...consisted of one of the Little Golden Book Guides to Geology and one of those starter rock collections in a big tray, complete with gold and uranium, they used to sell. I was about ten years old and I poked around fields and looking for stuff. Unfortunately, I never found much besides common feldspar and by the time school started again, the collection gathered dust on a shelf only to disappear with a television, typewriter, microscope and jewelry after a house burglary later that fall.

Had I already been out here in the desert I'm sure I would have found much more. About a year ago, a local library displayed a spectacular collection of Arizona minerals from a prominent collector. Huge examples all about 1'x1' in size, it was simply breathtaking with all the crystalline blues and otherworldly shapes. The display cabinet put to shame the scene in Superman Returns where the Kryptonite was being shown to the public. Amazingly, many children walked past it like it wasn't even there on their way to the libraries public computers.

Oh well...

;-)

PS I plan to take your advice, and go stargazing with the Hummer this next weekend equipped with a pair of field glasses, a camera and a thermos full of hot green tea.