Rockhounds

Tuesday we went to Angels Camp to a store called "Stories in Stone". I had originally planned to take a tour of Mercer Caverns in Murphys, but it was a bit much for the budget. At $7.00 for kids over 3 and $12.00 for adults, it would have been nearly $50.00! So, instead we went to this store, and wow - was I impressed! The owner, Russ (I can't remember his last name) is about 80 years old and has been interested in rocks since he was 8. He owns some property near Bakersfield and has excavated extensively there, finding innumerable fossils of every sort of sea animal imaginable. He said he stopped counting shark teeth when he got to half a million! The things available at the store are incredible. The best part was an educational room where he does presentations for schools and other groups. He spent so much time and effort putting the room displays together. Unfortunately we were there a half hour before the store closed, so he didn't have time to do a presentation, (and I honestly don't know if he usually charges for it!) but he did give us a cook's tour of the room and kinda explained what he goes through in the actual presentation. It was a lot of information to absorb in a small amount of time, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Braeburn, Gala, and Cameo check out the display which shows what different chemical compounds make up the minerals which then make up the rocks. Russ was so knowledgeable. I love it when people are so passionate about things. It is so fun to speak with people like that.

Checking out some sedimentary rocks, fossils in the background.

Showing off a rock with sea fossils embedded in it.

He showed us some polished rocks with water in them! They just looked like normal polished rocks, but upon further inspection with a flashlight under the rock, there was the water sloshing around! They are made the same way as those fancy geodes you can crack open that have amethyst and other things inside. I'm not very good at explaining it, but apparently the volcano flow seals off some places so there is a cavity there and crystals grow in that open space. Very beautiful! He and his wife get a lot of their stock from Brazil. There is a photo in his warehouse that shows his wife standing next to some geodes that are taller than her!

Here is McIntosh with some smaller ones.

The warehouse was FILLED with rocks, fossils, gemstones, everything!

The girls didn't really get all that much out of our trip, I'm afraid. Pippin led the way in complaining with McIntosh and Cameo not far behind. (Gala had some moments, too) Fuji nearly had a couple tantrums as well. Braeburn wanted to know more about the fossils and rocks, but pretty much all the girls were interested in were playing with the magnet rocks and oohing and aahing at the pretty jewelry. However, I do have to say that Pippin and McIntosh asked a bjillion questions, so maybe they did get something out of it despite the complaining. Maybe Russ was used to it, because he seemed to take all the questions in stride and didn't get too freaked out when the girls tried to touch EVERYTHING. Fuji found a display of all sorts of little polished rocks and he was very patient when she asked what kind each one was. The funny thing is, she never actually asked him. She would turn around and hand him the rock and he would tell her what it was and then she would ask, "WHY?" Every time.

We did end up buying something... magnet rocks. They are great! They seem to be much stronger than regular fridge magnets and the kids spent a long time in the store playing with them. They were $1.00 each, unless you put a bunch into this little tiny bag - then they were only $6.00 for as many as could fit. We ended up getting 13.

It ended up being a good buy because they have pretty much played with them nonstop since then. It's a great way to keep them busy and discovering things. Cameo calls them her pet rocks. That's exactly the kind of pet I like - no hair and no poop.

The worst part of this field trip was that Tree had taken my camera to work for some car photos, and the camera I had only had an 8 mb card in it! So, these are the only photos I got - guess I should have had it on "economy". There's a gem and mineral show in Angels Camp this weekend. Maybe Braeburn and I will head back there and take the right camera!