. Fortunately there's plenty of open country.

 Some of that open country!

Our next destination was Tooele. I had looked on the Internet to see what there was to do around Tooele and found that they had a train museum. Knowing Desert Boy's fascination with trains, that became a necessary stop.

The Tooele Valley Railroad Museum is on a side street and we had to search for it a little, but due to a nice lady's directions, we found it.

The first thing the kids noticed was the mini-railroad. We lucked out and they were offering rides that day. (If you want a ride, be sure to call ahead, as the days and hours can vary.)

Desert Boy, wearing his train conductor hat, was in his element.

The little train and track were adorable.

We even got to go through a tunnel.

Following the train ride we toured the steam locomotive, a couple cabooses, and the train depot. The train depot had lots of info about area mining, as the train had been developed to transport ore. That made us decide to go to our next destination (coming soon in a future post!).

The museum was free, but I wanted to support them, so the kids got cute matching t-shirts that say 'I love trains.'  How appropriate!

Day 1 - Great Basin Museum

 We were off on vacation last week, and what a wonderful week it was! I'm going to try and squeeze in lots of posts so that our blog book is fairly complete. (Once a year I print the entire blog, and it is such a nice way to keep track of what we did that year.)

Our trip started with driving over the railroad bridge in Delta, UT and seeing the smoke from the nearby mountains fill the sky. This was the Clay Springs Fire, which required the evacuation of nearby Oak City for a night. It's grown to over 108,000 acres. Yikes! Many years, fewer than 100,000 acres burn in the Great Basin. Now just one fire has topped that. The fire costs $4.5 million to date.

 We couldn't do anything about the fire, so we headed to the Great Basin Museum, which opened at its new location on main street in late May.

 They have a lot more exhibit space, and the kids were happy to get out and take a look.


What caught Desert Boy's attention was a model train on the side. It turned out that this model train showed a replica of the roundhouse at Lynndyl, which is located a bit north of Delta. We had never known that there was a roundhouse there.

 It turns out sleepy Lynndyl used to be not-so-sleepy. It was the biggest Union Pacific terminal between Omaha, Nebraska and Los Angeles. The original Lynndyl Roundhouse was 8 stalls, and this was enlarged to 19 stalls about 1920.

They had an aerial image of the roundhouse, which looked amazing, so I decided we would look for it on Google Earth when we got home. Here's what we found:

Do you see the roundhouse outline? Desert Boy and I think it's so cool! We hope to take a trip out there some time. It's so exciting learning something new about the area, especially something about trains.

 We also took a look at some old furnishings.

 This chemistry set caught my eye. We still have a couple of these hanging around the ranch.

 The trilobite collection was extensive, as one of the world's best places for collecting trilobites is only about 30 miles from Delta.

 The glowing rocks were a huge hit with the kids.

Grant helped Desert Boy with the old switchboard.

We're going to have to go back to take more time to look at everything. I'm really glad they were able to move the museum to main street, as they should have lots more traffic now. So if you're in the area, take some time to see the Great Basin Museum!

Our New Train Project

 Desert Boy and I were talking one morning over breakfast, and not surprisingly, the subject of trains came up. He talk about trains usually several times a day, but this particular morning he added in an adjective that gave me an idea and made me want to learn more.

We looked online to see if we could find a map of Amtrak routes that go near national parks. We found AmtraktoParks.com, which had some neat features. But we wanted to do something a little different. So I found an old map of the United States and we taped it to a big piece of cardboard.

 Next I drew all the Amtrak routes on the map in red. It was fascinating seeing where they followed an Interstate, where they followed a secondary highway, and in a very few places, where they followed no road at all. (And probably historically speaking, the railroad tracks were in many of those places before the roads were.)

Then we covered the whole thing with plastic Saran wrap, as Desert Girl was trying to abscond with the markers any chance I wasn't looking and add her own train routes. Desert Boy was pleasantly drawing volcanoes and other things he wanted to see on the excess cardboard around the map.

 We still wanted to do more to the map, such as add in some of the destinations, but before we got to that, it was time for a break. Desert Boy got out a couple little train cars and started chugging them around the train routes. He doesn't know many of the state names, but I think he might start picking up a few as time goes on, especially when the trains crash into each other. ("Caution, train crash in Texas. Please take alternate route.")

This is definitely a work in progress. It's been quite fun for all of us (except Desert Girl when the markers were taken away). It's also made me think about some possible vacations that could include the words "All Aboard!"

Train Cafe--Nephi, UT

 We had so much fun at a train cafe a few weeks ago. When we were coming home from the city and my husband mentioned that there was a train cafe on the way, we jumped at the opportunity. It's J.C. Mickleson's in Nephi, Utah. We've been through Nephi quite a few times, but with the restaurant at the other end of town, I had just never been there. (Plus they don't say anything about the trains on their website--they should!)

As soon as we walked in, we knew that we were in the right place. We immediately saw lots of trains, some elevated above our heads. (I was trying out a new gizmo with a camera, hence the somewhat fuzzy photos.)

 We could watch the trains the entire time we were eating. (Or in Desert Girl's case, the entire time she was applying spaghetti to her face and clothes.)

 This was the view from our table of the very long freight train.

 We tried to get Desert Boy to count the cars, but he lost interest somewhere in the twenties.

The freight train even had construction equipment and tractors. It made a big impression!

I'm thinking we will be back to the Train Cafe sooner rather than later!

Trains, Trains, and More Trains

The kids and I headed east for a week to visit family and friends. Desert Boy would have loved to have traveled by train the whole way, but we'll have to wait till he's older for that. Instead, we had a heavy train theme, which started with this freight train we saw on the way to the airport.

 We pulled over to the side of the road to get extra photographs and watch the whole train go by.

Our next train opportunity was when we got to Chicago. We had five hours until our Amtrak train departed, so we checked out the bean in Millennium Park. I think it's pretty cool, but the kids weren't nearly as impressed.

 Desert Boy was quite vocal about being cold, so it was time to hop on another train (if hauling two suitcases, a backpack, a preschooler and a toddler in a stroller up all the stairs to the elevated train ("el") could be called hopping on!).

Then we walked three blocks to Union Station, a place I hadn't visited in years. We had a wonderful surprise waiting for us in the Great Hall:

 Great Grandma! Many thanks to my aunt and uncle who helped get her there. Desert Girl was delighted.

 The kids had a lot of energy, so after some visiting, they were ready to run--or ride!

 The Great Hall had plenty of space to move around.

 The kids liked playing on the Trunki.

 They also liked running and yelling.

 Before long (and before Desert Boy got his clothes off), it was time to head to the trains. But before we could go, there was something that had to be taken care of.

 Uh, oh! The Amtrak police came calling.

 The Sergeant and Desert Boy had a little talk.

 They resolved everything and Desert Boy had a fun experience.

 He was wearing the right shirt that day!

 Then it was time to gather up our piles and piles of bags and head to the train. Fortunately my brother Ed was able to join us and help out.

 It was exciting to see the Amtrak trains.

 We boarded and found our seats. I was delighted that the kids wanted to sit with their uncle.

We had an enjoyable trip, although it was dark out so we couldn't see too much outside.

When we got to the train station, Grandma and Grandpa greeted us.

The next day, Desert Boy couldn't wait to see the HO train that we used to play with as kids. It had sat in a box for so long that it needed some sand paper to remove corrosion and rubbing alcohol to clean it up.

 It worked--just barely.

 The engine that worked the best was an Amtrak one!

We still had more trains in the plans. The next one was at a neat cafe called the Whistle Stop. They have several G-gauge trains running above the tables.

They also have walls covered with railroad memorabilia, a museum, and a bench that Desert Girl and two cousins had fun warming.

 After we ate, it was time to head outside and look at some of the outdoor exhibits.

 The collection is really impressive!

The caboose is open for visiting, which was very exciting for the kids.

We had a few more train adventures during our trip, with the most notable being riding the train in the Denver airport. It goes back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. A few of the passengers got a laugh when they saw how excited the kids were on the train. And that we were riding it for an extended period of time!