GOLDEN SPIKE NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE in UTAH

Wednesday, June 24th ---

Replica of the Union Pacific's No. 119

Replica of the Central Pacific's Jupiter as they
met at Promontory Point--

--thus making it possible to travel from the East to the West Coast!!  The original trains were scrapped for metal in the early 1900's.  The replicas are within one-quarter inch of actual size and are fully functional. There was plenty to see at the visitor center, where films and displays interpret the importance of the site. It is said to have been the last major engineering feat done completely by hand.The last spike was driven on May 10, 1869.
The monument that was restored and relocated at this location in 1965, was first erected in 1927. Now it is maintained by the National Park Service.

Following are a few posters with more interesting information.

This was our last stop before returning to our Home!
The rock formations along the road are interesting, just as if someone laid them in place!  And some areas look to be untilable ground because of them.

But it is also great farming country also. They just water a lot.

Gary was surprised to see Nucor Steel has a plant here in the middle of no-where.  Interesting that this Blog goes from by-hand construction to a world of machines! This whole state of Utah has been such a wonder of history!

That is all for this trip.  Not sure what we will do next.
Today is a day for genealogy research for Gary in Salt Lake City.  He left early this morning.
I stayed at home and did a load of laundry and these two Blogs.  I am also doing some shredding of business papers that have accumulated.  We were going to take it to a Shred place in Pace, FL. But if I can get it done a little at a time in the MH, I won't have to worry about it.

Take care and God Bless!

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK in NORTHWEST WYOMING

Tuesday, June 23rd, another beautiful day!  We began our drive from Idaho Falls to Yellowstone National Park in northwest Wyoming. We entered at the West Gate.

Scenery beginning to change,
more trees.

Line-up at entrance to Park
and we still have a way to go.

Driving along the Madison River.

 We begin to see hot spots along through the park.  Many were stopping everywhere to look, but we kept going for the Big One.

We finally arrive and it is quite built up from when Gary was there 57 years ago. As he remembers!
The flowers are beautiful!

There are several hot spots near the Big One also.  We still had at least forty minutes to walk around. So we checked out the Lodge and then decided to watch the Geyser from the second floor balcony at the Lodge. 

They told us ten minutes either way,
before or after this 12:02.

 It is beginning to warm up!

Then at 12:06 pm it begins to blow!  We certainly were not disappointed!

Just about over, too quick a show!

On our drive from the show we were in a string of cars and then came up on another show!  This fellow had just crossed the road and we had to stop for all of the pictures takers.  I am so used to taking pictures as we drive, so we only waited on others.

Awesome scenery and the clouds always make it more so!

We later got behind this participator in the TransAmerica drive from Novia Scotia to San Francisco. They were staying at a hotel across from ours in Idaho Falls.  They were up and gone long before us the next morning.

We went back to our Idaho Falls motel and rested until time for dinner.  This time we checked out O'Brady's and were much more pleased than the previous evening.
On our last morning we decided to make an unscheduled stop at the Golden Spike National Historic Site in northern Utah. It was just 35 miles off our scheduled route.  Turned out that it was well worth it and enjoyable.  Check out the next Blog for that stop.

IDAHO FALLS and the SNAKE RIVER in IDAHO

Monday, June 22nd we began our trip to Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming.  Not liking the prices of the lodge in Yellowstone, we opted to stay over two nights in Idaho Falls, Idaho, before and after going to Yellowstone on Tuesday.
After arriving in Idaho Falls and while waiting for our room to become available, we took our packed lunch to a park along the Snake River.  It was beautiful and so restful.

We did not have to share our lunch!

The children were sure enjoying the bears.

 There were many interesting benches about and several different animals.

This was our view across the Snake River.

We were pleased to see the stone
with the Ten Commandments on display!

Did you know this?

We also drove around a bit and saw the Falls and ran across a Museum.

We also found an interesting intersection round-about.

There were several business buildings that were very attractive.

And then the local History Museum, though we were not permitted to take any pictures inside.  They also had a traveling display of Pirates of the Whydah, a ship that sank off the New England coast in 1717.  At first we could not figure why they had this display in Idaho (but we remembered the Leonardo da Vinci traveling display in Columbia, SC that we went to see). So we never know what we might find.

Now it is time to get our room and relax before going to dinner at the local family restaurant the hotel clerk told Gary about - Cedric's.  It was okay, but we have had better.  We will try something different on Tuesday after our side trip to Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming.  We will also drive through a corner of Montana to get there.  Guess we can say that we have been there??
Our pictures of Yellowstone and the Golden Spike Museum will be too much to add it to this Blog.  I will do one or two to cover those trips tomorrow while Gary goes in to Salt Lake City to do his research.
Stay with us.