We struck gold!

On our weekend vacation, we took the kids to a gem mining place in Grandfather Mountain, NC. This was actual gem mining, not a bucket of sand and walmart polished rocks that we've seen at amusement parks! They gave us a bucket full of rocks mined right there on site, and we got to sift and wash through them finding our treasures.

We found an actual piece of gold! The large nugget is Pyrite (fool's gold) and a small piece (on top) to show the differences in the color of the actual piece of gold (bottom.) Too bad it's not the large nugget that is the actual gold, we'd be rollin' !

Here's the large pieces of what we collected, there was lots of little tiny shards of gems as well, not pictured.

Topaz (also called Citrine. It's the alternative gem stone for April babies, Diamonds are in a class all of their own and some don't think they should be a birth stone. But I'm an April baby, so I think it's ok ;) heehee.)

I had a larger piece of Citrine cut into an emerald shape that they will ship to me, and maybe I'll set it into a ring or a pendant necklace someday.

Ruby. Not bright red as I would have thought, they're quite pink when they're surrounded in their natural unpolished form. They redden with heat and cutting.

Garnets. They look like meatballs. They're covered in rust when they're mined raw, but when you shine a light through them, you can see their clear red color. Maren wasn't too impressed with her birth stone!

Sapphires

Smokey Quartz. These were really beautiful when they were cut and polished, I debated about getting some of these cut, but I felt obligated to choose Topaz, I have no idea why now that I think about it!

Emerald. These are really deep green when you shine a light through them too, I bet they'll be a beauty when they're cut and polished!

Amethysts. I can see a pair of matching earrings for me and Maren in the works someday :)

More pictures of our adventures to come soon! Including Tweetsie Railroad, Grandfather Mountain's mile high bridge, Linville Caverns, and the beautiful Blue Ridge. Since I am married to a man who insists on being a mountain man, I could be happy being a mountain man's wife... as long as it is in the Blue Ridge!