I bought each girl a bucket, and since they had taken some of their own money, they each decided to buy themselves two more buckets. After sifting through three buckets apiece, we had some dandy finds to take to the identifier. These belong to one of my girls:
The young man who told us what we had was not only knowledgable, he was crazy about gems! His enjoyment of his job was evident, and he patiently answered all our questions.
Here are some of the girls' finds:
This clear, spotted agate is smooth on one side, rough on the other. It can be put on a necklace as-is. It's my daughter's favorite stone that she found.
Blue apatite...cool name, and fantastic color!
The labradorite looks like an everyday backyard rock,
but is often made into jewelry.
Isn't this an unusual stone? Red jasper rubs red color onto your finger!
I'm crazy about this green opal.
Kinda plain looking, right? These are the reason the lady tells customers to not discard anything, regardless of how ordinary it looks.
The bottom stone is a semiprecious garnet (we found two).
The top stone is a precious sapphire.
Both can be taken to a jeweler to be polished.
I'd never have recognized them in their natural states!
This is amethyst, even the very clear one.
Hints of purple shine through.
These remind me of my favorite lipstick color back in the late '80's,
"pink quartz." Actually, it may be rose quartz.
Mustard jasper
This green adventurine is my other daughter's favorite of the stones she collected. I like its name, too!
Finally, no gem mine is complete without geodes! An employee called all the kids over to watch as she cracked one open. Geodes are rocks that contain cavities filled with crystals. My girls were thrilled to get to take pieces home:
I highly recommend finding a gem mine to visit. It's easy, educational, and lots of fun! I learned more about rocks today than I had imagined, and I know my girls did, too. God made a beautiful world, and He deserves glory for these colorful, fantastic treasures.
Until next time!
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