We finally got Byron to Topaz Mountain.
It wasn't as desolate as I remember. It was harder to pound the rock than I remember. I think it was harder to find the Topaz than Byron expected, but it was a fun experience. I am proud of all the kids for climbing the mountain and doing their best with the heavy tools! They each found a topaz or two on the ground and helped us go through the rock we pounded.
Along the way we saw antelope (good luck!) and wild Great Basin horses and of course lots and lots of rabbits.
The weather was perfect...a comfortable 50 degree sunshiny day but 4:00 hit and my hands were getting too cold to pound the rock. The kids had scampered back down the hill earlier so Darin and I hauled the buckets of tools down ourselves. We headed out toward Delta and found a great place to get burgers. Ashton's Burger Barn.
We were hungry and the burgers were delicious!
We had loong night at the luxurious Budget Inn (that was sarcasm right there in case you didn't catch it). The accommodations were rough but, the couple running the place were super duper sweet, and there was hot water.
Darin and Byron set out for the U-Dig Fossil site "Best Trilobite collecting in the world". They were extremely successful. Byron was over the moon excited about this experience.
S, M and I walked around Delta and found ourselves some fun at the city park.
The Great Basin Pioneer Museum
(I love how all the women embroidered their own flower motif and then their names...must have been a wedding gift)
Artwork made up entirely of butterfly and moth wings!
and finally, the Topaz Museum to learn about life at the Japanese internment camp.
This played right into my plans to teach the kids all about WWII this summer so we will be ready to visit Pearl Harbor when we go to Hawaii.
We met up with Darin and Bub at the Delta Dairy Freeze (fantastic malts...if you are in Delta drive right on past that nasty McD's and go to the Dairy Freeze down the street) and then drove happy and exhausted on to Huntington for the annual flashlight egg hunt.
Pre-dusk hot dogs cooked the best possible way.
I love that my kids get to explore Grandpa's farm in the funnest way possible!
Now both Byron and Miriam get to go to the big kid section of the farm.
Sunday was good/hard.
Lots of fun cousin time, I got to see my sisters, but it was a long tiring drive home and no one wanted to see Monday come. Well...that is not exactly true. I quite enjoyed doing laundry all by myself on Monday.
