Wally recently discovered a new store, GTC Rock Shop, that he was totally fascinated with. He told Ward and me that we needed to visit, and he and Theo gave me a gift card to the store for my birthday.We did visit, and what an experience. The store is advertised as a science education center, and they hope that someday they can sell enough to become an educational non-profit. They have case after case of crystals and rocks, educational toys, jewelry, a panning activity, and a classroom with a museum. I expected a few rocks and crystals for sale, but got much more. One could spend hours just studying everything that was there.
I didn't choose anything to get on this trip. This visit was more of an overview of what the store was like. And as I told my sons, I had to figure out what we had in all of those boxes of rocks we have in our basement. Did I mention that I have a degree in geology and Ward has one in geophysics?
Here are a few pictures from our visit.
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| Amethyst (purple quartz) |
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| Citrine (orange quartz) |
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| The minerals were identified with name, chemical formula, and place of origin. I thought it was a nice touch that they added the country's flag in the description. If you look closely, you can see them. |
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| The classroom. |
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The classroom had display cases of various things, including this one of minerals and how they are used in our everyday life.
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As I said, I wasn't sure what was in all of the boxes of rocks in the basement. I know we had gotten rid of some, but it seemed like every time we did that, we would find another one. I unboxed them last week and did a first-order sort of fossils, crystals, ores, and rocks (unspecified). We're not sure what we're going to do with them now, but Ward may build a coffee table with a glass top to display some of them. Unfortunately, we don't know where many of them came from, what they are, or why we collected them. Eventually, some of them will find new homes. We certainly don't want to put them all back in boxes to hide in the basement for more years. Here's what I found.
I just divested myself of most of my rocks/crystals. And then I've found more that were squirreled away in older boxes. Like old friends. I'm glad to have my big clam shell with mother of pearl in the inside.
ReplyDeleteThe big specimens that I remember collecting will be the one's I'm most likely to hold onto. And there are some nice ones that we purchased that will be keepers. But we will see. When we made this last move, I was surprised that we kept as many rocks as we did. But I think, we didn't have time to go through the boxes and sort out the keepers. Better late than never. :) Good for you for sorting through yours before your move.
DeleteWhat a fun shop! What a thoughtful gift from your boys. The quartz and crystals and other stones are beautiful,!
ReplyDeleteYou have quite a collection! I love the idea of displaying some of them under glass in a coffee table. My son enjoys collecting fossils and he wanted to be a paleontologist when he was younger.
I had been thinking recently, that I'd like to do some fossil hunting. It's thrilling when you find a decent one. Most of our fossils are not that special, but they were the best we found on the day we were hunting them. And it was thrill when we found them.
DeleteOh fossil hunting is fun, isn't it. I had never been until a few years ago (the things you do for your kids ;) and we mostly found fossil shark teeth and coral but it was exciting. Where did you find your cannonballs? So cool!
DeleteI have a friend who lives on a farm in the area and they have dug up several canon balls and other Civil War artifacts. She was getting rid of them, so I said I would like them. I took them to an a free Antique Roads show-type thing once, and they aren't worth much. But they are a part of history.
DeleteThat looks like a really interesting store! Your sons give you some awesome gifts. I remember the gift to try making your own pottery on an earlier occasion. I hope you find something wonderful to purchase from that shop, later. I also hope you are able to display some of your own collection and maybe some of it can become part of your garden landscape. :)
ReplyDeleteI have thought about adding some of the rocks to garden beds, but we already have huge rock piles of rocks we have dug up in our yard to use. But maybe if there are some unique ones, they will find a place out there.
DeleteThat looks like a fun/interesting place to visit. The amethyst are beautiful!
ReplyDeleteDid you do the panning activity? There are a few places around here that do it, but I've never gone.
So many of the crystals were beautiful, but as you can imagine, very expensive. We didn't do the panning activity, but I have done it with my kids at other places.
DeleteMy grandfather was a rock collector who also had a rock tumbling set up (homemade out of gallon paint cans) Some of his rocks were left in their original condition but some were tumbled. When I was repairing jewelry the other day one of the items I fitted with a new catch was a tumbled rock bracelet he made for me when I was a young girl.
ReplyDeleteI'm curious how your grandfather tumbled rocks with gallon paint cans.
DeleteAnd how special to still have a bracelet that he made for you.
He had s series of paint cans with various tumbling grits. They were used one at a time for however long the process required, and it ran 24 hours for as many days as each process required. I don’t remember how he connected them to a free standing electric motor other than there were s few belts and gears involved. I guess I was about 13 or 14 the last time I saw it in action.
DeleteI think after he died one of my male cousins took it. I have no idea if it is still around or not. I’ll have to ask at the next family reunion.
So interesting. It sounds exactly like something my father-in-law would make.
DeleteThe first photo looks like you have some petrified wood. But you have cannonballs, from the civil war? Wow! I know so many rockhounds around these parts, who travel here and there to known crystal and ore finding locations, to add more. A couple of my rockhound acquantances tumble and polish their rocks but after that, I don't know what they do with them. Some have boxes and boxes, or buckets and buckets they accumulate. We used to look for arrowheads when we were kids. That's about it though.
ReplyDeleteYou have a good eye. There is some petrified in the first picture. We'll see where these all end up. At the very least, they will end up in our rock pile in the backyard.
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