Diamonds!

OK, not real diamonds, but close!  We have what are called Lake County Diamonds here where we live.  We went "hunting" for them and were happy when we found some.  We found all different sizes.  I know there are bigger ones out behind the "no trespassing" signs, and although it was tempting, we didn't go into those areas. 

Here is the girl getting ready for the hunt-

We couldn't find her little bucket, but that didn't bother her a bit.  A watering can works just as good!  LOL

A little digging is all it takes-

To find a little gem like this-

When we got home, this is some what we had-

And just because it was so beautiful, I snapped a picture of where we were at-

Not only did we find some twinkly diamonds, but we found some other really cool rocks too!  We don't know what we are looking at, but we can certainly enjoy the beauty!

Lake County Diamonds are a form of Beta Volcanic Quartz.  They have a hardness of 7.5-8 on the Mohs hardness scale, real diamonds are a 10.  LCD's are the only known gem quality volcanic quartz in the world.  LCD's are Silica (SIO2) and although they are not real Diamonds (Carbon), they are very hard and make beautiful faceted stones.

We have a local Rockhounders group that we are thinking about joining.  It sounds really fun, really educational and lots of great field trips!  What a great way to explore the earth and find beautiful things!