The Beginning

Howdy all!

Thanks for taking the time to visit my new Blog! This is just the beginning, but I plan to publish my adventures in my new found hobby. I want to take you along with me from the very beginning, so you too may see how a hobby can be formed.

First, a bit of background:

For years I have been fascinated with rocks and minerals. I never really did anything about it, but I have always liked the shinies. I have also always liked to get dirty and dig thru things. Over the past few years, I have developed more of an interest in my natural surroundings. Moving from Maryland to Pennsylvania had a lot to do with this.

I grew up in the relatively flat Montgomery County Maryland. As a child, I was always playing in the dirt, digging holes, and playing in streams. Unfortunately, I never really paid attention to the rocks and minerals around me.

About 5 years ago, I moved to Cambria County Pennsylvania with my wife and kids. We had to get away from the hustle and bustle of the DC metro area, and we found the quiet city of Johnstown. Our first drive up there was through the mountains on a foggy night, so I couldn't appreciate the natural beauty of my surroundings. The drive back was another story! I was fascinated by the layers in the rock formations, but couldn't stop to really look as I was driving. Once we were settled in to our new home, I had the chance to finally look around. I wanted to know more about the mountains and how they were formed!

I spent alot of my spare time watching the Outdoor Channel and came across the show "Gold Fever". I was intrigued by the idea of prospecting and loved the scenery of all the adventures they showed. My whole family enjoyed sitting in front of the TV and watching all the great places they went on the show. We also ran across some fun shows on the Travel Channel about "Pay to Dig" sites and vowed to one day add them to our vacation list.

My wife has always liked making jewelry, I have always liked playing in the dirt, so we thought we may have finally found a hobby we could share!

My lovely wife signed me up as a member of the GPAA (Gold Prospectors Association of America) and ordered me my first Gold Pan. She got herself a nice little metal detector to start searching around the yard. Little did we know that we had moved into one of the few places in the US that have very little minerals other than COAL! She began finding all sorts of small metalic objects in the dirt, and I found lots of left over remnants of the steel industry in the streams. But no gold.

A bit if research led me back to my home town and I discovered that there was gold in Maryland right near where I grew up! I made a decision to one day return to the streams I played in as a child and search for the color!

Three years passed, and we had not really searched for gold, gone on vacation, or expanded upon the idea of a shared hobby. 2009 rolled around and my mother asked me to come back to work for her elevator company in MD. I now have a weekly commute to Montgomery County and lots of spare time after work. The job afforded my family the opportunity to finally take a vacation in 2010. Guess what we did?

At the end of July thru the beginning of August 2010, my family packed into a car and took a vacation. We travelled down the Blue Ridge mountains to New Orleans to see my sister-in-law and family. Along the way, we took our kids to Luray Caverns in Virginia. We stopped in Tennessee on the way down and spent the day in the Smoky Mountain region. We made good on our promise and finally went to Spruce Pine NC to go to Gem Mountian (www.gemmountain.com) and sluiced for gemstones.

We all had a great time finding Garnets, Amethyst, Topaz, Tourmaline, Quartz, and native Emeralds in the enhanced buckets. The spark was back! My wife and I probably had the most fun enjoying family time all playing together, but the kids seemed happy too!

Since that day, my wife and I have grown closer sharing our fascination with rocks and minerals. Each week I plan a few locations to check and bring back samples for her to inspect. We are working on our system, planning new adventures, and reading like crazy! There is so much to learn! Please feel free to stick with me as I share my adventures with you as well!