Gem Mining

My wife, a friend of her's and I took the kids and went gem mining today.  Western North Carolina is known for all their different gem mines.  We got a little lost, thanks Mapquest, but eventually made it to Emerald Village Gem Mines in Little Switzerland.  We had a blast.  You buy a bucket of rocks and take it to the flume and sift through it.  We found topaz, garnets, emeralds and a ton of other stuff I don't even remember the names of.  If you are ever in the area, I highly recommend it.  Everybody was ready for lunch and I wanted to go through another bucket.  Good times.