California Dreaming

Family trip number 2 for the summer: Meagan is due to have a baby during the week of July 24 and we were invited to visit and await the birth of the second Judi girl (Rogers grand-daughter). Lorie went out with Jackie to play mother and help with the baby -- really to hold the baby and play occasionally helping with the chores (ha, ha). She did help Meagan and Derek a lot with the house hold chores and played with Brooklyn and held Emma. If you can't tell Grandpa is just a bit jealous.



Driving was a cinch as all three of the younger girls Nikki, Rachel, and Hailee drove almost the whole way. From Salt Lake City to San Jose, interstate 80 is fairly easy to drive and Nikki had her licence, Rachel has her learners permit, Hailee is not really of age but the time has come that she needs to learn to drive also. She drove from west of SLC across the saltflats to Wendover. I had a real enjoyable time and slept a lot. The parental opinion is that she might as well start learning now and that route is an easy drive with an occasional drive.



Playing with Brooklyn was very enjoyable. She would laugh and giggle and just run all over. There were times when she wanted only grandpa but mostly she played with her aunts and was very happy getting them to take care of her dolls or reading her a story or going shopping. We went to the beach on Monday and she and grandma built a sand castle while everyone else played in the surf. She helped bury grandpa and was tired in the afternoon as we spent the whole day at the beach, something she is not use to. The beach was at Santa Cruz and there were various animals either flying or swimming off in the distance. Jack was able to swim very close to a sea lion out in the surf. The sea lions would sun themselves on the pier near the beach and then go for a swim in the waves.



Meagan did have little Emma early Sunday morning, very early Sunday morning. She is a cute little girl and we love her very much.

Trip to Topaz Mountain

Topaz Mountain is a wonderful place for a family outing. It is about 35 miles west of Delta, Utah at the south end of the Thomas mountain range. I became acquainted with this wonderful place when our mineralogy class led by Revel Phillips (BYU mineralogy professor) went there one Saturday to collect topaz. We didn't collect topaz at Topaz Mountain but drove past it after collecting topaz and garnets earlier that afternoon in the northern part of the Thomas Range.

We tried it once as a family when all of the girls were home about 10-12 years ago. I couldn't remember where it was exactly where we collected the clear, colorless gems, but everyone who collects topaz goes to the BLM collecting site at Topaz Mountain. So, we followed the advise of all of the mineral clubs and went to Topaz Mountain. It was one of those trips that Meagan, Shawna, and Jackie thought dad was nuts trying to get them to collect and find topaz. What is topaz any way. It isn't my birthstone and it isn't pretty and it is too hard to find, so who cares. With that attitude we didn't spend much time looking and we didn't find any thing.

This summer I was wanting to visit the Thomas Range area again and take the remainder of my family out and see if we could find and collect some topaz. Shawna and James met us there and we camped out at Topaz Mountain Friday night and collected Saturday morning and afternoon. Again, we weren't able to find the BLM's excavation pit where people do find the elusive pink or smoky topaz crystals, nor were we able to find any topaz crystals around Topaz Mountain where we were camped. We did figure out the secret and drove aways to the north and started picking up crystals that have been washed out of the mountain range over time. These crystals are all over. They are clear and show the orthorhombic structure and crystal faces. They are mostly clear and colorless. Occasionally, light pink or smoky ones can be found in blocks of the ryholite where they grow in cavities formed by gas bubbles as the ryholite magma cooled.

Other minerals that can be found in the ryholite are almandine garnets and titanium minerals such as Bixbeeite. Red beryl has also been found but it is extremely rare.