Tues.March 2nd 2010 - Jerome & Mingus Highway

Jerome and the area around it are full of history. Sitting on the steep slope of Cleopatra Hill on the side of Mingus Mountain, Jerome was a billion dollar mining town producing copper, gold, silver and other valuable ores. During an 18-month period in 1898 & 1899, the town was leveled by fire three times. After that all buildings were built of brick and stone not wood. The "wickedest town in the West" with saloons, gambling halls & houses of prostitution were among the town's busiest and most popular businesses. Once a booming town it has dwindled down to about 50 residents.

North of Jerome is another gold mine of local history - The Gold King Mine and Ghost Town. Now the gold is gone, and the mineshaft has been filled with water.

Harry, Karen, Keith and I drove to Jerome...up up and up we went on the very narrow road leading to the town... We parked the car and of course...everywhere we looked there were photo opps.

We have found that every town in AZ seems to mark their mountains with the first letter of the town's name. Here's the "J"

I couldn't help but take this picture of Keith looking down the steep cliff...It sure is a long way down!

This is one of the many winerys in the town.

Inside the winery there were many artist wares for sale...Karen was really liking one of the pieces here.

The building on the left is the Little Daisy Hotel, a popular place for the miners to stay,,,today it is a private residence.. The middle area with all the colors on the side of the mine is Little Daisy Mine. And the white building on the right is the Douglas Mansion, the mines owner then. It is now part of the Jerome State Historic Park and closed for renovations so we didn't get to see it any closer.

Heaps of collectibles ---old fire trucks, a 1914 sawmill, blacksmith tools, and antique cars --fill almost every corner of the property. Here's Keith next to a huge film projector.

You can see Mt. Humphrey in the distance with the snow covered mountain ..it is the tallest mountain in AZ.

We walked the town til it was time to have some lunch... We were told that Rachel Ray came here and ate at The Jerome Palace and had "The Haunted Hamburger"...So that's where we headed...Up the hill..:)

And we ordered our burgers... Harry LOVES a good burger..and this one was good. Our table looked out over the views I showed you earlier.

I've noticed in TX and now in AZ that wherever the US flag is displayed..so is the state flag.

This area is down in a pit area of the historical area. Here's an outhouse that has a sign in it..Perfect Pitch..guess they want you to throw coins ?:)

The main street in Jerome...

From Jerome. Harry drove us up the Mingus Highway ...

This was the first "look out" we stopped to take photos...This is the road we just came from.

A beautiful view of the valley.

The road finally came to the Prescott National Forest area...we started to see more and more snow as we climbed in elevation..

At the summit it was 7023 ft above sea level... SEE THE SNOW? Harry continued on the scenic road tour til we came to 1-17 which took us back to the RV's. It was such a pleasant drive and we all felt glad that we had such a nice day to do it all. We left at 8:30 a.m. and were back at the park at 3:30 p.m.