We walked around the casino figuring we’d spend some money to compensate for the free camping. It was different from what I expected. Television shows casinos full of beautiful people in slinky dresses. I’m not saying they weren’t beautiful (in their own way), but no one dresses up. The last time I was in a casino was years ago. Slot machines took nickels or quarters back then. These only took a credit card. I’m not sure how to work one of these machines and make sure I wouldn’t accidently spend thousands.
Instead we drove to an open pit copper mine. This mine is huge. We saw it along the road when we first got to the area and wondered what it was. It can be seen on Google Earth covering acres and acres.
They have a small visitor’s center with a film and displays explaining the process, equipment from the mine, and lots of mineral samples for sale (most found right at the mine). The pyrite in the picture is about a foot square! I loved this stuff, but I have to tell you the coolest part was in the parking lot. We’ve seen information on kangaroo rats, but never saw one. We saw quite a few outside the center. They sort of look like a chipmunk, but have a long skinny tail.
We also returned to the mission. The inside art is incredible. I’ve been churches with gold leaf decoration and there was very little of that. But the colors of the paintings and sculptures were amazing!
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