Jerome

Ol' Dave and The Venerable Pinniped took a road trip to Jerome earlier this week. It's an old mining town about 120 miles NW of Sun City, 20 miles W of Sedona. Copper, gold, and silver were extracted here from the late 1800s until 1953, when the last copper mine closed. In its heyday in the 1920s there were 15,000 people living here, but by the late 1950s the number was less than 100. Now it's about 400-500, not counting throngs of tourons. However, most of them are daytrippers, crowding the streets during the afternoon but leaving the town quiet in the night and morning hours. This is the main drag.

We stayed at the Jerome Grand Hotel. The building was a hospital from 1927 to 1950; then it was mostly abandoned til the mid 1990s, when it was purchased from the mining company of Phelps Dodge and converted into a hotel. The hallways are decorated in period furniture. There's a cool old style cage elevator, too.

Here's a view of the hotel from outside. Rumor is that it's haunted, but all Dave and I heard was each other snoring.

The hotel sits high on a hill overlooking the town and the Verde Valley, 2000 feet below. The entire town is perched on the hillside. There are lots of good restaurants and saloons...Jerome is highly recommended!