My Rockhounder's Dream Adventure With Road Scholar- Learning Day

    Over a year ago a small post on my Fb page indicated that two of my friends 'liked' Road Scholar. Not knowing what Road Scholar was, I googled them and found an organization that sounded great; A not-for-profit agency dedicated to inspiring adults to learn, discover, and travel. This sounded too good to be true, so I messaged the friend and she verified that they had enjoyed the one (now two) trips that she and her husband had gone on. Intrigued, I started perusing the trips offered and found one that I absolutely had to try; Rockhounder's Dream: Dugway Geodes, Sherry Colored Topaz, Wonderstone. A week of rockhounding and learning in Utah's Great Basin. Jim said he would go to keep me company. So, I immediately signed us up and paid the deposit :-) Now, I had over six months of eager anticipation for our trip to begin!
       September 24th arrived and for the duration of the trip we are based in  the Days Inn

Time to unpack and settle in!

at Delta, Utah.

Beautiful backdrop for Delta, the snow covered Wasatch (?) Mountain Range 

    The first evening we met the other adventurous participants and the trip leaders before we went to the welcome dinner. After a pleasant dinner we went over the week's activities and had the opportunity to see the different rocks/minerals we would find and collect.

Ways to display or use our finds were also discussed.

     The first full day was devoted to learning. I do believe that each subject covered this morning could have its own blog. Instead, I'll just cover my impressions....or whatever pictures I happened to take :-)

We started early, but our leaders started much earlier in order to have this room set up and ready to go!

   

               TOPAZ RELOCATION CAMP

     The internment of Americans of Japanese ancestry during WWII is part of our history. Jane Beckwith, historian and Topaz Museum curator, led us in a discussion about the complex issues involved regarding the internment that occurred at the Topaz Relocation Camp (located 16 miles NW of Delta).

Jane has worked more than 30 years to preserve the Topaz Internment Camp's history. Through her hard work the Topaz Museum became a reality and opened in 2015.

Following our discussion, we then had a short visit at the Topaz Museum. There were many displays to read and view.

Immigration and Citizenship

    I was especially interested in seeing the importance of art. In photos the internees may have been smiling, but through their artwork true feelings may be revealed.

 I especially liked how a third grade class kept a daily journal.

 Art was also used to bring beauty into their daily lives.

Shell art was my favorite! Shells were collected,bleached,sorted by shape/size, and dyed.

 They were then made into delightful jewelry or novelty items.

A couple of days later we made a short stop at the Topaz Camp Site, which in 2007 became a National Historic Landmark by the National Park Service.

Beyond the fence, was the 'town'. It occupied one square mile.

   In the 'city's one square mile were 42 blocks, each block containing 12 barracks that were divided up into apartments, a central latrine, mess hall,laundry room, recreation hall, and block manager's office.

11,000 people passed through the camp.

 'Topaz City' was surrounded by barbed wire and guard towers.

'Topaz' depicted in the photo was made using some of the barbed wire that surrounded the city.

Here's to hope that we will learn from history and this sentiment (or similar) will not be repeated.

        

                                   BERYLLIUM

The next lecture surprised me. It was about discovering Beryllium and mining it, which I didn't think would be interesting. Especially since the rare beryllium mine is off limits to the public....so, no collecting. Well, Patrick Stefanoff, an engineering technician at Materion Mine gave a very engaging and interesting presentation!

   This beautiful Tiffany Stone is mined for its bertrandite/beryllium content.  

The purples and lavender colors are from the presence of purple flourite.

   Beryllium's physical properties of great strength-to-weight, high melting point, excellent thermal stability and conductivity, reflectivity,and transparency to x-rays make it an essential material in the aerospace, telecommunications, information technology, defense, medical, and nuclear industries. Beryllium is classified as a strategic and critical material by the U.S. Department of Defense.

These may look heavy, but they were very lightweight!

reflective property :-)

                                   GEOLOGY

      During the afternoon, we had a semester's worth of geology presented to us. The information learned helped with understanding what we will see and encounter during the next few days. However, now I want to learn a bit more about the Cretaceous Interior Seaway, the Cenozoic Rockies, the Farallon Plate, and the Intermountain Seismic fault :-)
       For a break between geology lessons , we visited the Great Basin Museum. This museum covered everything from rocks/fossils to a collection of items that characterize the pioneer period through the 20th century.

GREAT BASIN MUSEUM

This is how I picture my rock collection to look like once I get it all organized.

I will want extra info , like this, in my displays :-)

Reminds me of my Aunt Carol's Pioneer Store. (She still has a 'penny candy' jar on her counter :-)

The style of the tv on the left is not one I've seen before!

WEST DESERT COLLECTORS ROCK HOUND SHOP

After a dinner in downtown Delta, the Rancher Cafe, we visited the West Desert Collectors Rock Hound Shop. Besides the enjoyment of  perusing the many items for sale (souvenirs and gifts), Robert Harris (the owner) gave a cutting/polishing demonstration of a rough rock piece into a beautiful pendant.
    This is one time that I was at the right place at the right time.I happened to be near his work area when he came over. He looked through some rough pieces,picked one out that he thought would be 'a very nice piece' and asked if anyone would like it. After a very short pause, I said that I would like it very much!!! So, I had the awesome experience of seeing 'my' wire wrapped pendant being made from start to finish :-)

The trilobite, Altiocculus Harrisi, was named after him.

Fingers are extremely close to 'polishing' belt here!!  

 It was a pleasure to see someone who enjoyed his work so much and was a delight to  have met him!

He explained how he did each step, and why he wrapped the wire 'just so' around the pendant the way he did.

Pendant stone is Picasso Marble, which is found in Utah.

This was a perfect way to 'cap off'' our first day of the trip.