Agates

One thing I'v never noted on this blog before is one of my hobbies, namely rock collecting.  As a kid we would frequently walk my grandpa's driveway in search of agates - Lake Superior agates - but we didn't know that at the time.  A long hiatus from rock collecting later, a few years ago I picked up the hobby again and have been enthralled by it since.  It has now become a family activity in our house, and we frequently go on "Agate Adventures" (where we go find a gravel road and pick out the agates).  Anyway, I thought it might be neat to document the agates we find.  I have quite a bit of catching up to do, however, and it's not feasible for me to document all of the agates we've found in the last three or four years or so, so I figured I'd just put some more recent finds up here right now and then hopefully I'll be able to keep up with the new ones we find (click the images to embiggen).

At the end of April, 2016, my family took a trip up the North Shore for the express purpose of hunting for agates.  This was our haul on the last day of our trip.  

One night early this summer, while playing catch in the backyard, I noticed an agate in some landscaping rocks.  A little more digging revealed the rest of these guys. 

The Mrs. and I took a trip up the North Shore in early June.  This was our takeaway from a couple of beaches just north of Two Harbors.

I found this agate, loaded with quartz, at Gooseberry Falls at the end of June.

Found this one on the MN Waterfalls Road Trip, I think on the beach at Naniboujou Lodge.  Although small, this is one of the most unique agates I've ever found.

Also found this one on the MN Waterfalls Road Trip. 

A week after the MN Waterfalls Road Trip, my co-worker went on vacation on the North Shore and brought these home.  Since he knew I collect agates, he gave them to me.  

In mid-July I was visiting a church member after her hip surgery at a hospital in Burnsville.  There was plenty of landscaping rock outside the hospital that I quickly glanced at as I walked out.  Coincidentally, this agate popped out at me.  

Here's a plain, but larger agate I found in the landscaping rock outside Kmart in West St. Paul. 

For a couple years I brought my car to a local repair shop in South St. Paul.  A year or so ago the shop was razed to the ground.  The gravel heap that was left in its wake yielded this guy at the end of July.