When my sister and I were kids, we used to do family day trips on Sunday, with each of the four of us taking a turn choosing our destination. I routinely chose Chinatown or somewhere else in NYC, as my sister did sometimes as well, and my Dad was always good for something steeped in history (bonus points if it was Civil War or involved trains), and my Mom usually chose something with antiques.
Good times, and certainly good memories.
And so when the kids and I found ourselves with a completely free Sunday this past weekend, we set off on our own little adventure. I have a running list of activities saved on my phone, which is a great reference point when we’re looking for something to do. And also so I don’t forget any places I want to visit. A great jumping off point, it’s a mix of local and not-so-local destinations, and has a variety of things to appeal to all of us. It includes everything from activities and destinations to food we want to hunt down.
As we were getting a slow and lazy start to our Sunday, I had narrowed down our destination to four locations. One was two hours away, one an hour, and two under an hour. I decided I didn’t feel like driving four hours over the day, in an attempt to retain the chill vibe we had going on, so crossed that location off the list. The destination that was an hour away would have been good to tack a picnic onto to as well, but it was a bit too windy for that, so I crossed that one off our options list. The place that was 45 minutes away had two tours during the day. One in the beginning, and one at the end. Neither of which worked for our plans.
So with the process of elimination in full effect, we ended up at the Sterling Hill Mining Museum.
With two extra kids in tow.
A mere thirty minutes from our house, one of my continuing goals for this year is to discover more of what is already in our own backyard, so this was perfect for that as well. Nick has been on a field trip to this place before, but the girls and I hadn’t visited before. He has a keen interest in rocks, so I knew that even though he had been before, he wouldn’t mind going again, and it turns out that parts of our tour he hadn’t done with his class, so win/win.
An easy drive off the highway, the Sterling Hill Mine has been around since 1761. It officially ceased mining operations in 1986 for a variety of reasons, and after being sold in a tax sale in 1989, it reopened as a museum. It was later classified as a state historic site, and a national historic site, and is also a non-profit. The mine is perhaps most known for its zinc ore with a high concentration of minerals that glow underneath an ultraviolet light.
See also: fun for all ages.
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