Promontory Point...Not Where I Thought It Would Be

 A week ago Sunday my wife and I went on a drive. There's places in Utah I've always wanted to see, but apparently, not enough to actually go there. Promontory Point was one of those places.

I can cross it off my list.

I think every child growing up in Utah has heard the story. On May 10th, 1869 the last spike was driven into the first transcontinental railroad. It literally brought America together. It changed Utah and the entire country. In 2019 the site celebrated the 150th anniversary. I've known about the famous site ever since I learned about Utah history. I thought it a strange place for the railroad lines to meet. When I looked at maps of northern Utah, Promontory Point was surrounded by water and I thought when they built the railroad tracks, whey did they not meet up a little higher, away from the water?

When we moved north, I knew we were close to the historic site. Still, I thought it was due south from where we lived. Turns out, it's due west (and a little south...). We kept driving west to reach it.

There's a couple of buildings at the site, one where the train engines are housed, then the main building...a combination of ranger station, museum, and gift shop. Winter is not the time to visit the site. It's best in spring and summer when they actually bring out the trains.

I fell in love with train travel when I lived in Europe. Growing up, I didn't get the opportunity to take trains very often, nor have I since returning. We just don't use them like they do. The joining of the rail lines conjures a world of the old west, of men, women, and children working hard to survive a brutal land. There's romance in the thought, a sense of wonder. And when I thought about what happened 152 years ago this May, it occurred in a place I thought was somewhere else.