Well, it hasn't been long since Violet and I were together in New York exploring the National Park Service sites there, but now I'm in Utah visiting Violet and her family!

Yesterday Violet's dad drove us all the way up to the top of the Great Salt Lake (over two hours) so we could become Junior Rangers at Golden Spike National Historic Site. This is where railroad workers finally connected the railroad across the USA in 1869. There was a huge party, and two trains met on the tracks there. Never again would people have to take horses across the country, because the train was complete!



Violetka and I learned a lot about steam engines. Did you know that neither of the locomotives that met on the track on that historic day were the ones planned to be there? We learned a lot, and then we got our badges.

Here we are on the very last tie that connected the entire country! There is no longer a Golden Spike, it is now in a museum in California.


Golden Spike is a very special place.  If you're interested in learning more about the history of building the railroad, I really recommend Laurence Yep's book "Dragon's Gate: Golden Mountain Chronicles 1867." It's about a boy named Otter who becomes a worker on the railroad.

I hope you have the chance to visit Golden Spike someday! If you want to learn more about it, check out their website: http://www.nps.gov/gosp !