Golden Spike Celebration in Ogden

You may know that this year is the 150th anniversary of the completion of the transcontinental railroad and it has definitely stirred up a lot of buzz here in Utah.  Have you heard?  :)  I must say I have caught a bit of the bug.  Our library's Weber Reads program, which starts each fall and focuses book lists and events on a chosen topic, has been all about the transcontinental railroad this year, so I have read almost all the picture books on the list (it helps that Sam is a big fan of trains in general).  I also read the Stephen Ambrose book Nothing Like it in the World (fascinating!) and I have watched the documentary Ogden: Junction City of the West (mostly because my friend, whose recommendations for me are usually right on point, suggested it to me, but then I realized it was all about the railroad and my transcontinental spirit got fired up even more).  My mom got excited to hear from one of her favorite former history professors speaking at a series of talks about the transcontinental railroad in Brigham City, but then she was bummed when she wasn't able to go.  I found the whole series of talks was posted online so I listened to Ross Peterson's talk (the last one) (and shared the link with her, of course).

And on Thursday, May 9th, I attended Ogden's Golden Spike 2019 celebration, complete with the meeting of two giant Union Pacific steam trains, speeches from the governor and others, vendors at the Heritage Festival on 25th Street, multiple showings of that documentary I mentioned above, and crowds of people from all over the country and world (we saw a group of Japanese visitors and at one point I was standing between to a couple of men from Germany and a family from Ohio)!  Paul and Kim came in on Frontrunner to meet me and the kids downtown for a morning of celebrating (and a lot of standing around and staring at the backs of peoples' heads).  It was a big event, and maybe not Cal and Sam's most favorite thing ever, since we couldn't see that well or get that close to the trains.  But it was kind of exciting for me to be a part of it, especially after all the build up we've been having all year.

We had fun looking at and counting
all the decorated horses on 25th street.

Checking out a model train exhibit in a tent near
the station.

The kids got engineer hats from the
booth, but neither of them wanted to
wear theirs.  Luckily Grandpa was game.

One of the giant screens showing the Junction
City documentary.

Basketballing in the middle of 25th Street.

And corn-holing just a few yards further.

Crowds walking down Wall Ave towards the staging area for
the meeting of the Union Pacific steam trains.

The Living Legend, Engine 844 was there
puffing steam and blowing its whistle when we
arrived.

Lots of people gathering in this vacant lot - and back behind them
all in the middle of the road were four or five sets of bleachers,
already full of people an hour (at least) before the ceremony
started

They showed a Union Pacific video on some big
screens for the half hour before the event,
which helped the kids to not get too antsy while
we waited.

Can you see the bleachers way back there?  They
were packed!

This was the only way we could see the program.
Thank heavens for the screens.

It was hard to see anyway, but then everyone
lifted up their cameras to get a pic and it
completely blocked our view.

Cal took matters into her own hands.

Clearly it wasn't the most exciting time for the kiddos.

#DONE
They told us to use this hashtag on our
social media of choice (our 2019
new and improved method of communication)
in honor of the telegraph message (their 1869
new and improved method of communication)
that was transmitted after the last spike was
placed.

We met up with Abe, the man who
made it all possible by signing the
pacific railroad act.

One last look at Big Boy and the Living Legend as we left
the crowds.

Bye-bye, Union Station!

On our way back to the valley, we stopped at a park we had seen
on our drive into Ogden.  That helped the kids have a positive
ending to the outing, I think.

Mount Ogden is beautiful this time of year.