I could tell it was going to be one of those trips. We were supposed to leave on Friday to get to the Westside to visit in-laws and go rockin’. But… We didn’t get out Wenatchee until mid afternoon Saturday. Something about having to get the Rock Club newsletter out before we left. lol At least leaving so late didn’t interfere with the rockin’ part of the trip, as Sunday was rockin’ day! But it did cut into our visiting time with Val’s folks.

On Sunday, the 10th, we met at the prescribed meeting area with about 25 other Mothers Day Amber hunters and with Bob (rockcandyguy) of Geology Adventures. At last I got to meet Bob! It is great putting a smile and face to name and many posts. lol Bob is a kick!!

Here is Bob, incognito, explaining things to the group

We got our group gathered and followed Bob up the road until a point where I couldn’t go anymore. (Due to the walking involved I didn’t go on the dig. I did, however, meet with a friend, the gem guru to discuss some cut stones. This dig was not for me, but for Val, the kids and my sister-in-law, Rachael, who is a real amber addict, and her daughter Elise. My brother-in-law got to go as well, which was way cool for the family. Thanks Bob!

I understand it is several miles into the dig site. Some of it is hiking and some is riding in Bob’s bus, or as Val put it Bob’s red roller coaster car. lol It was funny to hear the differences between the descriptions of Bob’s bus. Val thought it was a bit of a cheek pucker ride and Jenny, my16 year old daughter, thought it was absolutely great! “Bob drives fast” she says and I guess the road was bumpy. Jen enjoyed it! lol

Riding on Bob's little red bus

Elise enjoying the ride

The troops arrived at the dig site and went to town, well ok went to a diggin'.

The group at the digging field.

Val's brother digging away

The amber is from the Metasequoia tree and comes in a variety of colors. Red, blue, green, amber and others from my understanding. I can’t remember the age Bob told me, but for some reason around 40 million years sounds familiar. Bob handed out the digging tools; a butter knife used to pry apart and dig in the clay in which the amber resides, and baggies for the treasures. There are also fossils to be found in the area. Jeff found a nice clam fossil, it is a partial, but very cool just the same. Jen found a very nice willow leaf print as well. Everyone did find amber of various colors. I didn’t see anything of real large size, but they did get some amber. The trip got started around 10:00 a.m. and they arrived back to the parking lot around 3:45 p.m. A good time was had by all from the reports and smiles on the faces.

Val's Amber finds. 05-10-09	Jeff's Amber finds. 05-10-09
Jen's Willow leaf fossil she found during the Amber dig. I did clean it up some and put a sealer on it. 05-10-09	Jeff's Clam Fossil he found during the Amber dig. It is right around 2" across. 05-10-09

Authors note: OK before you all jump down my back, I forgot to grab the camera when we went into Bob's rock rooms. Once the beer started flowing it was a lost cause. Hence I didn't take one picture during our visit. However, the belly was full of good brew and at the time I was in lala land with the the people, rocks and brew. lol


Once the diggers went on their way, we headed over to Bob’s house just 10 or so miles away from the dig site. This was indeed a treat for all. Bob introduced us to his wife Carole, who is the nicest hostess you could ever meet. Bob and Carole make a perfect couple in my opinion. Bob then took us into the “room”. What a collection of specimens this man has acquired over the years. There are boxes and boxes of rocks, several display cases, and then there is the special room where his prized specimens live. Man, oh man, I have never seen such beautiful specimens of all kinds. Talk about drooling! Egads Amazing stuff!!! I was afraid to even touch some of them. Man, he has some rocks.

Then Carole came down with a nice spread of snacks and Bob offered us a glass of his home brew. Ok folks, I am not a well-known expert in the world of beers, but over the years I have drunk my fair share of good and excellent beer. But Bob’s beer is many steps above the others I have tried. We drank a home brewed stout that would easily beat anything on the market. Man, that was good beer. As I am typing this, my mouth is watering! Well we didn’t have just a glass, I think several glasses followed the first. We talked rocks, ate cheese, veggies and crackers, drank that dark beer and, oh yeah, talked more about rocks. The guy is amazing and his rocks are even more so. Val and Jen I think grew sort of tried of this guy talk stuff and beers and exited the “room”. Actually Jen had homework to do and actually went and did it and Val was a bit chilled and went out to the car and fell asleep. I am glad she did as she would have to drive all the way home. We visited for several short hours. Time flies with great people, rocks and beer.

We got ready to head out but before we could go, Bob took us down to the shop. This is the same place that was shown on C and T when Kirsten came in with the Spruce Ridge quartz/pyrite specimen for cleaning. It looked the same as on TV however, it wasn’t quite so tidy as there were rocks everywhere. Bob’s shop is a good-sized house that he converted from a living space to, well lets say, a rock space. You walk into the first room and guess what, there are rocks, everywhere. Boxes upon boxes of them. They are everywhere. Each room led to more rocks and boxes. How he can remember what he has is beyond me. lol I did get to see some of his trade secrets – well ok the way he cleans his rocks. I am glad Val was there as she now has an idea of what I was trying to explain to her about then things I need to clean some of those stubborn things.

Bob did give me a couple of rocks to putter with. He gave us several pieces of clay with amber in them plus a beautiful piece of amitrine to see if I get some facetable material. There shouldn’t be any problem but it is such a nice point I almost hate to cut it. He also gave Jeff some glass snails in matrix that Jeff can work out of the matrix. Man, they are cool!

Clear Glass Snails Bob gave to Jeff to clean off. The top snail is 2" or more. This amber was in the clay matrix when Bob gave this to me. It is all a deep red, sorry the picture is so dark. The large piece is very large and should cut into some nice pieces. Thanks Bob! :-)

Amitrime Bob gave to me for faceting. To me it is such a nice specimen I hate to cut it. lol Just a little different look at the crystal.

All in all it was a short but great weekend. It was great to put a face and a warm body to a name and posts on the wiki. And man can be brew beer! I look forward to our next meeting be it at Rock Candy this summer or before. I can hardly wait.