vacation day 8

alright- this is the last full day of vacation.

we all slept in until about 9am. it was tough sharing one bathroom for 4 adults and a baby but we all managed to get showered and dressed and packed up by 11am. we checked out of the cottage and hit the road.

will and katie followed us to promontory, utah to the golden spike national park. this was where the final railroad spike was driven into the ground that connected the first railway from the eastern half of the u.s. to the western half. wow- it is out in the middle of nowhere!!! the only other thing around there was a top secret looking rocket test range. golden spike n.p. has a smallish vistor's center. outside of the building is the original track with 2 replica train engines. there are a handful of actors dressed in costume that re-enact all the speeches and the ceremony of driving in the last spike. i thought they did a pretty good job. i really did try to imagine what a big deal this was back in 1869. this railroad allowed people to cross the u.s. in 2 weeks. now it only take a few hours by air travel! or, nanoseconds by email! we were at the park for a couple of hours. i picked up a benchmark pin and smooshed a penny.

we got back on the road and stopped in ogden to eat. we made another stop in kaysville at katie's parent's house. we watched the rest of the utah/ michigan game and picked up the dog. another 30 minute drive and we were back at will and katie's house in salt lake city. we didn't do too much- we just hung out and chatted. chris and i knew we had to get up early to get to the airport so we really just wanted to relax.