This is one of those trips that makes me realize how rewarding homeschooling can be... and educational. I personally learned a lot about gems, how to locate them for mining, and the history of this particular mine. We went to
Oceanview Mine (Also know as Pala Mine).
While it was a little hard for Little Man to make it through the entire trip, he did a great job! We had a lot of breaks from 'mining' for snacks, games of tag and hide and seek, and just relaxing. We found a lot of 'pretty' rocks, quartz, and a few little gems. This is a trip we will do again in a few years when Little Man will get a lot more out of it and maybe we can bring Baby Bug along.
(My camera broke on this trip! This is why I always purchase the service plan, this isn't the first or last time it has happened. Most of the pictures were taken with my cellphone, but a few that have the black bars are from my camera, the lens wasn't opening all the way up and then it stopped opening completely. To much dust/dirt.)
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Group shot of the kids (although a few left before this was taken!) |
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Malcolm showing off one of his finds! |
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Large Quartz rock with green tanzanite crystals inside. |
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Various quartz crystals |
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Mica | |
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Morganite |
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Lepidolite..? |
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Morganite (although not as pink) |
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Aquamarine |
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Onyx |
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I honestly don't remember what the black parts were called, but there was a lot of it at the dig. |
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Tourmaline |
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Mica |
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Mica. |
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Feldspar - an ingredient in porcelain
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Malcolm standing by the untouched dig pile. |
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California Poppies |
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Our tour of the mines. |
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These are mines on the mountain next to us. |
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Entrance to the new mine shaft. |
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Current Oceanview Mine. This is an active mine so we weren't allowed to enter. |
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Our Lord's Candle was blooming. I have a thing for wildflowers :) |
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We got to see what the gems look like in a real mine when discovered. |
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