Anniversary Adventures--Part 1

Oh my! I can't believe it's been almost 2 weeks since I last blogged, promising more pictures and updates soon! Oops. Life has a way of keeping me very busy these days, and blogging hasn't been tops on my list. :) Anyway, here is what we did on our anniversary, August 7th. We took a family adventure to Ruggles Mine! This was our first time to visit there, and it was a lot of fun. Ruggles used to be an operating mica mine, back in the 1800s to mid-1900s. Besides mica, there are many other cool minerals and even some gems that can be found there, such as garnets. We didn't find anything too fancy, but we had fun. :) The admission price allows you to bring out as much as you can carry in two trips, provided you don't use anything with wheels to carry stuff out. :) We came home with some nice pieces of quartz, mica, feldspar, and maybe some other minerals that I can't remember. Jim and Sam, in particular, had a great time digging and hammering!

The main part of the mine is an open pit. You go through a neat entrance tunnel, then come out into the mine itself. There are caves on both sides of the main part--none very deep, though. Then at the other end of the mine there is another short tunnel, then it comes out into an open area where most of the quartz is, as well as a gorgeous mountain view. There is also a great view from the parking lot.
Josiah spent most of the day in the backpack, and amazingly was quite content in there. I didn't feel comfortable letting him roam in the mine very much; it was too rocky and I knew he'd fall a lot. We were able to let him out down at the far end where the ground was a lot flatter. He loved having some freedom for a while, as well as playing in the dirt--one of his very favorite things. :)

Julia was not impressed with the mine when we first got there, but she later warmed up to the idea and decided to have fun.
And Sam, well . . . he was at a good age for it! He even learned to identify a few of the rocks. In this picture, he was inside one of the caves (with Jim and Julia) and I was able to get this cool photo of him looking out a "window" in the rock. He was much closer to the ground inside the cave, but pretty far up from the outside!
And here's a photo of the kids and me in front of the nice view from the parking lot. Everyone was very tired and a bit grouchy by this point (just before we left). It was a really fun day, though, even though it wore us out!
Part two will hopefully be up shortly . . .