Steam & Excursion > Promontory May 11th

So while it wasn't as big a deal as May 10th - no fancy speeches, no state or federal government types, no fighter jets, and no fireworks - my kids and I still had a lot of fun up at Promontory on Saturday the 11th.  I was originally trying to go the 10th but between missing out on a ticket and school schedules (the 10th should have been a holiday), it worked better to go on the 11th so I could take some of my kids along.  I took the 3 oldest and we had fun with all of the various activities.  While it was very, very crowded, we still found a spot to watch the re-enactment.  My daughter and I had watched the events on the 10th via a live-stream from KSL, so we kept telling her older brothers they should watch this part of listen for this line.  We enjoyed all of the other activities including the mountain man camp, teepees, Hell on Wheels, and especially the robots in the "Engineering the Future" section.  While others here mentioned how bad the lines were on Friday, Saturday wasn't too bad.  We talked to some of the Scouts who were helping with parking or handing out free waterbottles, and one troops was from the town next to ours.  We asked what time they started and when the one Scout said 7am, we asked what time they left home.  He then said they had camped out overnight.  My boys who are in Scouts thought that was a pretty cool camping trip.

On the way home we made a quick stop in Ogden so I could show them the Big Boy that I had chased on the 8th.  They thought it was pretty cool, but we didn't bother standing in the long lines to get a closer look, my kids where whiped out by then.  While I forgot to stop and buy a few things at the Mercantile, it turned out to be a great trip.  We did laugh that now my daughter was old enough to remember Promontory, she was one went we went the last time.

#1 - the crowds thinned out after most of the re-enactment was done, which letter us get closer to get a photo of the recreation of "The Photo"
#2 - the Golden Spike
#3 - grabshot of the trains as we left

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#4 - quick stop at the Rocket Park at ATK, probably the most people this place has ever seen
#5 - the ATK rocket loading facility at Corrine, UT.  Don't think I noticed this when we drove by 10 years ago on our first (and last) visit to Promontory.  Crazy to think this is how the Shuttle Boosters I watched as a kid got from Utah to Florida
#6 - we passed a southbound UP freight between Brigham City and Ogden on what would have been the original Transcontinental route, seems rather appropriate

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My oh My, all you guys(photographers) make me feel like I actually got there(as I hoped you would)

Steve Donaldson
Pacific Grove, CA