Heart of Stone

While on spring break, one day we drove up to a quaint little Montana town called Big Fork. It's situated on the north end of the Flathead Lake and has all sorts of cool little shops of art, goodies and other gifts or clothes. On the way there, we stopped at a shop called "Kehoe's Agate Shop." Erik, his folks and, more recently, Kera, love all things rock/crystal/agate, so this stop was mostly for them. Erik said it was the best "rock shop" he'd ever seen. The variety and scale of minerals, fossils, agates, and fine gems was impressive. We spent quite a bit of time in there while the girls decided on what little goodies they wanted to get. Lindsay went right to these cute little heart shaped rocks and picked one made of red jasper. Kera was overwhelmed with the options and had a hard time choosing, but with some help finally settled on a soapstone box that had some mother of pearl inlay. It was pretty.

As I was browsing, I found some rock/mineral that I loved. It's called rhodocrosite and I think it's beautiful. I asked the gal if they had any small pieces for sale and she pulled some out. I picked up a smaller one and found out that not only is rhodocrosite pretty, it's also expensive! The smaller piece was right around $100. I promptly put them down and decided I didn't need to own any.

    Later, when we were getting ready to pay for the girls' treasures, I noticed a basket of heart shaped stones larger than the one Lindsay picked out. And I recognized one of them as, you guessed it, rhodocrosite. I picked it up and knew I needed it. It was more affordable than the other pieces that were a crosscut of the actual stalactite, so Erik said sure, and I came home with this beauty:

I love it!

After our rock "hunting", we went on a short hike along the river. Then into town for coffee and treats. We hit a few stores in town, like the super cool kitchen store and then the jam/fudge store. I was craving fudge, so we bought this. Yummy!

After that it was time to mosey home. 

It was a fun day and I'm really pleased with my new heart of stone. :)

 

Do you have a favorite rock/mineral/gem?