A Diamond in the Rough

There was a birthday party this weekend at a local "gem mine". It wasn't actually a mine, but they had it set up as such. I was thoroughly skeptical at best, and doubtful as usually becomes me, that this was going to be anything but fun. Well butter my buns and call me a biscuit, it turned out to be so much fun!  Each child received a bucket full of rocks and sand, a shovel, and a sifting tray. They were seated at a water flume, and after shoveling some mixture into the tray, they put the tray in the flume to rinse away the sand and reveal the rocks, gems, and minerals. It was really neat, because it is actually a large collection of material the man buys from an international buyer/seller of this stuff. Big Belle came away with several beautiful quartz crystals, and even one rock that had some emerald in it. She has a large collection of shark teeth, and some veery cool stingray tooth specimens as well. All in all, I was totally impressed, and look forward to going back here again someday soon.  If the house wasn't infested with sickness, and I wasn't coming down with a cold (let's hope that's all it is) I would've posted pictures of the loot!  Maybe next time.