We grabbed the window of good weather in our weekend for a little outing (lately, the term "good weather" is relative. I mean it wasn't actually raining). We had a few rain drops, and the wind was cold, but it sure beat the rest of the weekend.
I don't know how I'd never been to Promontory Point before. It's only an hour away, but somehow I'd never made it. This may be one of those instances in which my parents insist they've taken me and I just don't remember it. But, if I don't remember it, it doesn't count. So when the hubs suggested we go see the reenactment of the driving of the golden spike, I said westward ho, young man.
But more actually, it was northwestern-ward ho, small family in a compact car. Clara really loved sitting on the wood benches. She wouldn't let me hold her so she could see better. She had to sit on the bench like a big kid. It turns out she needs to be a little bigger, though. I put some pants on her that I thought would be fine, since she's worn them before with no problem. But she'd walk around, and after a few minutes, they'd be down around her knees. And it was a cold day; I felt bad.
We were there early enough to see the Jupiter, a wood-fired engine, and the 119, a coal-fired engine, come out. They reenacted the entire ceremony, and asked a few onlookers to participate.
The ceremony ran a little long for some tastes.
Our little bird-watcher found much to enjoy.
And this little hobo would like to ride the rails, but he settled for walking.
After lunch, we walked the Big Fill trail. It follows the old railroad beds for a stretch along both the Central Pacific and Union Pacific grades. They graded along within sight of each other so they could get more money before it was decided they'd each meet at Promontory Point. The maximum slope the railroad bed could be was 2 percent, and we walked along the second steepest stretch of track, second only to a place in the Sierra Nevadas. They had to dig and blast out some parts of the mountain, only to fill in other portions to make the track level. And they did it all without big machinery or power tools. Shovels, hammers, and dynamite. There was one four-hundred foot stretch over a ravine, called the Big Fill, that it took three months to fill in.
And, we found a little cave. It was all a hike we could have asked for. The sun even came out for us.
No comments:
Post a Comment