On our way to Myrtle Beach we decided to kill some time and stretch our legs at Moorefield Mines in Amelia, VA. The mine is owned and operated by Sam & Sharon Dunaway as a fee-dig site... They allow you to take away what you find. We made a full day of digging in the dirt. We found several types of rocks and gems including Amethyst and Amazonite some quite large. One piece of Ametrine in particular could easily be cut into 3 or 4 really nice jewelry quality pieces. We actually spoke to a Geologist in New Jersey about this piece and when he told us how much it was worth we nearly fell to the floor. We will probably get it cut and design settings for each of the kids so they can have a constant memory of that day.

The morning started very early we arrived at the mine at 9:30 and after being on the road for 4 hours I wasn't sure how much we would be into digging. We started off by going into the gem shop where we could view pictures and specimens of previous finds. The kids started to get a little more excited about digging when the had a look at some of the previous finds... I must say I did too. They actually have large piles of mine wash (left overs from the active gem mine) that they dump into a free range dig site. It was pretty interesting to see people scour the surface for small crystals and large chuck of Amazonite. As a family we decided that we would scour little and dig a lot. At one point it started snowing then sleeting... remember it is April. No worries though we were digging so much we kept warm.

By mid-afternoon it was pretty cold and we took a little break. We went to a SubWay a sort distance from the mine... dirty faces and all. We warmed up a bit and filled the bellies to recharge for a second round of digging. I guess the people are used to seeing out-of-towners covered in muddy clothes because no one took a second look at us... maybe that was fear :)

We made it back to the mine just in time for another front-end loader of mine wash. We found some nice size pieces Cryolite and Agate. Then it was time to dig some more. Thats when I found the large piece of Ametrine. I had only dug down a foot or so and ta da there it was. With a little careful excavation I noticed it was larger than I first thought. I wasn't sure what it was at first but I figured it was at least Amethyst but because of the red clay soil it was hard to make out the the color and clarity of the stone. So off I went to wash my bucket of rocks.

The kids were finding double terminated crystals, Amethyst and Calcite everywhere. Trey and Shayna decided to dig the perimeter of the roped off area and found a bunch of Amethyst. Krysta on the other hand started trying to run-away by digging her way to China. She found some crystals and really nice pieces of Aquamarine.

My wife and I spent about an hour washing and sorting gems, stones and rocks. The water was very cold and painful at times.

All -in-all we had a great time. We finished up around 4pm and hit the road once more. Anita decided to break out the map and find the shortest route to the hotel in Emporia, Va. May I just say... WOW! We were on a road for hours with only 2 other cars spotted... going the other way no less. We came upon a Tank Crossing - No Joke. There was a sign for Tank Crossing on the highway. We had to stop and really make sure thats what the sign really said - sure enough there were grooves in the blacktop were several tanks had crossed. We thought we had entered some really bad 80's B movie. Anita kept reassuring me we were heading the right direction. I believe it was Military Rd - RT153 to RT 46 then RT 58... Highly recommend getting gas before entering this Sunday drive.