The Good:
- I have two pets: a chubby white dog named Bopi "Happy" Jones, and a lazy, old tuxedo cat named Captain, as well as several houseplants responsible for my fresh supply of oxygen.
- I live in Olympia and Tacoma. Do I commute daily from those locations to get to Seattle? Yes. This is kind of a bad thing, but it sure does make me appreciate things, like short commutes, and the inescapable, ultra-deluxe, earthy smell of roadkill on a hot summer's day.
- I am chronically depressed! I get debilitating migraines! But modern medicine has helped me deal with most of the problems caused by both of those issues.
- I go rockhounding. This is an activity where you look for shiny rocks that have no inherent value. I love... rockhounding. I love collecting.... rocks ............. I may talk more about it later.
The Bad:
- I ghost my dentist to the point where whenever I actually do come in, he raises an eyebrow.
- I cry really hard whenever there is a scene in a movie about a dying grandparent, or pet.
- I'm lactose intolerant, but this doesn't stop me from eating ice cream or cheese. My farts have woken up roommates. My intestinal tract is shredded.
That is... unless you want to know more about rockhounding.
You do? I see. Wow, people never want to hear about my rocks.
Well alright then! I go rockhounding all over the Pacific Northwest.
"Washington has an extraordinary variety of rocks and fossils. Collectors have the opportunity to find beautiful agates, amethysts, garnets, jasper, and opals. Our state also has a plethora of fossils including crinoids, clams, trilobites, snails, corals, and at least one dinosaur."
I mostly go looking for agates at Damon's Point, near Ocean Shores, WA. Here's an example of what they look like! Agates found on Washington's beaches are rounded by the waves, and are particularly beautiful in direct sunlight because they often cast a strong, bright red/orange glint.
(Retrieved from Pinterest)
I also go rockhounding on Humpback Mountain. Here, you can find quartz and rare strawberry amethysts.
Most recently, I headed out to Philipsburg, Montana to visit Gem Mountain! Here, I panned for sapphires. In total, we found around 12 sapphires weighing in at a little over a carat each!
(Retrieved from my phone! These are some of the cuttable quality sapphires we found.)
Sapphires come in at about a 9 on the Mohs hardness scale, just below a diamond (10).
As a result, I probably won't be able to process or polish these until I save up for lapidary equipment. But that's okay, I have plenty of places that I want to visit in the meantime! I've been eyeballing the Oregon Sunstone as my next adventure!