My Year of the Book -Day 130: 149 years ago today, on May 10, 1869, a ceremony held at Promontory Summit, Utah, celebrated the driving of the final spike connecting the East and West coasts via transcontinental railroad. “Nothing Like It in the World” (2000) by Stephen Ambrose is an excellent book on the planning and building of that road. When I was in third grade, my mom chaperoned a trip for my brother’s 5th grade class, and I got to tag along. We boarded a steam train in Sacramento and rode it all the way to Truckee, near Lake Tahoe, to take part in a centennial celebration of that event. It was my first train trip, and it was also one of the first times history really came alive for me. I was so enamored by the event and the celebration that I got my hands on a railroad spike and spray painted it gold, in honor of the one they tapped in at the ceremony in 1869. The real one remains on display at Stanford University, and as you can see, I still have mine. History doesn’t have to be boring. :) #history #railroad #goldspike #unionpacific #centralpacific #book #bookish #westernhistory #booklover #mylibrary #firstedition #bookstagram #yearofthebook #stephenambrose #bookworm #transcontinentalrailroad #bookaddict #west #roadtrip #traintrip #booknerd #booknut #reading