Rice Rock Museum

It was Monday and it was cold! Loading onto the buses, we were pelted with a rain/snow combo that interjected an extra amount of excitement in the air. Julia's second grade class was going on a field trip to the Rice Rock Museum and it was the first field trip I'd gotten to chaperone since she's been in elementary school. Though she still preferred to sit with a friend and stay glued to their side the whole time (sniff, sniff) I always enjoy being a part of her world at school and she always seems glad to have me there.

Their geology unit has been very high interest for Julia. She's come home full of information about volcanoes that were about to blow in Indonesia, intrusive rocks and the life cycle of a rock. This mid-century house turned museum was a treasure trove of examples of everything they've been learning about. I was amazed how vast their collection was! From gems to petrified wood, fossils to agates, even meteorites were on display here. I spied some fossilized hazelnuts much bigger than those today, intrigued by the idea that all life was bigger millions of years ago because of the extra oxygen in the air. CRAZY!

In the gift shop they were selling thunder eggs. I've always wanted one, so of course I had to get Julia and myself each one. Turns out the one she picked was a Geode, which made her just as excited. Apparently you can break a geode yourself but getting into the center of a thunder egg would take a professional. Even though they look pretty unimpressive from the outside, there is much potential for them to be amazing inside. Now that I've BOUGHT one, I'd love to get it sliced somewhere to see what it looks like inside. I'd also love to hunt for and find one in a dig sometime.

Thunder egg Outside


Thunder egg Inside


At the end of the field trip the kids got to hunt around on their outdoor rock pile for the perfect rock to take home. Rocks bring out the treasure hunter in all of us!