Memorial Day Weekend

This Memorial Weekend Corey and I took the kids out to Topaz Mountian in Delta. We had never been there before and thought that it would be fun to go as a family. We got up in the morning and told the kids to get ready for the day and to hurry. They needed Sox and shoes as well as long pants. They had no idea what was going on or what we were up to. They were so excited wondering were mom and dad were taking them.


We hunted for Topaz first. Topaz is literaly covering the gound out there. We went onto the mountian first but found that we would need tools to get the topaz that was there. So we went to the West of the mountian about 600 yards and the ground began to glisten in the sun. The kids had so much fun finding the shining beacons on the gound and then following the light to their treasure. We learned that in the sun Topaz looses its amber color. So the Topaz we found looked like diamonds!

We found more that topaz at this location....can you see the horny toad? He is between the two small bushes and is the same color as the ground. The kids loved him and honestly he was pretty cute...horns and all!






After we got done with the topaz we moved on down the road and found Apache Tears all over the sides of the road. It was crazy and the treasure hunt began again!

We moved on quickly from there to the Geode Beds. We drove another 30 mile on dirt roads to find the mounds of dirt beds that would house Creeds favorite rocks.



Keenan (above) digs in the dirt looking for the round rocks that will hold the crystal centers.

Corey, Creed and Brinley talking and digging.






Kai, Brnley and Aislinn also dig. The dirt was soft and wet not more than a few inches from the surface....that was odd to me consitering we were in the middle of a desert with hardly any life in it!






Kai gets more serious in his digging.....he was a boy on a mission.









Aislinn takes a moment to smile for the camera. Notice the back ground.....that is how it looked for miles around. I have wondered many times since this day who found these rocks and what the circumstances surrounding these awesome discoveries.






This was the site we found the most Geodes in.....it was undisterbed and a fun place to hunt.







A few days after we got home we sat in our back yard to see how we did in our hunting of Geodes. Corey used a hammer and a screwdriver to split the rocks.

Some were duds but some.....




Were AMAZING!!!! The sparkle and diversity of each rock was a wonder. The kids all gathered round as we opened each rock and ooohed and awwwed at the surprise in each one.







Some were small rock but some were quite big. This one is very beautiful...the picture doesn't do it justice.








The result of half the rocks we collected! It was such a fun day. The kids loved it even my 12 year old said it was the best day ever. We will be going out again very soon. I recomend it to all....the cost was just food for the day and gas...we paied nothing for this trip. Go on a cloud covered day because the heat is pretty bad. There is no shade...bring your own water.
Next time we will be hunting for fossils and other rocks....my kids have become quite the Rock Hounders!!!!!