Jerome

We drove up to Jerome and I mean UP!  We were amazed as we kept climbing and switch backing and seeing glimpses of buildings impossibly perched on the mountain side.  Finally we arrived at the strangest main street of a small town I have ever seen.  And it was packed!  No parking available so we had to go up and park near the top at the old mine site.  To make things even stranger a couple of dozen mini's pulled in after us.

This ex-ghost town is the site of an old ore mine: mostly copper but also gold, silver and zinc.  It was one of the most prosperous and prolific mines of the country in it's hey-day.  The history of Jerome is a bit complicated so I am going to give you the wikipedia site to check it out if you want.  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerome,_Arizona  This town  was once in line to be the capitol of Arizona but when the mine was abandoned in the 30's it became almost a ghost town.  In the 70's hippies moved in and since then it has become an artist's paradise and now a tourist/shopping destination.  And pricey!  One of the strange things about Jerome is that it has a store with the largest collection of kalaidascopes and this weekend there was a kalaidascope festival!!  I have never seen anything like it.   We toured the museum and tried to get a grasp of the nature of this place.  What we did get was an amazing view.  Guess what we could see in the distance from this altitude?  You guessed it, the red rocks of Sedona!

Just one of the ruins.  Check the background...mountains, plains etc.

I wish I could meet the owners of this van.  If you enlarge it maybe you could read some of the words.  

Bordello...a common theme in Jerome

Main street is split by this building...the pictures do not do the angles justice!

Jerome is on a fault line...aside from fire many buildings were destroyed by sliding!

Notice the "J" up on the top of Mingus mountain.

The museum was the mansion of one of the mine owners...rich and safely away from the many fires and slides.  Also, a Canadian Connection.

Sedona in the background from the mansion/museum.  

Leaving Jerome we took a back road down Mingus Mountain...I have never seen anything like it.  If you look closely you will see a blue sign on the left...one of the many cliff hanging roads, scary turns...very exciting drive.  NO WAY would we take the RV on this!!  Altitude over 7000 ft.

Scary turns and cliff drop views!