Mining for Gems in Hiddenite, NC

Rather than traveling back to PA between Grandad's birthday party and Thanksgiving we took a mini-vacation to North Carolina.  Will has been into rocks and gemstones lately so we took him to a gem mine in Hiddenite, NC.  While we were there we also visited a science museum.  We planned to visit Biltmore too, and Jerry had planned a surprise side stop for me to see Chimney Rocks but we decided there wasn't enough time.

The mine had a section where you could go dig buckets of dirt
to rinse in the sluice.  In my estimation, it would take
a lot of luck or a lot of time and effort to
dig out any gems!!

 

But Will had plenty of fun digging!

 

We found lots of "leverites" according to the man helping us - "leave-r-right here
because it's not worth a thing!"  It was nice though because he added a
handful of gems to Will's tray when he wasn't looking so
Will "found" lots of gems!

 

We had the most fun in the creek.  There were lots of gemstones in
the rocky/sandy areas.  And the best part was the weather - I wasn't
being negligent letting my kid play in freezing water at the
end of November.  Surprisingly, it was a perfect day for this!

 

Of course my favorite part was feeding the ducks my leftover
oatmeal pie from our lunch at the local gas station (the only
place nearby to eat!)

 

Will liked the ducks too after I assured him they didn't have
teeth and could only pinch him a little with their bills!