AZ trip - My Great Grandpa's Mining Town

There is a museum in central Phoenix called the Arizona Mining and Mineral Museum. I wouldn't have ever known it existed without my good friend, Ginger, telling me about it ... particularly that there is an awesome display by someone with the last name of Updike (my maiden name). She asked me if maybe I knew him. Lisle Chandler Updike. My great-grandfather (my father's grandpa). Yes, he is one of the ancestors my son, Chandler, is named after (the other is on Marc's side, a Chandler Rogers that lived in the 1800's).

Lisle Chandler Updike was a great photographer, but in his spare time he created this incredible mini-mining town by hand! He carved wood into perfectly-proportioned little people, animals, trains, buildings, etc. He even used his wife's hair to simulate smoke from the train. The details were amazing (we especially enjoyed the people using the out-houses). Unfortunately, the camera didn't do it justice because the flash reflected off the glass case. But it was a great experience going to see it, and it helped me feel closer to this great-grandpa that I only met as an infant.

The kids were actually quite excited to see some of the other displays at the museum: cool rocks.

The crazy kids inside a massive digger-shovel-thing that goes with a monstrous tractor to dig in the open-pit-mines around Arizona.