A few weekends ago Raine and I attended the James Campbell Memorial Gem, Mineral and Fossil Show at the NYS Museum. (She was thrilled. Don't be fooled by the face, bad photo timing on moms part)
It ended up coinciding with New York Blooms as well, so really we got two great shows for the price of one. Admission cost for adults was 6.00 and kids were free, which I happened to think was great.
They had quite a few interesting flower displays and the place smelled heavenly, but my nature girl was all about the rocks! It was crystals and minerals and fossils, oh my!
(Look at the size of that fluorite)
She was in her element and we had to do two full circuits around the floor just to be "absolutely sure" we didn't miss anything!
(Yes that's candy that looks like crystals)
The delighted look on all the older gentleman's faces at Raine's complete amazement and rapture in their displays was priceless. I kept hearing things like, "What a lovely young lady" and "It is so great to see someone her age so interested in rocks"! It was pretty darn funny to behold. I'm not sure which one was more enamored of the other, Raine over the crystals or the old gem collectors over her!
Now this child of mine did not only come to gaze at all these beauties, she came to buy! She brought her shiny visa card that she got from grandpa for her birthday and informed me that she was not leaving until she owned a big crystal all her own. And boy did she get one! That is an 8 pound rose quartz crystal that just "called" to her! A love rock for a love bug, so it surprised me not one bit at she ended up with this.
She also found a few dyed geode slices that she thought would be a great addition to her collection.
We had a great day and will definitely be attending again next year!
