what's cooking?

Yesterday was our yearly "birthday kidnap" with the older grands.  Since we had done the AZ Science Museum for 4 years AND our daughter had purchased a membership-we decided to do something completely different.

That something was a Ghost Tour in Jerome.  We had considered a really well known ghost town called Bisbee, but a quick check on Google Maps made us aware that going that far was not a day trip, but a weekend away.  Jerome is quite famous.  Not only for ghosts but for being the biggest copper mine in the U. S..

We had been there before, but it was only to eat at the Haunted Hamburger.  Everything within the tiny city of Jerome is over 100 years old so naturally ghost stories and sightings abound.

Steve and I booked the trip, took the boys overnight and after a breakfast out at the Denny's across the street we headed out for our 1-1/2 hour drive.

Ever drive with pre-teens boys?  If you have you are enjoying a guffaw on our account.  We stopped at the junction and got them some frappacinos at a Starbucks and carried on.

Now I love doing walking tours and learning new things and history.  But I quickly realized that someone with lung issues going to a city that's a mile high and where the day's temperature was only reaching a mere 50-this wasn't such a good idea.

Plus, in that kind of cold (for us who live on the face of the sun), I was in a lot of "discomfort".  Trust me when I say that untreated RA and the host of other joint and bone issues do not like this weather.  Nope, nothing wanted to bend, everything hurt and I'm pretty sure I looked like gumby.

Thankfully the tour guide must have also been really cold.  We were supposed to have only a walking tour of Main St. but since we were the only group scheduled the entire day-he voluntarily upgraded us to a complete tour which meant being in a nice heated van.

Yeah!

Except for the parts where I had to get in and out of the darned thing, change from 75 degrees to the 50 outdoors about every 10 minutes.  We saw and learned a lot of Jerome's history and learned what the miners went through and saw the old copper outdoor mine (underground was closed over 50 years ago for safety), the Audrey Framework (our photo below), the cemetery and the old high school.

Now the old high school was a bit more effort for me-lots of stairs, dark hallways (even with our guide's flashlight) and then one of the 100 year old rails had a splinter that took up residence in my finger.

That was a mess.  Luckily this grandma came prepared with Neosporin and Band-Aids.  It left me with a pretty good sized hole.  Stung for quite a while as well.

After the tour we reversed our trip, stopping not at Starbucks but a Carl's Jr. so the guys could have more food.  I had packed up bagel sandwiches for the boys, but Steve said no thanks.

Our day ended with dinner with our daughter and the boys at the new Asian restaurant up the street.
Today, I'm exhausted and sore.  Steve did all the driving so I'm guessing he's feeling about the same.

Birthday outings are fun!  Next birthday we're starting with Jackson.  He'll be turning 5 in August and can hardly wait to spend the day with grandpa and grandma.  The beat goes on...