A Day Trip to the Lewis + Clark Caverns

The kids and I returned home from the round house after swimming lessons finished on Friday, and to stay it was a long trip would be an understatement. How many times do I need to say, "Keep your hands to yourselves!" Gahhh! Normally Hunter sits in the back by himself but with all the bikes I had to haul back, it just wasn't going to work, so the three kids piled into the middle row. It was a long ride home... but we made it.

I spent Saturday evening working at the hotel, and then first thing Sunday morning, all five of us piled back into the car for another road trip. I've been wanting to take the kids to the Lewis and Clark Caverns for a while and thought this would be the perfect time to do it.

 The hike up to the entrance was a little long for some short legs, but the view was perfect!

Ms. Gail was carried for most of the way, and when she wasn't, she enjoyed walking on the far edge of the trail. That girl.... JP walked/ran the whole way, where as HD needed to be carried because he was too hot. 

 Once inside we had to be extra quiet because the bats were sleeping. My nerves got me a bit when I glanced over this edge. Heights are not for me!

 The kids all enjoyed going down the Beaver Tail slide. (I think Perry liked it the most!)

 They always look so thrilled to have their pictures taken...

Perry and I managed to get a picture of us though! Aren't we cute though?

 The boys really enjoyed looking at all the cave structures. I was surprised to hear they wanted to go after that long hike at the beginning!

After we finished up at the caverns we headed down the road a short ways to play on the Ringing Rocks. Unfortunately we didn't make it all the way there. They are located up a winding dirt road, wide enough for about one vehicle. We were probably 1/2 mile away when we came up to a corner with a big hole and sharp rocks on the other side and I just couldn't make it over it. Not to mention it was starting to get a little stormy out so holding hammers wasn't a super idea. I checked the weather before I left to make sure that wouldn't happen too. Go figure. But at least we'll know what to expect for next time. 

A Glance at our Weekend in Philipsburg

For the long weekend, we took a trip to Georgetown Lake with Grandma Betty, and family friends Scott and Barbara. 

 The house we stayed in had a gorgeous view of lake from the back deck!

 After spending the morning mining for sapphires, we spent Saturday evening relaxing around the campfire.

 You can't have a campfire without hot dogs!

 When I was working on our gallery wall in our room, I realized Perry and I have *very few* photos together, so I'm trying to be more diligent in giving the camera to someone else. How cute are we?!

 But I love this picture of Grandma and Hunter a little more!

Is that really JP in a green chair? Who would have thought...

After a wonderful night playing dominoes (and winning if I may add), we all hit the hay exhausted. Sunday morning we went back to Gem Mountain before heading into Philipsburg for lunch and a stroll around downtown. 

If you've heard anything about Philipsburg, you know that they have an *amazing* candy shop called 'The Sweet Palace.' Go to this place!

 

 The wall are lined with candy. I was drawn into the sucker sticks, or whatever you call them.

 There are buckets and buckets of candy!

 

 SO much to choose from!

 Fortunately for JP, he just had to find the green ones... Unfortunately for Hunter, he didn't eat breakfast OR lunch so he missed out on the opportunity to pick out candy. What a bummer!

Green candy...Yumm!

Tell us where you're from: Rudyard?! Who did I know that I just missed?! 

 I just love all the old building this little town has. Completely in love!

 Most of the group - minus Scott and Charlotte

We had lunch at Doe Brothers and it was delicious! They have the best chicken tenders and fries! After our stroll around town, we stopped back in for ice cream. 

 After checking out of the house we rented, we drove through Philipsburg one more time so Hunter and JP could play at the elementary school park. Is this not just an awesome looking school?

 It reminded me of Dragon's Hallow in Missoula.

 Except this one had a jail!

 These boys wore themselves out, Perry included!

 I, however, discovered this amazing chair swing. So relaxing! 

 Check out this stud. I am in love with his new glasses. 

Charlotte was a little angel during the whole trip, even though her naps were few and short. 

Gem Mountain in Philipsburg, MT

A couple months ago, I mentioned to Perry that I would like to go to the sapphire mine near Philipsburg to mine for sapphires sometime. A couple days later, Grandma reserved a house for us for Memorial Day weekend.  For the past week, the boys counted down the days. After a crazy week finishing up preschool and soccer, I gladly welcomed a little vacation!

We arrived in Philipsburg around 11a Saturday morning to meet up with my parents so they could join us in the search for sapphires. After getting there, we realized that most of the businesses in the downtown area were closed (due to religious reasons, I believe) so we headed out to Gem Mountain to look for sapphires, since their store in town wasn't fully staffed for it. Highly recommend going out to the mountain instead of doing it in town (mountain > garage)!

We were a little surprised as to how many people were already there when we finally pulled in, but were more surprised at the amount of people when we left!

Gem Mountain is approximately 5 miles from the actual mine. To find your sapphires, you buy one of these white buckets for $20, or 7 for $120, and what you find is yours to keep. Hunter picked mine and Perry's first bucket, and he picked pretty good!

You first dump a bit of your bucket into the screen...

 ...and take it to the water trough in the middle of the area to wash all the sand off. There was a lot of shaking and sifting in the cold water! Grandma was soaking wet by the end of the morning. 

Once your rocks are clean, you flip it over onto the table, and if you washed and sifted correctly, the sapphires would be at the bottom of the screen, so when it's flipped over they are on the top. In this picture, you can see the round clear/green-looking one in the center. When they're wet, the sapphires look like pieces of glass so they are *fairly* easy to find. On Sunday when we were there, we picked a table in the sun, and they were even easier to find. 

 I think it's safe to say everyone walked away from the mountain with a fair amount of stones. 

 My dad came along and enjoyed himself too, especially when he found this beauty! 

 

 We all spent a good two hours digging through our buckets before packing up.

Hunter even helped Barbara search for gems for a little while.

That is, when he and JP weren't up to no good... 

...on this dirt pile! I'm still dreading washing these clothes...

 How many people can look through the same pile at once? Hahaha!

 We went to Gem Mountain on Saturday with my parents, and again on Sunday. This is what Perry and I found on Saturday. Although you can't really tell, two of these are PINK! Unfortunately, they are too small to be cut and treated. :(

On Sunday we picked two awesome buckets and scored quite a few big stones in various colors. Between the two days, we found 13 stones that were able to be heat treated and cut. Having them heat treated gives them a deeper color. After they are treated, they'll be cut (or maybe it's the other way around) and then they'll send them back to us so we can do with them as we please. With that many stones, I'll be able to make some pretty cool jewelry! Unfortunately, it'll take somewhere between 6-9 months to get them back... Now I wait!