Summer Adventure: Heritage Museum and National Mining Hall of Fame and Museum

We're a couple days behind on our adventures now, but we'll catch you up. On Tuesday we went to two more of Leadville's museums. Since we had more time on this day, we tackled the big ones.

Our first stop on Tuesday was the Heritage Museum, which takes you through Leadville's history in two stories worth of exhibits.

Tailynne standing in front of an old-fassioned grand piano. She pointed out to us that there were two "pianos" in this room--you can see the organ next to the piano.

Camden loved the manequine of the soldier from the 10th Mountain Division.

Our favorite exhibit at the Heritage Museum is the Ice Palace exhibit. It has a scale model of the Ice Palace. Every 1/4 inch of the model represents 1 foot of the actual Ice Palace.

Our last stop at the Heritage Museum was the equipment they have on display outside.

After the Heritage Museum, we went to one of the parks for lunch.

After we ate, we let the kids play on the playground for a little while to get some energy out... We played a little, too.

After lunch we went to the National Mining Hall of Fame and Museum. This is the largest of the museums in Leadville, and is in what used to be the high school.

Near the front of the museum was a sculpture of a castle made from a variety of stones and precious metals.

Camden loved looking at all the different rocks in the gallery. They had different stones and gems from all around the world.

There were two mine replications that you could walk through. Here is one of the dummies in the hard rock mine, waiting to be lifted out.

In the Cole Mine replica, there was a donkey pulling a cart full of coal.

Laci and Thom tried their hands at prospecting. It just would have been nice to know that the gloves weren't water proof first. It took a long time to get the stink out.

One of the exhibits showed all of the house-hold conveniences that come as a result of mining. Tailynne loved the potty display.

Summer Adventures: Tabor Museums

There are six museums in Leadville, and each summer, you can buy a passport that will get you one visit to each museum. Since Laci works at one of the museums, she got a complementary passport, so Thom got one, and we are going to visit each of the museums. Today we started with the three that are connected to Leadville's famous Tabor family.

First we stopped at the Historic Tabor Home--where Horrace, and his first wife, Augusta lived.

An old-fassioned fold-out bed.

The cradle of Maxie Tabor, the son of Horrace and Augusta.

Our next stop was the Matchless Mine and Baby Doe Cabin--the dying place of our cat's namesake.

Camden trying on a toy hard hat before we started the tour.

Thom, Tailynne, and Camden looking down the mine shaft.

A replica of Matchless Mine, which was originally used as a parade float.

Baby Doe's bed, inside the cabin. Notice the wall paper. While this is not the orriginal wall paper, Baby Doe did line the walls with newspaper for extra insulation.

Our last stop today was the Tabor Opera House. It was really cool... literally... there's no heating in that building.

Camden fell asleep before we started the tour. He was awake by the end though. We think this one was his favorite.

The ticket booth. Each slot corresponds with a seat in the auditorium.

Tailynne walking down the aisle of the auditorium.

The view from the balcony.

The entry way, looking down from the doors to the theatre.