By: Ana Alexander
Adventure

Jerome, Sweet Jerome

Ladies and gentlemen, meet Jerome.

Jerome is an old mining town built into the side of the mountain, that has transformed itself into a hippy village over the years. Yes, that’s right.

In 1876, the first mining claim in Jerome was made, and by 1888, the United Verde Copper Company in Jerome became the wealthiest mine in the world to be owned by one man: William Clark. The mining business boomed in Jerome, and traces of its mining roots can still be seen throughout the town. However, once the mines were run dry, the town was nearly abandoned – that is, until the hippy movement settled in during the late sixties and early seventies. By the late seventies, Jerome was a bustling town again, and today, it’s a National Historic Landmark that draws in tourists each year to its eclectic collection of shops, restaurants, and art galleries.

There are several shops in Jerome where you can watch artists as they work. The old high school in Jerome has actually been converted to the Jerome Art Center, where artists can rent out studios to work in.

Before perusing the shops, we started our day in Jerome off right: at the Mile High Grill and Inn.

It indisputably has the best breakfast in the world. Three years ago, during my last visit to Jerome, I went here for breakfast and have been thinking about it ever since. They make their own three-berry jam, and serve it with homemade, flaky, buttery biscuits, and it’s ten times more delicious than you would ever imagine it to be.

I remembered exactly what I ordered three years ago, and got it again, because why fix what’s not broken?

I ordered the Veggie Hash, which is, in fact, an ironic name for the ironically named grill in the hippy town on the mountain. It’s served in an iron skillet, with a layer of hash browns covered in mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes, spinach, caramelized onions, smoked cheddar, and topped off with two eggs and a dash of spices. Aaaaaand now I’m hungry again.

Following breakfast, we walked along the few streets in Jerome, which are packed with shops. The town has an interesting mix of art and hippies, as well as traces of the miners that formerly resided there, and the town that they created.

For example, there are shops and buildings lathered in stickers, such as this one – a play on Jerome’s high altitude.

But just a few blocks away, one can see remnants of the fires that struck Jerome during its miner heydays.

It’s an interesting mesh that creates a quirky town with quite the tourism draw.

At the tourism center in town, there is a map with a pin for every place Jerome has received visitors from. International visitors can write where they’re from on the white cards surrounding the map.

Of course, we had to make sure Minnesota was well-represented.

After our stroll through town, we visited the town’s museum, as well as the historic Little Daisy Mine.

Almost four million tons of ore was extracted from the “little” mine, which is in fact, significantly deeper than the height of the Eiffel Tower, the Chrysler Building, the Empire State Building, and the Great Pyramids.

Just a little glimpse into the mine shaft.

Once we’d had our fill of Jerome, we headed back to Mesa for the night.

The following day, we drove around Mesa, stopping at Tortilla Flats, where I enjoyed a Prickly Pear Cactus flavored ice cream cone in the desert.

It was delightful.

We also stopped at another tourist destination, Goldfield Ghost Town and Mine, nestled near the base of the Superstition Mountains.

We watched a gunfight reenactment, which was actually pretty entertaining.

All too soon, it was time to head back to the tundra. It hadn’t seemed that warm while we were in Arizona, as we spent much of our time in the northern areas of the state; however, as I was scraping ice off my car before heading to work the next morning, I couldn’t help but think that only seven hours earlier, I had been wearing shorts.

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