Our last ‘new’ state on this trip! #44
We had a short day of driving after climbing at City of Rocks to a campground in Snowville, UT. We saw cute kittens, swung on their tree swing, and did a couple loads of laundry.
The next day we stopped by the Northrop Grumman Rocket Garden on our way to the Golden Spike National Historic Park. The rocket garden displayed lots of missiles/propulsion elements for war and space. It was an interesting stop in a desolate landscape.
The Golden Spike National Historic Park is located at Promontory Point, UT (also a desolate area). It is the place where the transcontinental railroads met – Union Pacific (from the east) and Central Pacific (from the west) – on May 10, 1869. The meeting of the railroads also completed a telegraph line (not the first, but an early one) from the east to west coast, so the completion of the railroad was communicated to the great majority of the nation within a short amount of time. We even got to see a demonstration of the trains in action! The Central Pacific engine burned wood and the Union Pacific burned coal (based on the most readily available fuels).
It was a great place to stop and learn more about the history of our nation (the ups and downs – amazing engineering feat, the breaking up of Native lands, the grueling work of many immigrants (Chinese from the west and Irish from the east (along with German immigrants, Civil War veterans and emancipated African Americans))). Life and its advancement – what a complicated story. I guess we just keep trying to do our best and learn from our past.
From there we drove to a KOA in Brigham City, UT. We celebrated nearing the end of our trip by getting a massive pizza – 36 inches in diameter! It was tasty – which was a good thing because we ate it for the next three days!
It was super hot in Brigham City, so we were grateful that the KOA had a pool to enjoy. We made friends with other campground guests, including a family from Canada that was travelling from Ottawa to Georgia, to the Grand Canyon, and up to NW British Columbia!
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