While we were in the mountains, we went mining for gems. I remembered doing this as a kid and loving it and was hoping for the same experience for our girls. The first place we went to was not really what we were looking for. It was a sapphire mine and it was $40 for a bicket of dirt. Did we find sapphires? Well, according to the folks who worked there, we found tons. They didn't look anything like any sapphires I've ever seen though. To have them cut and set, it would be another $35 and I wasn't too thrilled with that idea. The girls did fall in love with their dog though, so I guess it wasn't all for nothing.
On our way home, we passed a ruby mine and being a July baby myself, I couldn't resist stopping to check it out. For $5, the girls got 4 big bags of dirt and they found some of the prettiest gems! Were they worth anything? I doubt it. But they had tons of fun. And yes, we did 2 rubies but again, it would cost way more than we were willing to pay to have anything done with them.
