AZ Stop #4: Pine/Jerome, AZ

Chris's boss has two cabins up in Pine, AZ that he loves for his employees to use.  So we took him up on the open offer and headed up to Pine after our trip to Vulture Mine.  Grandpa Frank met us up there too so that was extra fun.  At the cabin we had a blast just hanging out and playing volleyball, badminton, and "Nuke 'Em" over the net set up outside.  It was just great to be OUTSIDE getting fresh air and exercise in the cooler temps. 

Over this quarantine, we have done movie marathons where we watch one movie a night.  We've conquered all the Harry Potters and the all of the Marvel Universe movies in order.  This week at the cabin we began our "Conjuring" movies.  Not sure that this was the best place to begin these but we sure had fun trying to scare each other at night:).

On Friday morning, we headed over to Jerome, AZ.  This was something new to ALL of us and man...it was COOL!  Such an incredible little mountain/mining town with an amazing history and VIEWS!!!  W.O.W!!!!

This is a private residence but I seriously
would LIVE in this Addams Family home!
It's GORGEOUS on a hill all by itself!

We started in the town museum.  It's a beautiful old "Douglas Mansion" house that has been converted into a museum.  Amazing how well preserved some of the relics are.  This town was a thriving town of 10,000 people in the 1920s and now is home to about 400.  The boys had a little too much fun with the "potty cart."  Seriously...cannot imagine pooping along someone else out in the open...

There is a mine shaft (Audrey Headframe Park built in 1918) that you can actually stand over and look down into it.  The depth (1900 ft) of it is taller than the Empire State building in NYC.  When you looked straight down, there was definitely no bottom to be seen--only fog (super creepy).  Everyone had fun dropping rocks down into the grate to listen for them to hit bottom--not sure we ever did hear bottom...

We climbed to the top of one of the highest hills to visit the "Asylum Hotel & Restaurant" where the boys just mostly wanted to read through the "ghost logs" there in the hotel--complete with pictures!  YIKES!  

We ate lunch at the COOLEST little restaurant--The Haunted Hamburger.  Seriously, some of the BEST FOOD I'VE EVER EATEN!  Gourmet burgers and fries.  I only wished I could have saved room for some of their amazing looking desserts.  I would definitely eat here again.  Fantastic food and the funnest decor.

This is a bookshelf IN the ceiling!

Sights around town:  Some of the coolest shops around town with very unique products.  It reminded me a lot of Bisbee, AZ.  Some of the buildings in Jerome has actually slid down hill!  They mined the heck out of this mountain and they definitely more than their fair share of town fires due to the explosives used in mining which all contributed to landslides.  It was kinda cool to look down any mountain side there and see large chunks of concrete, brick walls, cars, etc...all from landslides.  A great example of this is the town "Sliding Jail" that is more slid more than 200 ft from where it originally started.

"The Sliding Jail"which slid more than
200 ft from where it started.

The best brothel around--actually the third
brothel because the first two were destroyed by fire.

"House of Joy"
Another brothel:)

Just a funny shop.  Took this pic for my dog:)

We had a great time in this historic little town.  Would definitely go back again.  We left there to go back to the cabin for another evening of volleyball/badminton/Nuke 'em.

So it wasn't Hawaii but we sure did enjoy our week of AZ exploration.  We learned so much about our great state and just had the best time being together.  Great memories made this week:)

AZ Stop #3: Vulture Mine

Ethan's choice was Vulture Mine.  He loves to watch these "Ghost Hunter" shows on YouTube and seeing that this place was one of the most haunted places in AZ so just had to and see for ourselves.

This place ended up being SUPER COOL!  What a step back in time for sure.  Vulture Mine is the most profitable gold mine in AZ and it is STILL being mined to this day--we actually saw active miners there!  This place is near Wickenburg, AZ and was only about a 1.5 hour drive.  It's only open until noon these summer days so we went early.  The nicest lady gave us a brief history and then we were able to roam around the little Ghost Town on our own.

The "Hospital and Brothel" were all in the same building--makes perfect sense to me:)

Since Chris's Great-Great Grandmother
was a Madame, I always insist he take a picture
under the sign.  To get back in touch with his roots:)

Chris was the first to show my boys the proper way to be creepy.  Then they just had WAY TOO much fun.  (We know there were cameras every where so I'm not sure what the owners thought of us after this:)

Feet in the stirrups please:)

Outside the founder's (Henry Wickenburg) home--that little cabin in the back--is the original "Hanging Tree" where 18 miners were actually hung for stealing gold from the mine!  This was hands down the creepiest spot on the property.

Rope is still there!!!

Henry Wickenburg's Outhouse

Cool/old Piano

Creepy dolls in the "Church"

Just took a pic of this because it's a Ford Anglia--
like in Harry Potter!!!

Now I don't mean to be a crazy/ghost person BUT I did have a little "experience" there.  (I've always believed in ghosts but I've also always lived by the belief--if you leave them alone, they will leave you alone:). We were walking up the stairs in the machine room--it's the only 2 story building still standing there--and we were only allowed to climb up one person at a time.  I was the last to go up and I KID YOU NOT...the freaking light went OUT ON ME!!!  YES!  It had stayed on for everyone else but went out on me half-way up--NO!  It wasn't motion-activated!  So I quickly ran the rest of the way up and you better believe that I was NOT the last one down:).  (The light stayed OFF the rest of the time so it is "possible" that they just need a new bulb--but it was a newer LED bulb so it should probably have lasted longer--just sayin'.)

As we were walking to our car, I heard a "meow" and it turns out that there is a very friendly calico kitty, "Princess," who keeps the mouse count down on the property.  SUPER COOL and FUN place.  A MUST-SEE if you're in to all that ghost stuff:)

AZ Stop #2: Grand Canyon Railway

We have all seen the Grand Canyon at this point in our lives (except for Sabey) BUT we had never taken the Grand Canyon Train!!!  So off we went!

We left bright and early Tuesday morning (5:30 am) to make it to Williams, AZ by 8:30 to catch our 9:30 train.  Williams is a cool little town and it was nice to be able to walk around before our train left.  They also had a fun little "Cowboy Gunfight" right before our departure.

Sights of Williams, AZ:

Some creepy old man waving mannequin:)

Get Your Kicks on Route 66!

On the Train:  It was a 2 hour ride to the Canyon from Williams.  The ride was quite entertaining as there was a food cart, a funny conductor, and cowboys that came and played their guitars for you.  Something I hadn't noticed about my kids but our guide pointed it out and I was sure grateful for his observation.  Our kids were actually looking at the scenery and NOT on their phones (for the majority of the time:). Way to go guys!!!  Proud to call you mine:)

The Main Event:  Grand Canyon is breathtaking as always--and slightly cooler in there than in Phoenix so that was nice too:)

We even got "ROBBED" on the train ride back:)   It was a fun/exhausting day.  We sure got our steps in!  We grabbed dinner in Flagstaff and then made the drive back home.  We planned on giving our kids the entire next day off:)