On Tuesday we went on a little field trip with some of our friends from our homeschooling co-op. We went gem mining-but not the regular sifting it out kind. We went diggin' in the dirt for some Quartz Crystals. We all chipped in on a "Groupon" and got a great deal to search for treasures in the dirt.
We were all equipped with shovels, gloves, picks, brushes, and buckets. and we headed out into the dirt mounds....
That were HUGE. This is like a boys dream day. They got to wear old ratty clothes and were told to go dig and get dirty. Does it get any better than that when you are a boy?
Rita was determined to find an Amethyst but it wasn't in the cards that day. Maybe if we go back we will hit it big. :)
These guys were on a mission to find some good stuff and we did find a bunch of good stuff!
We found a scorpion.
And here is my first piece of Quart. We had to dig out rocks and use a brush to see if it was just a rock or something more.
We met an old pro from Maine (I knew as soon as he started talking he was a fellow Yankee), who showed us the awesome things he made with the crystals he found.
Of course we had to take the traditional Jake and me picture...It is proof that I am actually there since I am the one taking the pictures. :)
The boys found a place to throw big rocks into water and that of course lasted until it looked like they were going to go in with them....
Our Yankee friend showed us some of his amazing finds and some tricks of the trade. He was getting all the crystals he could because today he was going in to have surgery on his back. I hope all went well for him. We got his business card so we could visit him at the flea market he sells things at.
The man that owns the land (I am assuming. He was there to greet us and tell us all we needed to know) came back to check on us and see how we were doing. The boys took turns showing him the big stones they had found and he told them how great their finds were.
The boys even went with the Yankee to help him while he tried to bust up a really big crystal filled boulder he had found. They helped him haul out his tools and bucket of crystals.
His finds were more impressive than ours, but I think we did pretty good for first timers. This is the inside of part of the boulder he was working on. The picture doesn't do it any justice. It was so sparkly and gorgeous!
This was Jake's largest find and Yankee told him it was a really good one. :)
We took our finds to a car wash to really wash off the dirt and see what we had.
This is what we ended up with. A box of beautiful crystals that I have no idea what we are going to do with...
Any ideas?
