Let me try this again.(Initially this post had be started two days ago)
When I travel I like to see the natural sights in the area. We have traveled to various seasides, lake fronts, mountains, deserts, canyons, caves, and all manner of natural habitats.
There was a time when all I wanted to do was shopping. I find that now, as I am less enamored of most things material, my focus has shifted on the kinds of things I want to spend my time doing, both here and away.
We seek out the unusual, the natural elements that each individual area has to offer. I find myself remembering a great side trip last year.
Last summer we were at Lake George and we found an old Garnet mine that was open to visitors. We went off with some friends and drove to this area where we had to follow a small dirt path, with just the ruts for the tire tracks indented. Paige, from West Virgina, was very used to driving in rural areas, so she had no problem with the car maneuvering. We went up a cramped area which turned out to be a steep hill. Once we hit the top it took a sudden down turn, into the middle of the carved out mined area.
This is the area we came upon. It had once been a solid part of the mountains. In the process of mining garnet, they would blast the rock and it would splinter into thousands pieces of garnet which would be scattered at the bottom of the growing pit. They would gather the garnet, and it would be used as gemstones and mostly for manufacturing purposes. The garnet from this part of New York is so hard that is is used for highly specialized drilling equipment.
So, after this mining area was abandoned it filled up with water and is used only for tourist purposes. They bring in small groups, giving us buckets and allowing us about a half hour to harvest whatever garnets we can find. Now, I have to tell you, we really enjoy this type of activity.
We must have made a funny sight - three of us middle age + women and one teenager, picking through all the rocks and soil (which was actually comprised of garnet dust and the accompanying minerals of the area all blasted into a sparkling black/silver/red dust that blanketed the area, along with larger rocks containing actual garnet pieces visible to the naked eye!) Just fascinating!!
We were excited just to see little flakes in what we were sorting through! We got a few small gemstones, and lots of splintered pieces that have been sitting in a sup since last year.
This was a massive area, with tons of blasted rock and gem dust to be sorted through. It made us realize what it must have been like for the early gold miners, panning their way through the west! This is Mia and Paige set against the enormous pit we were working in.
And this photo shows Mia sitting on a tremendous piece that had been mined, which was set by the gift shop(of course). And of course, now the font is going bonkers again. If you look closely you can see red circles all over this piece of rock. That is actually garnet embedded in the rock, which is exactly what is was like all over the mine area. And so the connection. I will be using the garnet dust and fragments collected at this mine in NY along the new path, which Mia and I will be embedding this weekend with rocks, gemstones, shells, and other items we have been collecting over the years on all our travels. 
And so to get to the connection. I will be using the garnet dust and fragments collected at this mine in NY along the new path, which Mia and I will be embedding this weekend with rocks, gemstones, shells, and other items we have been collecting over the years on all our travels.
And so our travels come full circle, all those little gems that caught our eyes along the way of all our travels, some coming as far away as Hawaii (!), and as close as our own backyard, will l be lovingly placed into our new path within our great gardens
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