finding cross rocks

We did a little exploring this weekend, right in our own neck of the woods. We camped a few nights in neighboring Little Falls and played tourist. We had donuts at a local bakery, wandered a pretty little park on the Mississippi, and searched for cross rocks, or, Staurolite at Blanchard Dam in Royalton, MN. 

I hadn't even heard of cross rocks before this weekend, but a search for "rock hounding, Little Falls MN" turned up one result...cross rocks. Naturally, we had to check it out. After a short drive and a short hike, we found ourselves at the river's edge at the bottom of the dam. We weren't really sure what we were looking for, or where we should be looking, but once we found our first piece we were off and running. Each of us found at least one cross, and gobs of straight pieces. We had a blast!

This was my best piece:

E had a good selection of her own. Her favorite being the one that looked like a little plane:

I found two heart stones, but this one was my favorite:

We also found this little friend and the kids loved on him for a minute before we set him back in the water.

We cooked our meals on the fire and I read aloud 'Ronia, the Robber's Daughter' to eager listeners who didn't even seem to mind that their tablets and phones were nowhere around. I felt connected in a way that I've been missing lately, with the busy-ness of work and life. Good stuff, all of it.

Have you been exploring lately?