Arizona Mining and Mineral Museum

For a inexpensive cultural date, vist the Arizona Mining and Mineral Museum in downtown Phoenix.

The museum is small, and even a little shabby, but it is interesting.  Most of the exhibits are displays of minerals, but there are also fossils, massive pieces of mining equipment, and a small room dedicated to the history of mining in Arizona. 

Browsing the huge mineral, rock, and gem collection was the most interesting part of the museum.  There were hundreds of beautiful samples.   If your timing is right, you can watch lab workers  test and polish mineral samples.

You should be able to tour the museum in an hour or two, so plan another activity or a meal if you want to fill an afternoon. Tickets are only $2 each and parking is free.  If you are museum buffs, walk down and tour the Arizona Capital Museum in the same date.  It is just a few blocks west of the Mining and Mineral Museum.

Arizona Mining and Mineral Museum
1502 West Washington
Phoenix, AZ 85007
www.arizonahistoricalsociety.org/museum

A meal made of rock!

You even get free souvenirs!