The world of the Rockhound

When I was young, my parents would take us (my 2 brothers, sister, and myself) rockhounding. I still remember that my sister and I would sit in a pup tent and eat lemons with salt. I think the whole salt with lemons is a family thing because I don't know really anyone else that eats lemons or limes that way! (I digressed a little bit... now back to rockhounding...)

I loved it, but I was very, very young, and it was a very longtime before I did it again.

I did not go rockhounding again until my early 20's. Kind of picked up where I left off years earlier with the love of the search. With one of the geode finds, I popped it open during a "geode" cracking party, and inside of the geode was liquid -- proverbial primordial ooze. It was amazing, becuase there was cracks in the rock that would have allowed the liquid to seep in.

Geodes are one of the earth's amazing geological creations. They are literally formed out of gas bubbles that occured millions of years ago in mud and ooze. The bubble solidified, and over millions of years, the crystals inside formed.

I love rockhounding becuase when you find a crystal or a mineral, you are the first person EVER to find it. I think that is amazing... it took millions of years to form, and YOU were the first one to hold it in your hands.