Tonopah Historic Mining Park 

On Sunday morning, we slept late, and then decided to leisurely walk across the street and up the hiill to see the Tonopah Historic Mining Park. This is perhaps the key element attracting people to Tonopah, "Queen of the Silver Camps," as it has won multiple awards and educational accolades for its presentation. According to its website, the park covers parts of four of the original major mining companies--over 100 acres. While touring the visitor center, I saw a detailed map of the original mine owners, and it looked like a 500-piece jigsaw puzzle; it was amazing that such a small area could be divided into so many small claims, but that was the way things operated in 1900.

Walking up the hill from the main street through Tonopah, you could look back down and see a great view of the entire town. The below photo shows the Belvada Hotel in the center of the picture.

Starting in the visitors center, we first enjoyed the very rich, colorful rock collection. This photo shows one cabinet, and there must have been 20 or more cabinets full of such trophy pieces. The staff in the visitors center were very helpful, and gave us lots of directions and advice about how best to see the large area. They recommended we not walk up the crest of the looming hilltop due to the extreme heat, but we definitely found our way to the below-ground mule tunnel.

About 10 years ago, on a visit to Alberta, we stopped by the small town of East Coulee (outside Drumheller, Alberta). East Coulee was an old coal mining town, and visitors could go through the buildings and grounds of the Atlas Coal Mine, play with some of the equipment, take a train ride; they were working on restoring some of the mine shafts so that someday you could even go into the mines themselves.

This historic park reminded me a great deal of the East Coulee site. It was very open, allowing you to touch and feel and see up close. And I believe they are working to restore some of the tunnels so that someday visitors may be able to go into parts of the actual mines.

After a very hot, dusty afternoon, we decided to find a bar and have a beer. Being Sunday, many of the bars we went to were closed, including the Bug Bar, which was perched on the edge of a hilltop overlooking the downtown area. We pleasantly settled into the bar next to the Belvada, the Tonopah Liquor Company. It was an ordinary but large old-style bar on the main street, with friendly staff, and a great front porch where you could sit, sipping your brew and watching the cars drive by.

After a couple of Stellas, we decided to place a pickup order at the restaurant on the OTHER side of the Belvada, Hometown Pizza. Several times, walking past it, we noticed it was always crowded, so we thought it must be good. Boy, were we pleasantly surprised. We ordered a large pepperoni (traditional style), with bell pepper and mushrooms, and then strolled over to pick it up on our way back to the hotel. What can I say? It was delicious. The mushrooms were so fresh, they melted in your mouth. There was just the right amount of pepperoni. The crust was chewy but not tough, firm but not hard, and really tasty. We barely left the crumbs. We were so pleased, we went back to the same place the next night for their meatball sandwiches.