Gem Mining 101

Well, we didn't find the next Hope Diamond [boo], but we did manage to mine over 120 carats of Sapphires in 48 hours! I never EVER imagined how strenuous gem mining might be until this weekend.

We pulled into Mason's Sapphire and Ruby Mine just after noon on Wednesday; It was a bit overcast but quickly warmed up. Charlie, the mining expert of the bunch, quickly gave us a run down of exactly what we were looking for. As soon as we took his advice we were picking sapphires out of the flumes just as quickly as we could clear away the dirt.

By the end of the day we had managed to gather over 23 carats of sapphires. We were quite satisfied with ourselves and decided to call it a day. We decided to camp at the campsites beside the mine in order to get an early start on the next morning...

We were pro's by noon on Thursday. Patsy, one of the sweet workers at the mine, showed me how to find large carat sapphires and rubies laying on the hillside after a rain. In fact, she nabbed a 10 carat pink sapphire right off of a small hillside when she bent down to show me where they form..talk about some teaching skills!

By sunset, we had collected an additional 99.99 carats of sapphires (Seriously..could we not just say 100?), they all ranged from violet, to bright pink, to blue. Stunning. It was by far one of my most fun experiences with Josh since we've been married.

We plan on getting a few of the gems cut for the ladies in our families and I'm saving the nice large 8 carat button sapphire for the main stone in a ring I'm getting made. I'll post pics once I get it back!

Happy Sunday,

xoxo Rach