The Treasure Hunt

Ohhh, you should've been at my house tonight.

We made a fresh blackberry sour cream crumb pie

to celebrate Reese's birthday a few days ago

and our neighbor, Grandma Bodily's birthday coming up.

 I'll just say it was killer.

(The girls are selling blackberries again if you want some and the recipe).

 Now that I've got your taste buds watering (and they should be),

I'll switch gears to the final highlights of our big vacation to
Telluride, Colorado.

Our last full day, we drove to Ouray where we toured

an old silver mine.

 Our miner/guide picked Greer to be the leader of our group

which means she got the flashlight.

We followed her 1500 feet into the mountain and walked

on the old tracks that the carts used.  Next to us was a little

stream flowing water-- they said that 300 gallons come out of 

the mountain every hour.

 Once we got way in, our guide showed everyone how the

miners would hammer spikes into the rock to place the

dynamite sticks.

He pulled Holland up to hold the spike and turn it while he hammered.

Good thing he didn't miss.

 Then he let all the kids take a turn.

Notice the jackets... it was a balmy 50 degrees in there.

 We ended the tour with a little gold panning in the stream outside the mine.

 Each of the girls found gold-- mostly fool's gold

but to them, it was like hitting the lottery.