Over the hills and far away

My dad came out to visit me for a few days, so we took a lil road trip. We headed over Mingus Mountain on a long road full of switchbacks to the small town of Jerome. Elevation 5,246, founded in 1876. Because I know you wanted to know!

Here's the crazy road:

And a necessary dorky picture:

The town of Jerome itself is quirky and touristy at the same time. It's an old mining town, and all of the buildings are basically clinging to the hill.

I was a fan of this staircase: 

But I think the main draw of this town was the view. You can just see it through the buildings in this picture... there is some gorgeous geology in the background! It looked like the layering in the Grand Canyon.

After we had our fill of wandering the artsy streets, drove down to the old copper mine. Apparently it is the largest wooden headframe still standing, and its purpose was to haul ore up from the mine. 

Here is a view down the mine, all 1,900 feet! I spit down it and it was the coolest.

Then we played around on the old mining equipment:

Jerome... we give it the AC stamp of approval!